I mentioned before that I 'plant' my shallots in large pots which are buried in the soil (Initially they are grown in smaller pots in the greenhouse from the New Year onwards). I started doing this a couple of years ago and find it has quite a few advantages for the 'show man'. Firstly, it allows me to grow them in a finer growing medium than planting directly into the soil, meaning that they won't come into contact with any hard lumps or stones that may make the thinned out bulbs go out of shape.
This method also makes thinning out easier I find especially as I grow them in my raised beds bringing them to a more manageable working height. In the next 2 or 3 weeks each bulb will have divided into 5 or 6 smaller bulbs. If growing for kicthen use only these would simply be left to grow onto harvest but the showman needs to get bigger and better shaped bulbs. I will carefully reduce each clump down to 2 by peeling back the outer skins and snapping off the ones I don't want. These thinnings will be planted next to the pots and watered....they will bulk out into nicely shaped shallots for the pickling classes for bulbs that must be under 25mm dia.
As soon as each shallot is planted they are fed with Miracle Gro. A slow release fertiliser is mixed into the pots but go easy....shallots don't like too much feed. After thinning, the 2 remaining bulbs quickly grow and will be ready for harvesting from the beginning of June. I will explain what I do next nearer the time.
This method also makes thinning out easier I find especially as I grow them in my raised beds bringing them to a more manageable working height. In the next 2 or 3 weeks each bulb will have divided into 5 or 6 smaller bulbs. If growing for kicthen use only these would simply be left to grow onto harvest but the showman needs to get bigger and better shaped bulbs. I will carefully reduce each clump down to 2 by peeling back the outer skins and snapping off the ones I don't want. These thinnings will be planted next to the pots and watered....they will bulk out into nicely shaped shallots for the pickling classes for bulbs that must be under 25mm dia.
As soon as each shallot is planted they are fed with Miracle Gro. A slow release fertiliser is mixed into the pots but go easy....shallots don't like too much feed. After thinning, the 2 remaining bulbs quickly grow and will be ready for harvesting from the beginning of June. I will explain what I do next nearer the time.
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