Kitchen Garden Forum

I shall be following your lead JB and sowing on Boxing day also.

Me too.

In reply to Johnboy - yes Jermor are grown from sets - what I have always thought was the way to grow shallots.
All I have read in the past about "shallots" from seed is that you only get a reasonable crop by sowing a lot of seed and taking a lot of care - as with onions from seed. Whereas with saved shallots (sets) you put 'em in and they grow.
I notice that Simpson's list their Cuisses de Poulet du Poitou under Echalion "New name for long shallots". Scallions are Spring Onions in places as far apart as Scotland and the West Indies.
I notice too that previous posts refer to seed from Banana shallots. I do not want my shallots to bolt to seed. What exactly are Banana shallots? They sound like an onion to me. I have grown Rouge Long de Florence (definitely an onion) from seed. These are long and about two to three times the size of a normal long shallot, but they are definitely an onion. Very delicious too.

Hi Alan,
I too think that the "Banana Shallot" is an onion because if you read my report on dissecting them they do have the same metabolism as an onion with very few chances to split into what we know as a Shallot.
If you dissect an onion there are possibilities for it to produce offspring if re-grown the year after harvest but I suspect that most them would go to seed.
The Banana Shallots that I dissected were between 5 and 6 inches long and about 1.5 to 1.75 inches wide.
We are all really growing from seed this year as an experiment. I hope that you take up Piglets offer of seed and you join in the experiment.
JB.

Hi JB, for those of us taking part in the experiment, can I ask for some extra info?

I believe the advice is to sow the seeds straight after Xmas and start off in a frost-free greenhouse. Sadly I only have a choice of:
- An unheated greenhouse
- A conservatory

Can you advise which of the two would be best?

The best I could manage for the grenhouse would be to buy a paraffin heater, as I can't manage electric in there.

Would the conservatory be too warm? What are the outcomes of using either (I guess either a very slow germination, or too fast initial growth...?)


Colin

I would agree with the opinion of Johnboy as far as the banana shallots I grew last year. I suspect that they were actually red torpedo onions, which is one reason that I am not repeating the experiment. I originally bought them from Lidl (incidentally I noticed them again in Lidl yesterday). They originally looked like elongated red shallots about 2in long. When I grew them they did not go to seed, but only split into two/three banana shallots/torpedo onions about 4 - 5in long.

Happy growing,

Mike T

I read somewhere (I think it was Robinsons?) that sowing Leeks before the last week in January would only serve to make them bolt later on.

I'm only 'curious' really, as to why this doesn't apply to Shallots or Onions.

Get my drift?

I've got as far as filling the modules with half'n'half Levingtons and JI2 and watered. 'Big Day' tomorrow actually sowing Banana Shallot Seeds.

I'm going to do the Barrington Bananas in one tray, and the Piglets in another, and then compare results.

Any thoughts or knowledge on the Leek vs. Onion/Shallot sowing date would interest me hugely.

Hello Wellie
Both leeks and onions are biennials producing bulbs in their first year ready for more growth and then flowering in their second year. I think the answer to your question lies in the factors which cause flowering (or bolting when its unwanted flowering).
In leeks a cold spell is required so while very early sowing and germination may well be successful, a late cold spell might fool the young plants into thinking that they've just been through a 'winter' and start them into their flowering stage. Later sowing is recommended to overcome this.
In onions, bulbing and flowering is initiated by day length so any cold spell after an early sowing won't start them into the flowering stage. The plants have to wait for a long day stimulus (16 hours - which is midsummer for us) before beginning their bulbing/flowering stage.

Seasons greetings from the Forest
John

Hi John !

I understand that now, thank you. Very well explained, if I may say so....!
And our very best wishes to you from our little neck of The Royal Forest of Dean.
Wishing you well for the New Year John,
Wellie
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