How to know when to harvest shallots??

[runnerducks3]

I have planted garlic for years, but this is the first time fo

shallots. They were planted from sets. They are well grown. I hav been breaking off the flower stocks as they come out. The tips of th green tops are starting to brown. I read somewhere that yo need to pull the soil back to expose their tops?? I don't know if tha is correct. Any advice or thoughts would be appriciated. Thank

-- runnerducks3

[dps]

Not familiar with UK climate for allium crops, but I've been growing shallots (in New England) for about 2 years now. I treat them like storage onions: i.e. I let them grow until late summer when the tops start to die down (not just a few brown tips, which may indicate they need water). You can use a few during the summer, but I generally wait until they get a good size, which is generally late August or later.

I never tried pulling the soil back to expose the top of the bulb and they did just fine. They generally push themselves out of the ground a bit as they grow.

Mine never set flowers. I assume that they're biennial like other alliums and would set flowers in the second year. Since I start mine from seed they're all first year plants. Never tried sets.

runnerducks3 wrote: