Onion

Originating from the large onion family, the Parade bunching onion has carved out a prime spot in kitchen gardens for its long, hollow, straight, and upright leaves. It is cultivated not for the bulb, but for its glossy green foliage, with its distinct fresh onion flavor, which is harvested in bunches throughout the season.

In the garden, Parade grows in tight, even clumps, easy to tuck into a corner of the vegetable patch or along an edible border. Sown in several waves, it accompanies the entire cycle of mild seasons and offers a discreet yet constant presence in the harmonious garden. Its slender shape blends well with other vegetables, and its soil-friendly cultivation makes it a reliable plant in a diverse, edible space.

Originating in Italy, the Yellow of Parma onion is an old, guard variety known for its perfectly round bulbs with a golden-yellow skin. In a thriving vegetable garden, it provides a discreet yet essential presence: a reliable, consistent plant that accompanies the gardener throughout the seasons.

In the garden, its upright foliage forms neat rows that structure flowerbeds. The mature bulbs, with their dry, golden skin, then grace the kitchen for many months, extending the bounty of the welcoming soil well after the first frosts. It's a reliable variety for those seeking a storage onion, rooted in respectful and self-sustaining cultivation practices.

Originating in northern Brittany, France, the Roscoff pink onion has been shaped by sea winds and coastal soils. The 'Keravel' variety, offered in organic farming, continues this story in today's organic vegetable gardens. Its pinkish bulbs, round to slightly flattened, grow in neat rows and color the garden from late summer onwards, like small suns with coppery reflections.

In the garden, it's a reliable plant: upright foliage, consistent growth habit, and easy harvest time when the leaves gently bend. When properly cultivated, it produces good-sized bulbs with pale pink flesh, prized for their sweet and fragrant flavor. In a thriving garden, the onion structures the beds, complements neighboring crops, and contributes to a respectful approach to soil and the natural cycle of the seasons.

Born on the sandy soils of the Île d'Oléron, the Saint Turjan is an ancient and precious onion variety, also known as the "rose of the sands." This evocative name perfectly illustrates its maritime origins and its delicate pinkish-purple skin, which captures the light like a pebble polished by time. Inherited from generations of Breton market gardeners and passed on today thanks to the Kaol Kozh Association, this heritage bulb embodies a living link between the practices of the past and the garden of today.

In the garden, the Saint Turjan embodies the unwavering consistency of a reliable plant. Its growth is steady, its upright foliage signals peaceful maturity, and its fleshy bulbs form readily in light, deep, well-drained soil. It particularly appreciates sunny spots and sandy soils, where it fully develops its potential. Resilient, adaptable, and hardy, it is a dependable companion for gardeners seeking to ground their practices in respectful and deeply rooted cultivation.

Versatile, it is equally suited to growing in bunches for summer harvests and to extended winter storage. Its thin, dry skin ensures excellent preservation after harvest. Cultivating it means contributing to the preservation of a threatened culinary heritage and reviving a variety that combines beauty, memory, and taste.

The Rossa di Milano onion is an open-pollinated variety known for its balance of flavor, productivity, and storage potential. It produces medium-sized, well-formed bulbs characterized by a thin neck and a dark red, glossy, and very tight skin that effectively protects the bulb at maturity.

Its flesh is mild and pleasant, making it a versatile onion that is equally enjoyed raw or cooked. The plants are uniform and productive, offering an abundant harvest when growing conditions are well maintained. The bulbs reach an average diameter of approximately 10 cm.

In the garden, Rossa di Milano behaves like a long-day onion, tolerating cooler climates well. It requires a full season to reach its full potential, but rewards patience with excellent storage qualities. Steady growth, without water stress, promotes the formation of tight, long-lasting bulbs.

In the local culture, this onion is seen as a plant of consistency and mastery. It illustrates the importance of taking the long time in the vegetable garden, where rigorous techniques and attention to detail allow for reliable and flavorful harvests, designed as much for the table as for storage.

The result of a rigorous and deeply human scientific approach, this exceptional red onion was born in the research fields of the University of Wisconsin. For several years, Dr. Michael Havey, a renowned horticultural geneticist, and his team pursued a simple yet ambitious idea: to develop an onion variety with a round, dense bulb and a single center, perfect for producing uniform slices. This project, carefully conducted within the USDA Onion Lab breeding program, embodies an approach rooted in knowledge, patience, and attention to detail.

When the program ended, this remarkable lineage was entrusted to the Gardens of the Ecumene so that it could continue to thrive in the hands of gardeners. Since then, this variety has been cultivated with passion, passed on to a community that has given it a name, a place, and a future in living vegetable gardens.

In the garden, it stands out for its vigorous, upright growth habit, good tolerance to climatic variations, and impressive production capacity. The bulbs that form are firm, glossy, and a deep red, and their finely detailed internal structure makes them easy to cut. In well-prepared soil, it offers excellent consistency and adapts readily to garden plots, whether for individual or community use. It thus embodies the balance between horticultural innovation and the age-old practice of sowing seeds, between high quality and ease of cultivation.

The 'Tosca' onion is a long-day yellow onion variety, recognizable by its elongated, torpedo-shaped bulbs covered with a thin, dry, glossy golden-brown skin. Its slender shape, unusual for yellow onions, makes it easy to slice into even pieces with very little waste, a valuable asset both in the garden and in the kitchen.

In the garden, Tosca stands out for its hardiness and good adaptation to cold climates. It is when the days shorten that the plant concentrates its energy on bulb formation, making it a particularly reliable variety for northern regions.

Sown early and with good support, it offers a harvest from late summer to autumn.

Originating from European market gardening traditions, the Yellow Cipollini onion has earned a prominent place in kitchen gardens thanks to its small, flat, golden-yellow bulbs. Its disc-like shape and modest size encourage careful harvesting and simple, everyday cooking.

In the garden, it's a discreet yet consistent presence: neatly aligned rows, upright foliage that quietly accompanies the cycle of the seasons. This variety produces bulbs prized for their sweet flesh, particularly sought after for slow cooking or caramelization. Well integrated into a harmonious garden, it blends easily with other vegetables in a respectful and diversified approach to gardening.

Known as the potato onion, this traditional group of onions forms clumps of bulbs, somewhat like a nest of small potatoes at the base of the foliage. Long cultivated in family vegetable gardens in cooler climates, it has maintained a reputation as a reliable plant, easy to maintain and replant year after year.

In the garden, the potato onion offers hollow, bluish-green foliage reminiscent of the common onion. The bulbs divide into several cloves that are replanted, in an almost circular process where the harvest nourishes the next cycle. It naturally finds its place in a vibrant and diverse garden, along the edge of a bed or in a quiet corner of the vegetable patch, where it accompanies other vegetables in a patient and deeply rooted relationship with nature.