It is mid to late summer when onion crops are harvested. It is usually easy to see that the bulbs have reached their full size and often the foliage starts to yellow and bend over. This is the point when the bulbs are unlikely to put on any more growth so time to lift. Choose a period of dry weather if possible and you can use a fork to carefully lift the bulbs. If you can, place the bulbs on a drying rack such as a piece of metal mesh. A small mini greenhouse is a good place to dry them off as they usually have mesh shelving and they also have a cover to keep off the rain. Keep the door open to allow good air movement. You could also place in a shed or greenhouse although the latter can get very hot but if you can ventilate it well it should be fine. You just need to give the onions a dry place and one that has good air movement to dry them off really well before storing. Hang up by their leaves or remove the leaves if completely dried off and brown. A top tip for storing onions is using an old pair of tights. Push an onion down one of the legs, then tie a knot then add another one and so on. Then hang these up. This keeps them protected, allows air to circulate and keeps each onion separate so if one rots it shouldn’t affect the others.
