wrote in
:

David in Normandy wrote:
Ditto that. Perhaps one in every fifty onions gets relocated by the
birds - and there is no shortage of birds here! Apparently the
oldsters trick is to trim off the top dead bits of onion sets prior
to planting them so the birds aren't tempted to pull them. That is
probably less hassle than setting them in plug trays. Personally I
just plant them so the tip is barely out of the ground. By the time
they've rooted and start to grow the tops of the bulbs soon appear
above the surface of the ground anyway - which I gather is important
to help them ripen.

Actually, maybe my success is due to the fact that I rarely remember
to plant my onion sets until they have a huge chunk of green sticking
out of the top. :-)

Spot on!
I always have left onions and garlic until I can see where I can plant them
after everything else has been planted. Finding a spot in a kitchen garden
is impossible when in the planning stage. A few spots in the asparagus bed?
A small gap after the broad beans have been gobbled up? The allium bed is
where we can find a gap for and that means anywhere there is space for.
This is only my view.

Baz