Let’s start with a startling fact. What’s the world’s most global food crop? Is it Wheat? Rice? Potatoes? or even the tomato that I wrote about recently? It’s nothing so obvious, rather it is the humble brown, red or yellowish bulb that you’ve probably got piled up in your kitchen right now: the onion. According to the UN onions are grown in virtually every country on earth. They tolerate almost every climatic zone, and are widely used in all major cuisines, making them arguably the only truly global ingredient.
You might also think that an onion is an onion is an onion, although you’d probably recognise there are ones with brown papery skins, others with red and some with yellow or white. And when you start to start to think about you’ll probably recall that the insides also vary in colour, and shape and that maybe the taste and strength can vary too.
But have you heard of Birmingham’s Onion Fair ? Do you know where the phrase in the title comes from? Who or what is an Onion Johnny? Do you know your Ailsa Craig from your James Keeping or Bedfordshire Champion? Like most of us I’d guess probably not, So read on to find out more about them and their history…
Transformed from purely a utilitarian garden to a much more horticulturally interesting one in the 18thc it became one of the most significant gardens in the world, before sinking into decline under British rule in the 19thc when much of the original ground was appropriated for grand institutional buildings.
The Garden History Blog 
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