Shallot haul

[Mothy]

I'm beginning to realise that I actually love this allotment lark  ;D even though it is my 1st year!

I've just spent some time stringing up my Shallots that have dried in the greenhouse and I reckon 2lb of golden sets has yielded 12lb of usable shallots. They made 2 ropes of 5lbs each + a couple of pounds in the fridge (went to seed and need using) I don't know if this is low/high or whatever....I don't mind!!

Today i picked a boat load of lovely French beans after the recent rain, 6 more good sized beetroot that are soooo sweet, 6 courgettes, 1st outdoor tomatoes, Maris Bard new spuds, 2 more burpless cucumbers, another fistfull of Nantes carrots and a good helping of radish....life feels very good at the moment!!

[Mothy]

[weedin project]

Nice ropework Mothy - very impressed 8).  Makes my string of garlic look somewhat sad :'(

Also a very impressive haul for an evening :D

[return of the mac]

that' s ha llot ;D

[Mothy]

Done 2 that size tonight....took a while, Mrs Mothy thinks I'm nuts???!!!

[tim]

Great looking bulbs!

[TEL]

There a good size bulb what make are they.

[Icyberjunkie]

Very impressive - a great feeling isn't it.  Not something I grew though cos I can never be bothered to spend the time peeling them!!!!

[spacehopper]

Great job!  ;D Looks like you won't be buying shalottes or onions at the supermarket for a while...

[Mothy]

Tel - variety was Goulden Gourmet and a 1lb of loose sets from our local, cheap as chips garden centre, that were labelled as Dutch Yellows, they cost about 50p rather than what looked to be the norm of £1.00/bag.

The onions are looking ok too.....I was about to fetch them up to dry off before all this rain.....now I guess they will have to stay in a good few more weeks.

[Moggle]

They look great  :D I grew golden gourmet this year, and they did really well for me too.

[westsussexlottie]

I grew red skinned shallots "red sun" and they are brilliant.
Jermor and longor produced lots of bulbs but they are much smaller.

[Mothy]

Westsussexlottie,

I too have "red sun" but they are still in the ground.....be a while before they are harvested now, after all this rain!! Glad to hear yours were good......here's hoping!!

[moonbells]

After not having enough last year for pickling, I bought two bags of Topper from Marshalls, and planted them all out in good time.

The two bags came up differently. One has done what it's supposed to and produced clusters of lovely looking shallots. The other bag has produced three splits at best, usually two and a few singletons, all without exception have bolted and the bulbs are larger than most of my onions.  And they are all in the same bed (with a diagonal line delineating the two bags as that's how I seem to have planted them!)

I am thinking of taking close-up photos and having a whinge at Marshalls as I'm pretty sure they are not the same variety! Comments from fellows up the lottie were that the odd bag didn't even look like shallots!

(I've left two of them to flower - so I can collect the seed. Could be interesting...)

Anyone else had any funny Toppers?

moonbells

[TEL]

Hi Moonbells
I think a complaint is in order hear.

[jennym]

Moonbells - DO have a whinge at Marshalls, they are pretty good and will usually give you replacements or money back.

[moonbells]

Will do. Just had new catalogue which insists you can order online but website is still defunct... *sigh*

I hope to dig them today so shall take incriminating photos and pop them up here as they really are quite weird!

moonbells

[Mothy]

Moonbells, how long did the Marshall's catalogue take to arrive??

I ordered one over a week ago and was wondering whether to bother chasing them up.

[Mrs Ava]

Received my Marshalls catalogue at least 2 weeks ago!  Marshalls are good, I complained about squished onion sets last winter and they replaced both lots, no questions asked.