When to Harvest Shallots

Shallots grow much like garlic. In Southern California where you live, plant shallots in fall and during the winter fertilize and water them regularly to keep them growing their leafy tops as much as possible. Do the same with garlic. (A good leafy top on any member of the onion family means the bulb will grow big when the day-length and temperature is right for it to begin to grow.) In spring as shallots begin to create a good root, taper off on feeding. If the roots have not pushed themselves up to the top of the ground, feel with your finger to see how big the bulbs have grown. You can also begin pulling some and using them in cooking in spring as soon as they are large enough to use. About an inch across for each section or separate bulb, should be a good size to begin harvesting as you need them.

When the bulbs are two or three inches in diameter (I mean the whole thing, not the individual sections), that’s the time to taper off on fertilizing. When the tops begin to go brown, then stop watering and let the bulbs dry out for a week or up to two weeks in the ground. When the tops have gone totally brown, pull the bulbs up and dry them on newspaper in a cool shady place such as the garage. Depending on when you planted in fall and where you live this stage may occur in mid to late May or early June. If you cure the crop well as I have described, shallots will keep well for several months. You can braid the tops as with garlic or onions and hang them up, but the usual way is to clean them, pull off or cut off the dry tops and roots and put the individual bulbs into string bags and hang them that way.