My Tiny PlotPlanting Saved Shallots
I planted my Shallots today. I have saved them from last season’s harvest. I can’t quite remember what variety they are but they’re a round sort (not the banana ones) and they are similar to Golden Gourmet. I chose the biggest, firmest ones. Then dug over the soil, used my dibber to make a hole and popped them in, pulling in a bit of soil around them so that just the tip was sticking out. Ideally you want them 15cm (6in) apart in rows 23cm (9in) apart.
The birds will probably pull them up once or twice, if they can get past my cunning cats. But if you keep pushing them back in then they will root eventually. Once Shallots get going they are a great addition to the Spring kitchen garden. Their bright green blades in neat little bunches look fabulous when there is little else starting to grow. So getting them going early is good for aesthetics.
They are one crop that can’t tolerate sharing their bed with weeds so I always put a bit of mulch round them once they start to sprout. It will keep the weeds down and means less bending and picking for me.
I would love to be planting crops again now. We’re thinking of moving from our rented flat to another rented flat at the moment, so wouldn’t want to leave all of my plants behind. I think that I can probably grow a few things in containers, but I would be moving in July which would just be chaos for most things. I just can’t see grow bags travelling well.
Hoping to get my own saved ones in later this week weather permitting ~ one of my best crops last year and better value than onions I think :)
must be something in the air! I also planted saved shalots from last year, today. best of luck to you and yours
I might have to try that – still have some left, but didn’t intend to plant them just didn’t get around to using them in the kitchen. By coincidence read GW magazine today and Adam Pascoe trims any long brown tops off his shallots to baffle the birds. Ever tried that yourself?
Hope to start planting today, all set and now the rain has started. Why o why!
Talking of moving grow bags, I recently saw bags for growing potatoes in a large supermarket. They seemed very similar to the Bags for Life which you can buy anywhere, except that they had a hefty price tag. Bags for Life are usually around 50-60p. Why not try using a Bag for Life and then using the handles to carry your mini garden around?
Nice blog. It snowed here in Iowa, USA but I have started tomatoes and peppers inside in case spring finally decides to come.
l live in north northumberland and our season can be a bit behind everyone else. New to the growing thing and wanted to try shallots this year. Ordered some sets from T&M but they arrived 2nd week in Feb with my potatoes.
They have been on the windowsill with the potatoes (chitting). Unfortunately the shallots are trying to take root on my windowsill – have I ruined them?
thanks – nice website btw.
Ah, shallots! They are my absolute favorite. Cats are excellent garden defenders, aren’t they? :)
Normally I grow onions, but this year I am trying banana shallots for the first time (only have a small veg patch so don’t have space for both). I tried a technique that i saw on gardeners world a couple of months ago.
I started the sets off in pots – just burying the very bottom of the shallot and kept in my plastic greenhouse, they are now growing strongly and planted out them out yesterday as you would normally plant with soil covering the whole of the bulb. Hoping they do well.