Kitchen Garden Forum

Harvested the rest of the shallots today & it was hard work as soil dry & not the best result but some were decent. Good sized bulbs on the plants that did not split so much, which made me think should I thin the shallots when small? Is it possible even without disturbing the roots too much to stuff them when little & sharing the main root? Can you nip some stems off?

I know I drive you batty with my questions; but when I get in the zone with a task to hand I properly note things & mull over some crazy ideas of how it could be changed to be better next year, but you tell me from experience or reflection from your own growing, which is way superior from someone telling me something they read!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!

Dear Westi, personally I think you would do more harm than good, trying to thin them!
May I ask, do you feed them at all, before they start dividing?
It sounds as if they are going a little hungry and thirsty, at the critical time, just before they start to divide…..

I gave them a wee sprinkle of seaweed granules when they got leaves & they did get a splash when I went around with the hose. I was thinking about the seaweed feed while pondering & was actually wondering if some where overfed. The seaweed I have is really fine granules & will blow away on a soft breeze. My thought was did the ones with a large number of small shallots get all the granules blown that direction & were technically overfed, as the majority of them were at one end of the bed.

I will try the liquid feed next year, unless you can suggest a better alternative that meets their needs better. I read somewhere alliums like wood ash so sprinkled that in when I prepped that bed so maybe they don't like that but it was just wood

I tend to water all alliums more than other plants, they seem to need it, my shallots are not quite ready yet and the Onions from seed will be another month at least.