Shallots originally come from French cuisine. Like all onions, they belong to the leek family, but have a milder taste than conventional onions and are becoming increasingly popular with us. Garden owners can successfully grow shallots themselves without much effort.
Shallots are planted in May
How is the shallot planted?
If you want to grow shallots in the garden or in a flower box (€16.99) on the balcony, you first have to choose your favorite variety. There are three types of shallots:
- the Jersey shallot is elongated and pink in colour
- the gray shallot is also elongated, relatively small and gray in colour
- the yellow shallot is round and resembles the normal onion
They all need a sheltered, warm spot with as much sun as possible. The soil should be nutrient-rich, humic and slightly sandy. An important criterion for the soil is good permeability. Shallots do not tolerate waterlogging. If the soil is too wet, they quickly begin to rot.
After the ice saints, the seed onions are sown in rows and planted about five centimeters deep in the ground.
The rows should be about 25 cm apart, 15 cm between each bulb is ideal.
care and harvest
Just like the normal kitchen onion, shallots are relatively easy to care for. So that they develop well, a long-term fertilizer, such as horn shavings (32.93€) can be sprinkled around the onions when sowing. Further fertilization is not required. However, the shallots always need sufficient water until they are harvested in July. If there is no water, the onions will remain small.
The right time to harvest is when the onion greens begin to wither. You take the onions out of the ground, tie several to form a bunch and then hang them in an airy place so that the onions can dry out well.