Meanwhile my shallots are going great guns. I've already picked 10 pickling shallots over the course of the last 5 days as they've reached the 30mm mark. The exhibition shallots (below) are the biggest they've ever been at this stage and seem to be growing visibly in size each day. It's now going to be a case of closely observing the plants over the next 2 or 3 weeks as they need to be harvested towards the middle of the month. You don't want to leave them too long as they can go out of shape. Medwyn reckons you need to look at the new shoots coming from the crown. If these are still emerging you can leave to grow on but if no new shoots are visible you probably need to harvest. Having said that I'm hoping I can harvest over a week or so as they reach a size I have settled on.....48mm diameter. Ideally you don't want any water getting at them from the middle of the month as this can also cause them to go double as secondary growth starts inside the bulb.
These shallots come from Dave Thornton's National winning strain. I won 5 local shows last season after only ever having won that many shows in total in previous years. If I can get anywhere near his National winning set from last year I'll be a very happy man. I visited Dave's allotment after the Medwyn visit a few weeks ago and was pleased to see that his plants were inferior to mine.....in my eyes at any rate! No doubt the big git has some secrets he's not telling me but here's to dreams!
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