Too late for onion and shallot sets?

[forkinweeds]

Hi, this is my first post on The Grapevine.

I bought some onion a shallot sets about 3-4 weeks ago but for the first two weekends I couldn't get round to planting them, and now, after our heavy snow, we're expecting heavy rain all weekend. I've heard that you shouldn't plant the sets if the ground is too wet.

When can I plant onion and shallot sets until?

Thanks, I look forward to your worldly knowledge.


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[shirlthegirl43]

Hello and welcome to the vine.

Does it not say on the packs when to plant them? some onions should be planted to overwinter and others can be planted in spring. I am no expert but have learned that much from on here.

[madderbat]

Hi forkinweeds,
Welcome to the vine. Hope you'll be happy here and join in the mayhem. I don't know much about this, think it may be ok to plant them late spring, but Piglet Willie is our shallot man, and he'll be along later with genuine info I expect.

[Lesley Jay]

Welcome to the Grapevine Forkinweeds!

Shallots usually go in the ground in February and onion sets in March but not in really wet ground. You will need to let the ground dry out a bit.

[pigletwillie]

As LJ says, plant your shallots in February although you will get a reasonable crop if planted as late as April but this is not ideal as the shallots will be mainly picklers. As for onion sets, I plant mainly in raised beds which bring the season forward a little but plant these at the end of February or into March. The earlier you can SAFELY get them in the bigger your yield as onions and to a certain respect shallots put mainly leaf growth on until midsummers day and then are triggered to buld up. Obviously the more green you have by midsummer then the bigger your resulting onions will be.

With regard to Red Baron, these are renowned for running to seed, even the heat treated ones. I would hold off planting these until the end of March as a cold snap will make a fair percentage of any planted out bolt. Starting this year mine will be covered with fleece to see if any improvement occurs in this problem.

[forkinweeds]

Great! Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I though I was running out of time but looks like I have plenty. I'll hold out and wait for the weather to dry up a little before I plant.

I'll be checking in soon. Keep diggin'