I dug up my Shallots a few days ago and dried them out in the sun (before the rain came). They are now happily weathering the wet weather in the potting shed. If the sun comes out again I’ll pop them out to dry some more.
I planted them back in March from some saved Shallots from last season. I wasn’t sure that the bulbs would be okay since I’ve never saved Shallots before but hey… they worked out fine!
I like Shallots. They’re smaller and more usable for our small needs (maybe that will change when my two boys start consuming their own body weight in food everyday, but for now they are fine.)
They tend to be sweeter than Onions with a more sophisticated flavour and are great for caramalising.
And… I can’t help feeling just a little bit smug that the first stored harvest is in the shed!
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 harvested my Shallots a couple of days ago. They had reached the stage where their leaves had flopped over and dried out and the bulbs were looking pretty big. So I took advantage of a sunny day and dug the whole harvest up.
I put them in a wooden tray to dry in the sun for a few days – with the precaution of the lid from my Victorian cloche over them. And today I rubbed off the dirt and put them in this old sieve ready for storage.
They like to have air circulating around them so anything with holes in is ideal. Sometimes I use old Orange bags, or netted shopping bags if I have a lot to store.
I’m pretty happy with the harvest. Last year I grew Longor Shallots which are more bullet shaped than these. This year I went for round ones (can’t remember the variety). Some are a little small but they make a good addition to my son, Jackson’s, meals since he won’t eat a lot of oniony flavours anyway.
I always feel a bit smug when I put away the first harvest of the season for storing. I’m always a bit sad when I see Lettuce go to seed, or a Cauliflower go over. All that effort and I just wasn’t quick enough to enjoy it. With Onions and Shallots it’s a different story – none of it goes to waste (assuming none of them rot) and it feels good to know that all my effort will be rewarded over the coming months.
We’ve had three days of solid, wall-to-wall sunshine. Which means a few things. Firstly, that my Tomatoes are ripening (more on that later) and secondly that I can start to think about lifting my Shallots and Onions. First to go are the Shallots. I planted my own saved bulbs this year and what a success they’ve been? They’re the variety Longor (which tend to be more long, missile-shaped than squat) and they’ve grown even bigger than last year!
I dug them up yesterday, making sure to tease them out gently with a fork and lightly rub most of the dirt off. Then I put them in this old sieve in the sunshine to dry. The sieve is great because it keeps them off the ground and lets the air circulate around them. Once they’re nice and papery, I’ll pack them in my wicker Onion basket and store them in my cool, dry outhouse.
I find that I have more use for Shallots than huge Onions. As there is only the three of us there aren’t many recipes that require a whole massive Onion. And Shallots definitely have a milder taste than Onions, which means they’re great for little fussy tastbuds!
Can anyone recommend some different varieties. I feel like growing some red Shallots (as well as white) next year!
I planted my first shallots this week. Last year I grew red onions (Red Baron) because we mostly eat red onions. I’m not sure why, they generally taste the same as white onions and cost a little extra but I suppose I just like the colour. So in keeping with the ‘grow what you eat’ policy we stuck to red. And a few normal onions that one of my neighbours gave me to plant. They were a great success and we are still eating them now! We don’t eat shallots – infact I’m not really sure what to do with them except pickle them. But this year (this vegetable year, or year 2 for mtp) we are growing Longor shallots, just as an experiment. Because mtp is a strange shape (or ‘irregular’ as David will have it) then it’s difficult to find stuff small enough to fill the ‘corners’ – those little triangles made by the err.. bigger triangles. If you’ve no idea what I mean go here. So I’ve used the shallots to fill those awkward gaps. 15cm apart, in six short rows. Will plant some more in a week or two.
