how to plant shallots

[Jodi]

I'm wondering if any one has experience on growing shallots and can give me some pointers. Thanks for your assistance! :o)
Doc Jodi

[lovetogarden]

shallots are smilar to multiplier onions and are treated as such. The small bulbs are planted in the spring and will devide.. They are winter hardy and can be left in the ground, but sometimes do better when dug up in the fall and replanted.
http://www.groworganic.com/library_107.html

[GreenZone]

Whenever I grow shallots I prepare the soil like for garlic, meaning well worked and lots of compost. Then i sow them about 3-4 inches apart each way (or a bit farther if my soil isn't too rich) and press them into the soil so the bulb is about 2/3 of the way into the ground, with the top 1/3 exposed. I can't say if this is the right way to grow them or not, and I don't remember who taught me or if anyone even did. But it has worked OK over the years.

The ones I've grown do overwinter OK. You can wait for the bulbs to form and divide those, but I've also divided the young plants BEFORE they bulb up. It takes a knife but yielded a really quick increase, drastic though it might sound. Also you can start from seed if you want to, though planting bulbs is easier.

--Randel

[Jodi]

I have acquired some extra shallots recently and I'm wondering if it is too late for planting.

GreenZone, with that knife you are you just talking about taking one bulb and cutting it in half with a knife and then planting it?
waiting any period of time?
Will it work with any shallot variety?
Thanks.

[GreenZone]

Jodi,
The way I did it was to select bulbs that had multiple shoots emerging from the tops. Then I'd gently work a knife between the shoots, making certain that each cut section kept a portion of the basal plate (the saucerlike structure that all the roots grow from). I never let the cut edges dry out prior to planting (to forestall possible rot) but that'd be the careful way to do it. And I never tried any sort of test to see if the process actually worked any faster than waiting for the bulbs to divide up natutarally.

[drobinson]

I plant my shallots in the fall here in central AR, almost anytime after the weather turn cool and before the ground freezes. (I also plant elephant garlic about that time). I amend the planting area with bone meal and blood meal (or cottonseed meal. Compost also does well), and plant about an inch deep to keep them from freezing up in cold weather, and about 3 inches apart, checkerboard fashion. They seem to winter over well and provide green onions for the table in the spring. What we don't use for that, are left in the ground until most of the tops fall over or turn somewhat brown in early summer. They will have multiplied, into 3-4 bulblets, which I break apart, dry in a tray in the shade, and save to plant again in the fall. Our main use for them is for early green onions in the spring, but if we have more than needed for replanting, we boil the extra bulbs for soups, etc. I use a white variety that are very mild and sweet. Very prolific here.

[nini]

shallots r like garlic

[Train]

shallots r like garlic

Not in flavor or strength!
only in the way they multiply.
Train

[tashak]

I planted some shallot seed 2-3 years ago, about a foot from a hollyhock. It turned out that was too close, and by the time the shallots came up, the hollyhock leaves had spread and covered them from my sight so I didn't realize they were there. This fall I was digging in that patch, and found lots of the multiplied shallot bulbs. Next time I will give them more distance from other plants. Though the hollyhock leaf shade may have helped shield them from our fierce summer sun?

[lorna-organic]

One can dice and dry shallots easily. They keep well that way. I've dried them in a hanging, non electric, food dryer.

Lorna

[camochef]

I'm wondering if any one has experience on growing shallots and can give me some pointers. Thanks for your assistance! :o)
Doc Jodi

Jodi,
I fell in love with shallot's a couple years back, bought everyone that showed up at farmers markets. Last year I found small bags of them and of garlic in Wal-Mart's Gardening Aisles. Took them home and wound up planting them here in south-central Pa. on the 15th of March. Simply used a stick to make hole in the tilled soil and stuck them in. Fertilized them every time I fertilized my leeks and onions with the same 9-12-12. The grew well! I pulled the first on 22July and was amazed at how many they had multiplied into. I braided them and hung them in a shed. Over the next month or two I'd pull up bunches and braided them and hung them out in the shed. Before the first Freeze hit I went out and brought them all into the house were they are in hanging wire-baskets in the corner of the kitchen. I've got a supply that will get me through the winter easily, if they last that long.
I just love using them in different dishes, as they all but melt away and taste great! I have no idea what type they were, they were simply labeled shallots as was the garlic that they had simply labeled garlic. Treated them all the same and even though I've given away so many, I've still an abundence! Good luck! They required no special skill on my part, other than braiding!
Camo

[pepperhead212]

I planted Bonilla & German Gray shallots last season - a pound of each, which gave me enough to re-plant a lot, plus about a pound and a half of each to eat. The GG was ready with my garlic in mid-July, but the bonilla was barely ready in Sept. It was still about half green, with stalks the size of leeks! The GG, when ready, died back VERY quickly, making it almost hard to find in spots, since it was mulched with straw. It is much smaller than bonilla, making it good when not much shallot is needed in a recipe. Here is a photo of some of the harvested German Gray (http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c18/pepperhead212/Shallots%202008/), plus the plants. I didn't bother taking one of the bonilla - I guess because it looks like the store shallots. Though smaller, I have had none of the GG dry out, which is surprising, since the paper coating seems very thin.

I planted much more this season, since I use so many shallots in all that Thai food I make. I have two 40' and two 45' rows of garlic and shallots combined...should supply me well!