How to grow Shallot

Allium cepa · eschalot

A small, mild, sweet onion grown from sets. Each set forms a cluster of new bulbs that stores well for six months or more.

Quick facts

Type	Vegetable
Family	Amaryllidaceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6–7
Frost	tolerates light frost
Soil for sowing	from 5 °C
Germination	14 days
Sowing to harvest	90 days
Where it grows	Open ground

When to plant

It tolerates light frost: sow straight into the bed about three weeks before your last spring frost.

The first harvest comes about 90 days after the shoots appear.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Growth	every 7 days	—	nitrogen, 16 days into the stage; nitrogen, 46 days into the stage
Harvest	—	—	—

Growing notes

Light

Needs full sun.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil improved with well-rotted manure or compost. Avoid damp soil, where the bulbs rot.

Care

Plant sets with the tip just showing, 10–20 cm apart in rows 25–30 cm apart. Water in dry spells but never leave the soil soggy, and stop once the bulbs have swollen in mid-summer. Feed nitrogen about a month and two months after planting, not after mid-summer. Remove any flower stems. Lift the clusters when the leaves yellow and flop over, split them and dry the bulbs in the sun for about two weeks.

Pests and diseases of Shallot

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.