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Re: Onions, garlic, shallots

Hi Judy,

> Following advice here and elsewhere, I harvested my onions when the
> tops fell over.  None was as big as the last joint on my little
> finger!!

Hmm, I wonder what happened ... you may be able to replant these next year, it
sounds like you have grown your own onion sets.  Don't take only my word on it
though.

> Now my shallots are falling over.  What should I do?  Also,

Same as the onions, once the foilage is dying back you can dig these and cure
them in the sun for a few days before putting them in storage.  You can take
some of the nicest and largest and plant a few for next year this fall or wait
to spring.  Plant them shallowly, with the tops of the bulbs sticking out of the
ground, the new bulbs will form at or above the surface.  Mulch well for the
winter.

> the garlic is starting to fall over.  Can't I just leave the garlic in
> the ground forever?  The shallots?  Confused about the garlic, in
> particular!

It's possible to leave the garlic in forever, but I don't think this is your
aim! ;-)  You want to harvest them as the tops start to brown off and fall,
digging the entire bulb with the foilage intact on it.  Cure as with onions and
shallots, leaving them in a dry spot in the sun for a few days.  This dries and
toughens the outer layer, ensuring that they keep as long as possible in
storage.  Store cool, dry and airy.

What happens if you leave them in the ground beyond this is the tops will rot
off and the cloves within the bulb will swell up and start to sprout roots and
then leaves, splitting the outer skin of the bulb.  Still usuable harvested at
this point (better late than never) they don't usually keep as well or look as
pretty.  It happens pretty fast, so once they start to go over you want to get
out there and harvest them while the outer skins are still intact.  Pick the
nicest, largest cloves from the nicest largest bulbs and replant single cloves
in rich, well drained soil the first/second week of October.  Don't plant too
much earlier than this, if they have too much time to grow in the fall they'll
send up shoots which may be killed off by the cold, wasting some of the cloves'
valuable growing reserves.  Mulch well for the winter and remove the mulch come
early spring to allow the tops to grow freely.  Once the tops have grown up
sufficiently in the spring you can mulch around them to keep the weeds down,
they don't like competition with weeds very much.

Cheers!

--
 Bob Carter  -  bcarter@awinc.com
 Kootenay Bay, BC, Canada  -  Zone 6b
--

Remember: the fact that you're paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you!

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