I had ordered shallots from Shumways, and had an area all prepared to plant. I got a notice that my shallots were back-ordered. Hey, I'm in Texas, the planting window of opportunity just slammed shut! Now I'm wondering if I could treat them like garlic and winter onions--plant in late September for a spring harvest. If so I'll e-mail them and tell them when to ship, or if that's not possible, get a refund. Does anyone have any experience and/or advice about fall planting of shallots?
I assume you ordered sets? I have kept sets all winter and planted them in spring but they weren`t shallots !! I don`t really see why you couldn`t but you might need to let them spend some time in the vegetable section of your fridge if you get them now to halt sprouting or like you said ship and plant in fall.
Yes, they are sets, a red French variety that I really wanted to try! I'll try e-mailing Shumway to ship in September (hope their customer service is better than their chain of supply ). If not, I'll put them in the fridge, as you suggested and hold them until early spring. Thanks for the advice!
Jane, I tried them last year and the only advice some one gave me was to keep them weeded. We had so much rain that I couldn't keep up with the weeds, so I didn't have a shallots crop. It was my first year to try them, I'm not doing them this year...Maybe next year.
Carolyn, I figured their cultivation was pretty much like onions and garlic, who really don't like weeds, so thank you for confirming my suspicions. What variety did you plant?
Jane, I have no idea what the variety was, I bought a bag of them at the store. I didn't order them. I just wanted to try them...which was a failure for me.
Well, IF I get shallots, and IF they grow well for me, I'll send you a few to see if they grow for you as well. That's a lot of IFs!
Okay with me. I'll try them again. Hopefully our summer is a little drier than last year, but not as dry as yours . Thanks
