On 08/03/2012 22:51, Bob Hobden wrote:
"Spider" wrote ...

Bob Hobden wrote:
Planted our Shallots today, ended up with 6 rows, that's 120 feet of
them. Red Sun, Jermor, Devred, French Longue and French Grisse which is
supposed to be the French Chefs favourite, a speciality of SW France.
The Grisse have been growing in modules since Christmas, the French
normally plant them in the autumn I'm told, and I also potted up some of
my own Jermor that had begun to sprout early.
Goodness knows why I bought the Red Sun, probably for pickling but
Jermors pickle brilliantly anyway.



Thank goodness it's only the shallots you've over done ... I thought
for one nasty moment that you might have done yourself an injury! I'm
sure you'll enjoy growing and eating the shallots in due course. Hope
they do well for you.


They usually do well, especially the Jermor which we normally use for
cooking and pickling. The reason we have so many is that on top of those
we intended to plant a friend bought us some from France, a bag of the
long ones and another of the special small grey ones which seem most
unusual with very thick skins. Should be interesting to see how they do.
Then another friend gave us some Devred to try.



Yes, I've heard that shallots often do well, even when onions are having
a poor year. I may try some myself next year. I'm the only real lover
of onions in our house, so there's not much point in my growing
full-sized onions. Shallots sound just the job. In your experience, is
there one that would be mild but flavoursome enough to use in place of
spring onions? More for use with sandwiches than salads.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay