so i started growing onions (shallots) and also red onions at the back end of april …i know that when the foliage starts to go yellow they are about ready ( i think),, thats what it says on the tag anyway…. so mine are turning yellow colour yet it says to harvest them in autumn, so im confused…when you eventualy lift the onions do you have to let them dry out or something for 2 weeks…sorry im new to this…. 😉

the shallot sets I planted in March look as if they are ready to come out of the ground, sadly I think pidgeons have been at my red onions there must be a quarter of the ones I planted left in the ground 🙁

The thread title promised so much…

Go by how they look leave them in as long as they need. The onions use their foliage to feed the bulb. Once the foliage looks rubbish, collapsed, yellow then that’s all the growth you will get.So thats when to get them out.

Lift them lay them out to dry and start using them. I start eating from the point i lift them the drying is to aid storage.

My shallots and onions came out this weekend

Thats shallot!!

IGMC

thats funny….thats shallot…. 😉
well i will leave them a tad longer cos there’s still some green foliage left, i put ‘netting’ in my ‘veg box’ so nothing can be lifted by pigeons etc cos our area suffers bad with those nuisance dam flying rats… 😉
in a separate veg box i have some watercress growing in abundance and celery which is coming on a treat ! 🙂

I was very tempted to lift some shallots yesterday but I managed to resist. Don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to last though!

Shallots by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Make sure you dont let them flower top any flowering stems, they are ready to lift when the leaves flop over. My onions are all harvested but I planted them at Xmas. Leave the roots intact and the foliage on for a couple of weeks in a light airy place, then cut the stems and roots of and leave them to dry a bit more for storage or just eat them.