How to know when to harvest shallots??
 

I have planted garlic for years, but this is the first time for shallots. They were planted from sets. They are well grown. I have been breaking off the flower stocks as they come out. The tips of the green tops are starting to brown. I read somewhere that you need to pull the soil back to expose their tops?? I don't know if that is correct. Any advice or thoughts would be appriciated. Thanks

Not familiar with UK climate for allium crops, but I've been growing
shallots (in New England) for about 2 years now. I treat them like
storage onions: i.e. I let them grow until late summer when the tops
start to die down (not just a few brown tips, which may indicate they
need water). You can use a few during the summer, but I generally wait
until they get a good size, which is generally late August or later.

I never tried pulling the soil back to expose the top of the bulb and
they did just fine. They generally push themselves out of the ground a
bit as they grow.

Mine never set flowers. I assume that they're biennial like other
alliums and would set flowers in the second year. Since I start mine
from seed they're all first year plants. Never tried sets.


runnerducks3 wrote:
I have planted garlic for years, but this is the first time for
shallots. They were planted from sets. They are well grown. I have
been breaking off the flower stocks as they come out. The tips of the
green tops are starting to brown. I read somewhere that you
need to pull the soil back to expose their tops?? I don't know if that
is correct. Any advice or thoughts would be appriciated. Thanks