It will soon be time to harvest your shallots and indeed I put the first pot into my greenhouse last night. This contained the two biggest ones as I want some others to catch up. The idea is that you don’t let any water get at them from the first week or so in June so if heavy rain is forecast you need to lift them. They should have done most of their growing by now so you don’t want a sudden influx of water making them put on secondary growth and going out of shape. I will leave them in their pots on the greenhouse benching so that they dry out naturally.
I see on Liam’s blog that he’s already harvested some monsters, but mine went in a little later than usual this year. Everyone is different in the way they do things but I think my way will stop me having thick necks on my bulbs. Also, by parting the two shallots when the foliage dies back it gives the bulb a more even, rounded shape. At then end of the month I will empty the pots, cut the necks back to leave 2” or so, cut off the roots, peel off all loose skins and store the bulbs upright in boxes of sawdust. One evening I will grade all my shallots into separate boxes depending on size…….over 30mm dia. for the large shallot classes, 25mm-30mm dia. for shows under RHS rules and under 25mm for shows being judged to NVS rules.
I was glad to see that when I lifted the first pot last night there were plenty of roots coming out of the bottom of the pot that had been going into the soil. I shall persevere with the method next season as I’m definitely making progress on size and form.
I see on Liam’s blog that he’s already harvested some monsters, but mine went in a little later than usual this year. Everyone is different in the way they do things but I think my way will stop me having thick necks on my bulbs. Also, by parting the two shallots when the foliage dies back it gives the bulb a more even, rounded shape. At then end of the month I will empty the pots, cut the necks back to leave 2” or so, cut off the roots, peel off all loose skins and store the bulbs upright in boxes of sawdust. One evening I will grade all my shallots into separate boxes depending on size…….over 30mm dia. for the large shallot classes, 25mm-30mm dia. for shows under RHS rules and under 25mm for shows being judged to NVS rules.
I was glad to see that when I lifted the first pot last night there were plenty of roots coming out of the bottom of the pot that had been going into the soil. I shall persevere with the method next season as I’m definitely making progress on size and form.
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