No.6: Sow onions indoors

If you’re keen to experience the eye-watering splendour of top-class onions, now is the time to start them off. Take a small quantity of the shiny, black seed, and tap it evenly off the back edge of your flat palm onto a levelled and firmed tray of seed compost. Sieve a thin layer of compost over the top, label with name and date, cover with a pane of glass and a piece of newspaper for shade and put on a warm windowsill. In a few weeks, a miniature forest of green hairpins will appear, and you will be bound for onion glory.