My vegetable garden is scattered with all types of shallots. Last year I grew from seed direct sown (Johnny's F1 hybrid Picador and Saffron), and they did okay, probably half the size they should have been and probably would have done better with better conditions. One bulb grows for each seed planted. The shallots I grew from seed kept amazingly well for about six months. I don't think true shallots go to seed. Johnny's is all F1 hybrid seed. I will probably never sow shallot seed again once I use or give away the rest of the seeds I have. This year I put seed grown bulbs back in the ground to see what happens for vegetative reproduction along with 'true' shallot types like french grey and red shallots. And I'm taking advice that they are effective garden companions to repel unwanted animals and insects, so they get to live with strawberries, spinach, etc.

I planted shallots purchased at the feed store last fall.I got huge tops which bloomed but never died down.Finally ,I cut back all the tops in the spring, hoping the bulbs would finally get the message & mature to be harvested.Nope. Since then, I have a whole new crop of green shoots from multiple little unmatured bulbs. They just won't quit. People here use "onion tops" from shallots to sprinkle on gumbo & most everything else. Do I have a mutant Cajun shallot that never matures/develops a papery skin or am I missing something? I've grown onions before, so maybe I'm expecting onion type behavior from shallots.Don't stores sell mature shallot bulbs, though?? The original bulbs I purchased looked like that. I think...

I pulled my yellow multipliers today along with the rest of my garlic. All the onion plants had gone down but the foliage was not dried off. It will dry off well enough on the curing racks. I intend to braid them and use the braid for kitchen decoration until it is time to plant back this fall. For me that will be the same time I do my garlics and my tulips probably in mid October. I got very nice size but very poor numbers in the nests. These were not started from seed and have not bolted for me more than one or two plants in years, regardless of fall planted or spring planted. I suspect that seed strains of shallots and other multiplier true onions are more likely to bolt than the older pure set strains. The grey gourmet shallots are another species altogether while the rest are all various types of Allium cepa. I have not heard that the greys could be grown from seed or that they bolted.

I haven't grown shallots, but years ago, I read a recommendation for growing onions. If you want to grow onions to eat green, use sets. If you want to grow onions for winter storage and use, use seeds. So, where does that leave us for shallots, I wonder. I was curious and did some searching on Google. There are some wonderful sites out there for shallots... Here is a couple of interesting bits that I found on http://www.shallot.com/ (by the way, I thought this was a great site - information, tips, and wonderful looking recipes) "A unique feature is that seed-grown shallots are used. Compared to the conventional method of growing shallots, where the shallots are propagated from bulbs, this guarantees a virus-free start. " Since I don't know whether virus's are a big problem with shallots, I don't know how much value that bit is to a home grower. "An optimal result in natural shallot cultivation depends on the hours of daylight. For example, there are tropical strains that are happy with a short span of daylight. For countries with a slightly longer number of daylight hours there are intermediate varieties. This means that the shallots get more hours of daylight around the time of the summer equinox. The longer day varieties are cultivated from northern and southern latitudes of approximately 45 degrees. This type of shallot can be stored for a longer period." - makes sense, since they are in the onion family. Here's another good site that I found - http://www.magicvalleygrowers.com/shallots/ They have sections about shallots and many of their 'relatives'. Sorry I don't have any experiences of my own to contribute, but thank you for bringing up the question. I had a lot of fun reading up about shallots. I'll be watching to see what others have to say about their own personal experience and may very well add shallots to my list of items to grow in 2007! Here is a link that might be useful: Shallot site - great recipes and information