Strings of Onions Hanging in a Potting Shed

From the 1820s on, Breton farmers from around Roscoff crossed the Channel to sell onions door to door in Britain. They hung braided strings of pink onions from their bicycle handlebars. The British called them Onion Johnnies. Braiding still makes sense at home. Once the bulbs have dried in the sun, the withered tops plait into a string that hangs where air can reach every onion. Red and yellow strings hang from the rafters of an old potting shed in this onion jigsaw puzzle, over clay pots and a trowel.