🌱✗ Tested and false“Shallots are usually grown from seed, the same as most onions”
Most shallots are grown from sets, not seed: sets are quicker and better suited to cold regions, while seed is cheaper and less prone to bolting but slower-growing.
Our read Seed feels like the default because it's how most vegetables are described, but shallots are grown more like garlic or onion sets than like a typical seed-raised crop.
What to do: Plant sets in early to mid-spring for the reliable, faster route. Seed is a legitimate alternative if bolting has been a problem, but expect a slower crop.
1 source
- RHSSets are easier, quicker and better suited to cold regions; seed is cheaper, less bolt-prone, but slower
“You can grow shallots where onions grew the year before, since it's a fresh crop”
Onions, shallots, garlic and scallions are all the same rotation family: leave a 4-5 year break between any of them on the same ground to keep white rot from building up in the soil.
Our read It's easy to think of shallots as their own crop since they look and taste different from onions, but as far as soil-borne disease is concerned, they're the same plant family in the ground.
What to do: Track shallots, onions, garlic and any other allium together in your rotation plan, not as separate crops, and leave 4-5 years before returning any of them to the same bed.
1 source
- TeagascAllow a break of 4-5 years between all crops in the onion family, including onions, scallions, shallots and garlic, to limit white rot
“Shallots should be stored somewhere dark, like potatoes”
RHS and Gardener's World give opposite advice here. RHS says store bulbs somewhere light, cool, dry and well-ventilated, and specifically warns that darkness encourages sprouting. Gardener's World says to hang them in a cool, dark, dry place.
Our read This isn't a case where one source is obviously right. Potatoes genuinely do need dark storage to stop them greening and sprouting, so the assumption transfers naturally, but RHS's shallot-specific advice runs the other way.
What to do: Prioritise cool, dry and well-ventilated over the light/dark question, since both sources agree on those three. If you have the choice, RHS's warning that darkness encourages sprouting is the more specific, shallot-targeted claim of the two.
2 sources
- RHSStore in a light, cool, dry and well-ventilated place; darkness encourages sprouting
- Gardener's WorldHang in nets in a cool, dark, dry place
“Planting shallots in autumn always gives a better crop than spring”
Gardener's World frames autumn planting as earning an earlier, heavier crop. RHS allows it for some varieties but specifically warns against autumn or winter planting on heavy, waterlogging-prone soil.
Our read Both claims can be true at once: autumn planting can outperform spring planting on the right soil, and be the wrong call entirely on the wrong soil.
What to do: Only plant in autumn on genuinely free-draining ground. On anything heavier, the safer default is spring planting, in early to mid-spring.
2 sources
- RHSSome varieties tolerate autumn/winter planting; avoid this on heavy, waterlogging-prone soil
- Gardener's WorldAutumn planting yields an earlier, heavier crop
“Hoe between shallots the same way you would any weedy crop”
RHS says to hoe carefully to avoid damaging bulbs or foliage. Gardener's World goes further and recommends hand-weeding instead of hoeing, because shallot roots sit shallow and are easily disturbed.
Our read Both sources agree weeding matters more here than on a crop with shade-casting foliage, since shallot leaves do little to smother competition. They differ only on how much risk a hoe carries.
What to do: Hand-weed close to the bulbs, and if you do hoe further out, go carefully and shallow.
2 sources
- RHSHoe carefully to avoid damaging bulbs or foliage
- Gardener's WorldHand-weed rather than hoe, since shallot roots are shallow
