Dug them up, shook off excess dirt, left the long tops intact-this is what you braid. After letting them dry out a bit, (several days in a hot garage on an old screen door) the tops krinkle turning brown with a tiny bit of green down in the onion tops for strength.
southpaw (plural southpaws) (informal) One who is left-handed, especially in sports. (baseball) A left-handed pitcher. Since home plate is generally in the southwest corner to avoid glare in the batter's eyes, a southpaw's pitching hand is to the south. (one who is left-handed): left-hander, lefty.
One in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel in August 1870 lists seven local newsboys, one of whom, James Sullivan, was nicknamed South-Paw. The OED has another, from 1848, referring to a heavy blow with the left hand (though the application of the term to boxing had to await the twentieth century).