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Yippee!
This may not be very exciting to you seasoned gardeners, but after several failed attempts to grow onions, it's fantastic to have an actual crop. I think someone posted on here last year or the year before, "This is why I grow shallots instead of onions." Sorry I can't remember who, but thanks for the suggestion.

Are they worth growing from seed, and if so, should I start soon for next year?

Well done, Zech! They're definitely of the onionish variety.

I can't be too bothered to do the standard joke and hide it, so that shallot.

(See - told you I couldn't be too bothered. This post can now join all the others with the same joke in them )

Mike

PS - Life is too short for me to grow any onions from seed. I'll get shouted at for saying that. But it saves me a whole year every time I plant sets.

I was waiting for someone to say whether it was worth it or not. We always use sets too.

I've never grown shallots but I might have a go if they're ready this early. It'll be a while before we'll be harvesting ours, but they're starting to fill out nicely now.

Zech wrote: I think someone posted on here last year or the year before, "This is why I grow shallots instead of onions." Sorry I can't remember who, but thanks for the suggestion.

Ah, that would be me, last year about this time, and me being true to form didn't grow any this year.
I'm pleased my comments were of use and allowed you to harvest some fine shallots, well done.

Growing onions from seed is easy, a lot cheaper, but more importantly gives you a lot more choice over varieties. Onion sets are for terminally lazy unimaginative people who are happy with a choice of only 3 varieties, instead of dozens for seed.

I grew some from seed this year by the way.

Odsox wrote:Onion sets are for terminally lazy unimaginative people who are happy with a choice of only 3 varieties, instead of dozens for seed.

What? WHAT?

Absolutely correct, Sir.

Cheers, Tony

I'll put my hand up to lazy and unimaginative, but anything that's a lot cheaper is worth a shot.

The shallots look good.
I do both.Mainly because I don't find growing from seed as easy as Tony. Robinsons every time for the seed..Now our garden is so much smaller,it's a challenge never having to buy an onion,but we've made it this year(just).If you ever grow any onion,find some Jap seeds and sow in a moth's time(or sets in Sept.) They're dead easy.I pull them from early May,through to mid August.

I can't really understand having trouble growing onions from seed, I presume then you don't grow spring onions or leeks as they are as difficult or as easy as onions. Plus you have to keep buying onion sets, at least from seed you can save your own seed from those pesky ones that insist on bolting for no good reason.
If you want easy then grow shallots, you can keep them going forever without buying replacements.

I see I have a lot more work to do, can't grow onions, can't grow parsnips, can't grow ... mutter, mutter.

The problems I've had with onions from seed,have usually been either 'all neck and no bulb',or bolting.I think they need to grow steadily,no extremes of temp .rough handling when transplanting etc.This might explain why I never fail with the over wintering types.

ojay54 wrote:The shallots look good.
I do both.Mainly because I don't find growing from seed as easy as Tony. Robinsons every time for the seed..Now our garden is so much smaller,it's a challenge never having to buy an onion,but we've made it this year(just).If you ever grow any onion,find some Jap seeds and sow in a moth's time(or sets in Sept.) They're dead easy.I pull them from early May,through to mid August.

Japanese onions? I thought those were the same kind of thing as Welsh onions (which I'm trying, but the cat keeps sitting on them, so they're not doing so well) but I just looked them up and they're not. I'll definitely give those a go.

Leeks do quite well here - I do live in Wales, after all - but I'm not getting very far with spring onions. They keep getting chewed off, I think by slugs. They're growing back, though, so I might get something worth harvesting eventually.

Nice to see someone else done good with shallots this year.