How to Grow Shallot
Shallot At a Glance
Difficulty
Easy
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Frost Tolerance
Frost Hardy
Cold Hardiness
Survives to -15°C
Plant Family
Amaryllidaceae
Growing Season
Cool Season
Plant Lifecycle
Biennial
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Plant shallot bulbs in early spring, about 4 weeks before your last frost, as soon as the soil can be worked. Push each bulb in pointy end up, about 2 cm deep so the tip just shows, 15 cm apart. Each bulb grows into a clump of several new shallots by summer.
Plant one shallot and you harvest a whole clump, so a small bag of bulbs goes a long way. Keep the biggest, firmest bulbs from each harvest to replant, and you never need to buy them again. Start with bulbs from a garden centre or seed company rather than the grocery store, since store bulbs can carry disease.
When To Start
Shallot likes cool weather. Sow it in early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked.
We do not have exact sowing dates for this one yet.
When should you plant Shallot?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Shallot Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Shallot Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Plant shallot bulbs pointy end up, tips just showing
4 weeks before your last frost
Lift shallots once most tops have yellowed and fallen
100 days after your last frost
Did you water your shallot seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Time to thin the shallot seedlings: snip the extras at soil level so each one has room to grow.
About 30 days after you plant it
How are your shallots coming along? Keep the bed weeded, since shallots do not like to share space.
About 53 days after you plant it
Your shallots are getting close. Ease off watering once the tops start to yellow.
About 87 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your shallot.
About 100 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Shallot's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 1
Prepare Your Space
2 cm
Seeding Depth
15 cm
Plant Spacing
30 cm
Row Spacing
4
Plants / Sq Ft
Vertical Growing
No.
Succession Planting
No.
Good Companions
Bad Companions
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 10–20 days
Growing Tips
- 1Give shallots full sun.
- 2Plant them in loose, well-drained soil with compost mixed in.
- 3Water when the top 2 to 3 cm of soil is dry, and stop watering once the tops start to fall over.
- 4Feed once with compost tea or worm castings about a month after planting.
- 5Pull weeds by hand often, because the thin leaves give little shade and weeds take over fast.
- 6Shallots, like onions, are toxic to cats and dogs, so keep pets from chewing them.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~100
Days to Maturity
40 cm
Mature Height
15 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
14 days
When to Pick
Lift when the tops yellow and fall, early to midsummer
How to Harvest
- 1Shallots are ready in summer when most of the tops turn yellow and flop over.
- 2Loosen the soil with a fork and lift the whole clumps.
- 3Lay them out in a dry, airy, shady spot for 2 to 3 weeks until the skins are papery and the necks are dry.
- 4Cut off the tops 2 to 3 cm above the bulbs, and separate the clumps.
- 5Store them in a mesh bag in a cool, dry place, where they keep for several months.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
The easiest thing to save is the bulb itself: set aside the biggest, firmest shallots from your harvest and replant them next spring. Store them with the rest in a cool, dry place, and throw out any that go soft. If you grow shallots from seed, they flower in their second year like onions and can cross with onions, and only varieties that are not hybrids come true (hybrid F1 seeds will not). Shallot seed, like onion seed, keeps only 1 to 2 years.
Seed Production
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