Red Onion Seeds (Nasik Red)

Red onion is one of those everyday ingredients that goes into nearly every Indian dish, and the Nasik Red variety is the classic pungent, deep-red bulb most households already cook with. Growing it yourself on a terrace is a slower project than herbs or greens, but it's satisfying to pull your own bulbs at the end of the season. Sow seeds about 0.5 cm deep and keep the soil lightly moist - onions don't like sitting in wet soil - while you wait out the 7-12 day germination window. They're a full-sun crop, needing 6-8 hours of direct light daily to bulb up well, which makes an open terrace or unshaded balcony ideal. Because the bulbs don't need much room individually, you can space plants as close as 10-15 cm apart, fitting a decent number into a single container. This is a long-season vegetable, with harvest typically 110-130 days out, so it's best suited to gardeners planning ahead rather than looking for a quick crop.