Veg4Show

Finally managed to get the shallots planted out at the weekend (well 60 of them anyway). The weather has not been kind and it just seems to rain every weekend so the ground was still wet but its now or never as I wont have time to plant them for another 4 weeks so they are in. They should be ok even tho the ground is not ideal because its wet it will settle down.

Before planting i applied some calcified seaweed and some seaweed meal and they are growing in a medium manured soil based ground. Shallots are tricky to grow to a good standard and its really about timing. You need to thin them down to 4 and ensure they have space to grow by teasing them apart, when the time is ready i will show you this. At the end of the season it is crucial that you pull them at the correct time when new shoots are still forming to avoid double growth (pregnant bulbs), this can also happen with a sudden uptake of nutrients so do not feed your shallots and ideally lift before any heavy rain when at the correct size to avoid sudden growth.

When it comes to thinning them down you can save any thinning's that have roots on them and plant them in a pot, they will produce nice picking shallots.