First time shallot grower

[Kimbo]

I noticed my shallots are splitting the soil around them is this normal? I have attached a photo. Do I need to cover them up again?

[zazen999]

Nope, that's how they grow.
I loosen the soil around them to let them grow as wide and carefree as possible. Just picked a load this morning - love them.

[Flummery]

If you leave them exposed to the air (and sun, if we get any more!) it helps them to ripen and the skins will dry up a bit.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hope you don't mind me sticking another question on your thread. This is my first time growing shallots too. How do you know when they are ready to pick? Can you use them straight from the ground or do they have to reach a certain stage of 'ripeness'?

[Flummery]

You can use them straight from the ground but normally you will want them to store for future use too. They are ready to store when they start to dry up naturally. The leaves become like dry straw and you can lift them then and pull the tops off. I keep them in the sort of net you get satsumas in.

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks Flum. I had read about onions and waiting for the tops to go yellow but I have one clump of shallots that look extremely lovely and I fancied using them in the braised beef and red wine I am about to make. Off to pick a bunch now.

[Kimbo]

phew panic over then I thought there was something wrongm - I am looking forward to harvest time

[hawthorns]

i have had red sun shallots in since 24th of feb. i want to use them for pickling should i pull them up and pickle straight away or pull them and leave to dry. 1st time grower aswell

[shirlthegirl43]

That depends how big you want them to be Hawthorns. I picked one 'bunch' of red sun today - they are a bit bigger than egg yolks. Those were not the biggest of them mine - nor the smallest.

[hawthorns]

shirl when did you plant them out

[Snadger]

If you want large shallots, to use similar to an onion (makes lovely gravy!)........plant SMALL shallots!

If you want small shallots for pickling or the greek dish stifado (my favourite) plant LARGE shallots.

Very easy to grow from your own kept sets from the previous year and you can even have seperate beds of large and small as I do!

[shirlthegirl43]

shirl when did you plant them out

Just checked on the 'what I did today thread' and I planted them out on 28th Feb.

[hawthorns]

i made an executive decision and i have pulled up my very disappointing red karmen onions and i am going to pickle them and let the shallots grow a little longer.

[hawthorns]

has anyone else had a poor crop from red karmen onion sets

[Flummery]

Although I love red onions I have stopped trying to grow them. They were always small and puny compared to the white ones.