Alliums HATE to be transplanted. They rarely die if they're moved, but they are more likely to start growing their root system all over again, ceasing top (and bulb) growth until the roots are re-established. Transplanting really sets them back.

If you're able to dig deep enough that the roots are undisturbed, that may work; don't know if that's practical tho.

Allium roots are finicky. In my experience, if the surrounding soil is disturbed, or if light is introduced to it, the root dies almost immediately and the bulb grows another in its stead.

Thanks for the information.

Can alliums that have not started to die back be pulled and successfully cured now or is the water content just too high at this point?

I started transplanting last evening from my ancillary beds. I made it through the shallots getting all the dirt I could. I know I lost a few plants as I did not dig deep enough to get all the roots. I will take extra care to protect the roots from sunlight. Details on specific varieties at end of post.

Since transplanting will set them back so much, I will cover them with a shade cloth and make sure to irrigate and give them extra attention to help them recover. With the multiplying onions and shallots I am not so concerned with getting a edible harvest as much as getting enough to replant for the fall for next year. I have sort of written this year off for eating from the garden until after all the work is done in the backyard. Alliums always seem to fade here in July. I know it is related to the day length, but in the years of drought the harvest always seems to come a few weeks earlier (last year a full month) and if it rains I seem to get an extra week or two so hopefully the extra protection will allow the transplants to recover somewhat.

I pulled a few of the smallest garlic plants and the cloves are of a usable size. I am thinking about culling the smallest plants which usually have the smallest heads and curing them. That would bring me down to about 140 heads of garlic to transplant and at least twelve of each variety. Even with a high transplant failure rate I should have enough to replant and the culls should provide garlic for the next year.

The Prince de Bretagne Shallots are doing so poorly (very little top or bottom growth) in my first year growing them that I am confident I got all the roots of about a dozen plants.

The Griselle Shallots had a larger root system and I had to make a decision for a few plants on which one to disturb the roots of. The bulb size is actually decent on the disturbed plants and if I could cure them so they would last to the fall planting the size would be similar to the size shallots that were planted.

The Frog's Leg Shallots (Red) were monsters when I planted them. A few of these are likely lost as the roots seem to run very deep. These seem to be dividing very nicely with each planted shallot being 6 or more small sized shallots. Several clumps had soft rot so hopefully the rest will survive. I will keep these in pots even afterwards as I do not want to introduce a rot disease into the new garden. These will continue to be isolated for another year.

Today I hope to tackle Winter Onions. Only the best clump as a few have started topsetting and I should be able to use those to get the bed reestablished.

Also I hope to transplant some potato onions into a stack of spare plastic nursery pots using the same procedure as the shallots.

And finally move the best two babbington leeks. These have done poorly for me so far, but better each year. I want to keep a couple around for another year or two to see if the pattern continues or at some point their performance levels off.

I've been looking for a good shallot source and am quite wild to know where you got your prince de bretagne from. I haven't been able to locate it anywhhere. Can you help?

I am a Seed Savers Exchange member and received mine from a request last year. The shallots came to me very tiny and have pretty much remained that way. Only a few have even divided. In its first year in my garden this is my worse performing shallot. I did relist this shallot this year but as I only started with about 8 plants I listed it as "Limited Quantity" and already have received the one request that I am able to fufill this year. In the fall I am planning on planting this in an area with more sun (the old area was shady in the first few hours each morning) to see if it performs better. So I am hopeful that next year this will succeed and I will be able to sample a couple and have extra to share.

The backyard grading is now done and I have a new larger garden. I transplanted the asparagus back into the garden, but have not moved anything else back. All the alliums are surviving in their transplanted state. I have barely watered since the first few days and all are doing well. At this point I am busy building a shed and as the alliums seem to be doing pretty well, I am just planning on keeping them where they are for the next month until everything is ready to harvest. Scapes have been removed as they appear and some enlarging of the heads appears to be occuring.

Today I am going to plant some buckwheat in the vegetable garden to keep the weeds under control until I am able to have some time to properly mulch the new garden paths and start planting.

Thanks. I just joined SSE two weeks ago and found out it was too late to get anything this year. I grew french red shallots this year and I've ordered dutch yellow for this fall. What other variety would you recommend?