Kitchen Garden Forum

Never grown these shallots and would like to have a go with them next season.Any Forumite know of a supplier of sets at a reasonable price?The best price I have found so far is £7.99 plus p&p at a silly cost for 20 sets.

Some of these items seem to be ridiculously silly prices. Seems with a little warmth still left in the growing season it would almost be worth trying to grow some from seed if you had some winter warmth to keep them going!

Have you looked on Amazon snooky?

I have bought things on there from the named big UK suppliers less than their catalogue or on site price & cheaper postage. Also found some new UK growers & have just had some garlic from Acqua garden, I bought some plants from them as well & pleased with their service as there was a delay with their plants being ready & they sent me some a dozen other plug plants free with their apology for having to wait, the original order came the next week. Also if you go off grid (ie: page 50 or the like), you can find French & other EU growers for seeds & some sets if the have a plant passport. I found a French farmer on there & also excellent service, I bought onion seeds from him & he even sent me a hand written note for time to sow in my area as looked it up.

Mind you can loose the will to live scrolling through the pages!

I don't think there will be a lot of stock yet, I would wait a bit and see if more competitive suppliers get stock.

Dobies were offering them, got an email from them this week.

Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions.My beef is the p&p costs anything from £4-99 to £6-99 which almost doubles the price of buying the sets.I shall wait and see what the local Garden Centres have to offer when,or if,they have them in stock.If not then it is a packet of Zebrune seed and Boxing Day in the Greenhouse sowing them!!

As a matter of interest because I,ve never grown onions or shallots from seed, what would happen if yiu sowed the seed now, rather than in December, under cover in pots or cells, while there was some still some warmth i the soil and air?

Would they germinate and just "hibernate" in their undeveloped state until the growing season tarted again ?

I know December is the usual time for sowing onion seed but it seems such an odd time to be sowing seeds to me. Can somebody please explain why this is the norm?

snooky, it is ridiculous the price of P&P & I'm sure it is not anywhere near the delivery guys price offered to them. I can recommend the £ shop sets if you have a shop in your area but check regularly as they fly out the door when they come in & go through every pack & have a squeeze! Calling it a £ shop probably needs review in the current climate but still way cheaper than the garden centres & good results, I think they were £1.30 last year for 10 or 12. Wilko's were good value as well but...

Primrose you can sow some varieties now & even plant out if soil is workable. Called something like Senshi Yellow which is a flat based onion with an oriental heritage that will tick over in winter. I sowed mine a couple of weeks ago in deep pots & all up about 2" high, & my aim is to plant them out next month when still a bit of warmth. The main seeds I bought last year were from a French Farmer who said (in a hand written note) to sow September in my area - I did & despite my angst planted them out when big & thick enough as covered the soil while waiting & got the best & biggest onions. I did mesh them as well.