Quick Onion & Shallot question

[Jared77]

So my onions and shallots have dried up and died down. I planted them the end of March first part of April. How long can I leave them in the ground before I have to get them out to dry? And did something happen to them or is that about the right time frame for them to be done?

This is the first year I've planted them. I had some extra room so I figured why not?

Thank you

 

[digitS']

quick answers:

how long can I leave them? Don't know. Never left them very long.

about the right time frame? Yep. Mine won't be in the ground but a couple more weeks.

digitS'

 

[Jared77]

Thanks Steve. I knew I got them in pretty early I was just leary that something got to them.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I usually get mine out of the ground as soon as the tops indicate that they're drying out and not growing any more. I always either braid or tie the tops together in small bunches and hand them in the barn to dry. We grab a bunch now and then throughout the entire winter. If there are any left in the early spring (usually March) I re-plant them and they do very well until late June when I harvest the re-runs.

Something that I learned long ago is to avoid the little onion sets that are sold in the garden stores. They are usually in cardboard or wooden boxes and you pick each one individually. They are green onions and will never get very big. Many unsuspecting gardeners are very disappointed when their onions do not do very well. Those little onions are doing as well as they can and will never grow into the giant onions that you see in the grocery stores.

I always buy my onions at the local feed mill and they are usually sold in small bunches of 15 to 20 tied together with string. Tiny little things. I usually get 20 white, 20 yellow, 20 red, and 20 sweet Vidallia (sp?) onions. 80 great big onions is plenty for two old farts like us for a year.

 

[peteyfoozer]

smiles, how do you keep your onions from going bad? How do you store them, do you have a root cellar or do you leave them hanging in the barn all winter?

 

[digitS']

I am curious if it freezes in your barn during the winter, Smiles.

I am just amazed at how I've been able to keep shallots in the garage thru the winters. It freezes in there. I've done this for over 20 years.

It has been a very long time since I've grown garlic. It may be as hardy as shallots, I don't know. The onions go to the basement where they won't freeze.

Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

The onions hang in the barn until the end of October then I put them in our old cold storage room that used to be a cistern for the rest of the winter. It never gets below 45 down there and usually stays very dry.