I was given a single perennial walking onion three years ago. I planted it, then didn’t pay much attention as I didn’t really know what to do with them. The onions didn’t have a specific time when the needed to be harvested and they had these funny topsets bulbs.

But I’ve gradually become braver and have been pulling up a few plants now and then. They look like scallions or bunching onions, but the flavor is unique and pungent – similar to a shallot. They tend to disintegrate with cooking, so I like to add them to a stir fry or an omelet as it finishes cooking.

I haven’t yet tried eating the topsets. I hear some say they are tasty and some say they are not.

My walking onions have multiplied fast, and without any help form me. Sometimes I move a venturesome topset from a path and put it back in the bed. In midsummer, as new shoots come up and old ones die back, I clean up the clump by pulling out the dead onions. Mostly, they do their own thing. I have quite a big clump of them now and am growing quite fond of them.