Friday's Rookie Topic VI: SHALLOTS

Just bought a couple of packets (10 each) of French Gourmet shallots.

Will these be last year's shallots and should they have been planted by now? Or do I wait for the fall planting so that they overwinter ready for spring? I don't want them to go bad by waiting too long. They look nice and firm right now.

I am in Southern British Columbia near the USA border. The West Kootenay.

I love shallots! I just found a packet of "Burpee Onion, long white bunching" and then it says 'scallion' in the upper left hand corner. This is a pack from school that we didn't end up using in the class garden. I just noticed that it says, "does not form bulbs." Anyone grown these before? I am going to plant them anyway, just found it odd that they won't have bulbs.

Love the Rookie Topics! Thanks!

I was going to overwinter some onions but now I'm convinced. Shallots it is! thank you!

Kelejan wrote:Just bought a couple of packets (10 each) of French Gourmet shallots.

Will these be last year's shallots and should they have been planted by now? Or do I wait for the fall planting so that they overwinter ready for spring? I don't want them to go bad by waiting too long. They look nice and firm right now.

I am in Southern British Columbia near the USA border. The West Kootenay.

Well, I'm quoting myself, lol.

I will be planting these today. Out of the 20 shallots I bought, I have 13 survivors.

Perhaps I did not store them correctly as some of them were soft or only an empty mess of dry brown layers.

we love shallots, its added to the list. I saw then last year at home depot but cant remember thier price. just have to wait forthem to come back around

I didn't see the original post, but my grocery store shallots grew very well and multiplied. I replanted all of them, as I did most of my wonderful crop of garlic (partly from We Grow Garlic & grocery store).

I was wondering If I could buy shallots and just plant them may try both to see how it works out

newstart wrote:I was wondering If I could buy shallots and just plant them may try both to see how it works out

I bought some organic shallots at the supermarket this fall since I didn't have as many from my summer crop as I wanted to plant. They sprouted before the cold snap, so they can definitely work. I just think you need to get the organic ones that haven't been treated to prevent sprouting.

I have no idea if the bagged ones I got at Walmart grocery were organic or not (but I doubt it, they were not with their higher priced organic produce), but all of them sprouted and multiplied for me. Same as with the garlic. I chose the largest bulbs available, separated & planted them, again with excellent results. Good luck

Dixie, did they daughter bulbs grow as large as the mother bulb?

some of them did

Uggg, I just pulled up multiple bunches of shallots that escaped my harvest last year and made it through the winter. I need to redo my beds so I was pulling everything out. Now I'm thinking I should have at least waited until I was ready to move the bed, then maybe I could have replanted them instead of tossing them in the compost

lisaphoto wrote:Uggg, I just pulled up multiple bunches of shallots that escaped my harvest last year and made it through the winter. I need to redo my beds so I was pulling everything out. Now I'm thinking I should have at least waited until I was ready to move the bed, then maybe I could have replanted them instead of tossing them in the compost

Oh Dear, I don't like it when that happens to me. Were the shallots soft and squishy and yucky? or were they firm? If they were firm, I would just replant them, when they come out of dormancy they will begin to grow.

I never thought I would be so excited to plant veggies in the fall. So far it's garlic, shallots, and potato onions. Any more winter veggies out there?

I would not have thought of growing shallots til I read this rookie topic. I will wait and try a fall/winter garden with them.

Thanks pattipan for the info.

I don't think mine are ready yet.



Needed some garlic for dinner and didn't want to drive to the store. Pulled up 1 garlic and it doesn't look too bad. Decided to see what the shallots looked like. Small. Can I save these little ones and replant in the fall?

This is what the bed looks like. Believe I have another month before all is ready.



Kay

walshevak wrote: Decided to see what the shallots looked like. Small. Can I save these little ones and replant in the fall?
Kay

i would replant it.

I love shallots in my cooking and read these posts with enthusiasm. A few questions:

Do these need to be protected from animals like squirrels, rabbits, ground hogs? Not sure if they would dig up the bulbs (thinking of the squirrels).

Am I correct that these would need to be planted in a place where I did not want to plant in the spring? It looks like they are being harvested in June or July from the pictures posted. I have only one 4 x 4 SFG box and am trying to use all my options rather than closing out any.

Honestly, my brain is spinning from trying to learn all of this.

You can find lot's of previous topics on shallots using our search features.
Here's what I came up with on a quick search simply inputing "shallots":

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/search?search_keywords=shallots&typerecherche=interne&show_results=topics

Thank you for taking the time to search and post that information. I actually have been reading the forums and searches extensively. Sometimes I still am unable to find an answer to a question after reading for several hours. For example, I am still trying to learn whether the crops of garlic and shallots must be planted in the fall in a spot that will not be used in the spring. It seems like they will not be harvested in time but I am not positive.

Sometimes I get bogged down with trying to figure out where people get all these things that are used. For example, mulching with hay on top of the above mentioned items. I live in a suburb of a large city...where on earth does one get hay?

Other times I believe I have done sufficient reading to start something and then find out I missed something important. Case in point: I am doing a couple pots with bush cucumbers. I made one pot with organic soil in the bottom and Mel's mix on the top. Great. I started the second one and remembered that grass is good for your compost so it must be good in the pot. Got some and put it in the bottom (with some leaves which I had read could be used at the bottom). I then put some organic soil and left enough room to add 6" of MM today when I could make some more. Today I read that one should not use their grass clippings if the grass is treated for weeds. Luckily I had not put in the MM prior to reading it today. So, I went out and took out as many of the grass clippings as I could.

I must admit to being frustrated and somewhat discouraged.

CPL, here in the North East garlic goes into the garden in the fall, late October, early November. I plant my shallot bulbs in the spring and I am planning to put a few more this weekend. I have doubts that they would survive our deep freezes otherwise I would plant them in the fall. Maybe down near the coast where you are the shallot will over winter ok.

You never want to mulch with hay. Hay has seeds that will become weeds in your garden.
If you want straw mulch (no weed seeds) you can get it at Agway in Chelmsford, Danvers or Waltham. Any of your local Mom and Pop nursery/ garden places may have it as well. Forget about the big box stores for that.

Not really on the coast (but closer to it than you are) so I would go with your gut feeling. So, I will not worry about shallots until spring. Could I plant garlic and then put the shallots in after I take the garlic out? Or must I leave another space for them because their growing time conflicts? When you say 'Spring' you mean Spring weather and not the first day of Spring, correct? Conversely, if I put some shallots in now, would they be out of the space in time to put garlic? These are things that are bogging down my mind and which I am finding hard to determine the answers even with extensive reading on the board.

Prior to finding SFG I had read that people actually plant garlic in a child's 6" plastic swimming pool! Not sure if that works here or not with the freezing weather you and I get.

When I initially searched for Agways (on their site) one did not come up for Waltham and I drove all the way to Chelmsford (where they said on the phone they had coarse vermiculite and did not). Waltham is a better location for me. Thanks.

Most of us are harvesting our fall planted garlic in June and July. I'm not familiar with shallot growing.

'Spring' generally means the first planting of the year for cool crops in climates with 4 seasons.

cpl100 wrote:Not really on the coast (but closer to it than you are) so I would go with your gut feeling. So, I will not worry about shallots until spring. Could I plant garlic and then put the shallots in after I take the garlic out?

you will want to plant shallots as soon as the soil can be worked, some years that is in March or April. You garlic will not be ready for harvest until about July, so plan on using another space for planting shallots.

cpl100 wrote:Conversely, if I put some shallots in now, would they be out of the space in time to put garlic?

They should be. Do not plant them deeply, you should be able to see the top 1/3 of the shallot bulb.

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/5252/how-to-grow-shallots/page/all

I found me a pound of grays.