Shallots from Seed

[digitS']

I don't know, it all just seems so easy:

after the rain that set things up for this morning's frost

Shallots are a fairly unproductive crop. They started out as tiny seeds, then seedlings and occupied their piece of ground thru the entire growing season. There aren't many pounds/square foot here. Still, it doesn't take a lot of shallot to make a difference in a meal . . !

Next year, some of these Picador shallot bulbs can be replanted and they will divide into more bulbs and be out of the ground in July. Another crop can follow them. But, they do what they need to do so easily from seed that I will probably start some more that way, also. . . . off in their "special little patch of ground" .

Steve

 

[hoodat]

I found that if you start from seed shallots are a slow crop. You have to grow them for a year and then replant them a second year before you get full sized ones but they don't need a lot of room. I like them because you can store them so long with no shriveling. They are protected by a thick leathery skin.

 

[digitS']

Look, there are really good sweet onions. From an August 1st harvest, I think I do a super job of keeping some in storage until December. After that -- gone.

There are some real nice storage onions. They aren't especially sweet but the Sterling Whites that are down in the basement right now made me real happy thru the winter and I'm looking forward to having them until spring this time around. My new Ovation keeping onions have proven to be wonderfully mild guys . I'm hoping they are a good keeper!

I've got Tokyo white bunching onions now and for the last several months, scallions from sets and seed - thru much of the growing year. Onions are great! And, if I had any sense - I'd grow garlic, too . But, the little shallots . . . they are just a step or 2 apart from the rest of the tribe.

Steve

 

[lesa]

I just can't keep my head around the idea that shallots are good keepers.... they just seem too small? If you two say so, it must be so!! You really should plant garlic, Steve. Number one it is delicious and number two- it is one of the few (only?) things you can plant in October and like magic see it sprout in the very early spring. It really does seem like a magical crop!

 

[ninnymary]

I'm confused between seeds and bulblets (did I spell it right?). Do you first plant the shallot or onion seeds and they become little bulbs. Then next year you plant those little bulbs and they become full size onions or shallots? Or do you just leave them in the ground. Been meaning to ask this dumb question!

Mary

 

[hoodat]

I just can't keep my head around the idea that shallots are good keepers.... they just seem too small? If you two say so, it must be so!! You really should plant garlic, Steve. Number one it is delicious and number two- it is one of the few (only?) things you can plant in October and like magic see it sprout in the very early spring. It really does seem like a magical crop!

Shallots small you say?

 

[digitS']

Those Must be San Diego Shallots!

I'm confused between seeds and bulblets (did I spell it right?). Do you first plant the shallot or onion seeds and they become little bulbs. Then next year you plant those little bulbs and they become full size onions or shallots? Or do you just leave them in the ground. Been meaning to ask this dumb question!

Mary

Until just a few years ago, I had never seen or heard of a shallot "seed." I have grown shallots since about 1990 and never saw one bloom!

All of the shallot seed that is sold is for hybrids, that I know of. I've wondered what they might have done to get a shallot to bloom to make a hybrid. Perhaps, it is a matter of stress . . .

Anyway, there is now shallot seed that you can buy. It looks like onion seed. And, I have sown Prisma seed several years ago and this was the 2nd year that I've sown Picador seed. Picador has grown better for me and the bulbs are actually of respectable size. Picador shallots from seed are at least as large as the old French Grey shallots that I've kept going for 20 years. I would be happy to use them in the kitchen.

If they aren't chopped up in the kitchen, however, the bulbs can be planted out again for 2012. I think I could plant them right now - in October. But, I've never done that.

The shallots have always gone into the garage where they wait out the winter. I'll use some out of that box but will be sure not to use all of them. The very earliest plantings for 2012 will include the shallot bulbs. Once out there in the garden, many of them will divide but they are likely to grow much larger in 2012 than they did from seed this year. Some will flower.

So, I can use what I want of them and save some and replant in 2013. I don't need to sow seed each and every year. In fact, since I've got 2 purples, I think I'll buy some seed for a yellow. I once had a yellow shallot but I ate them all over one winter . . .


Steve
who hadn't intended to eat all his yellow shallots that winter. something just came over him . . .

 

[digitS']

I thought I'd bring this topic back for those of you who would like to get started in the business of growing shallots . Maybe you have come across a pound of them at the garden center and noticed that the cost is about $20.



I grew zero from seed this year and am kind of kicking myself for not doing so. I'll have pictures of my 2013 shallot harvest a little later - camera battery is recharging . . . All from bulbs that were saved thru the winter. I'm quite sure that other gardeners plant shallot sets at the same time as garlic but my habit has been to keep them around - try not to eat all of them (!) - and plant them out at the time the onion sets go in, April.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Right at 14# of shallots in those baskets . . . I suppose I should have gathered them into smaller baskets to make it look like more . . They may lose another ounce or 2 of moisture but I don't think so. They were in a single layer on those boards for over a week and it has been very hot & dry here.

I'm always a little disappointed in the amount of the shallot harvest. They absolutely won't produce as much as storage onions. It has been so long since I've grown garlic, I don't know how they compare with them. Generally, they are very small plants and they only occupy that ground for a few months. Already, that area is growing a succession planting of veggies.

The larger bulbs are mostly ones that wanted to go to seed. I wonder if I can get that better under control by removing the stalks a little earlier. They will have that dead stalk right down thru the bulb but I doubt if any of those will show any sign of decay for the next 3 or 4 months. Nearly all the smaller ones will make it to April with no problem. I do NOT feel that I grow enuf of them :/! I prefer shallots to onions but can't quite bring myself to grow more. It is only self-indulgence that allows me to have as many as I do .

Steve

 

[Jared77]

That's just too cool!

I tried them in 2011 and didn't get squat. I don't know if it was the lack of rain, or maybe I planted them too deep, or a combination of the 2. My onions were small too. But that was the first time I'd tried to grow either one. Yeah that was a tough pill to swallow knowing how much I spent just to have an empty space.

What do you follow them with Steve?