Season 2013

I was lucky enough to win in the raffle12 HDN Shallots at the NVS Scottish Branch seminar last Saturday.  On close inspection they had all started to shoot so after taking advice from the forum I decided to plant them up today along with 4 of my own shallots.  As I have not yet ordered up my Levingtons compost I decided to try and mix my own, levingtons give you the analysis of their composts on their web site.  I purchased some of B&Q general purpose compost which is 59% peat this I mixed with shredded peat I had then sieved out the rubbish.  I then added N,P&K  along with some lime to ensure the pH was correct and Perlite to aid drainage.

I had also discovered that a number of the top Shallot growers dip their shallots in a fungicide prior to planting to protect against any nasties so I gave them a dip in Rovral.  I was slightly disappointed to discover that some of the shallots I won were suffering from soft neck rot so after careful inspection I had 7 to pot up along with 4 of my own.  I have labelled the 7 differently from my own and it will be interesting to monitor their progress through out the growing season.  All the shallots are in 13 cm square pots in my unheated greenhouse.  The season begins.