DIY Network

Shallots and Garlic Shallots and Garlic From "Fresh from the Garden" episode DFFG-124

Discover easy tips and tricks for growing healthy shallots and garlic....

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	Onions are easy to find in mail-order garden supply catalogs or in your local garden center but it’s a lot tougher to find shallots and garlic.
	Shallots are very easy to grow and don’t need a whole lot of attention until they’re ready to harvest.
	Once all of the shallots are separated into individual cloves, check them carefully to make sure there are no signs of disease.
	Garlic is one of the hardiest and most adaptable garden plants. Garlic likes what most plants like, rich deep soil and plenty of food and nutrients to keep it growing.
	Plant garlic cloves in a row. Since each head will get 3-5 inches wide, so plant the bulbs 6 inches apart.

• Onions are easy to find in mail-order garden supply catalogs or in your local garden center but it’s a lot tougher to find shallots and garlic. Luckily they’re easy to find at another source, the grocery store or farmers market. Unlike a lot of vegetables, the shallots and garlic you buy from the store are fine to plant in your garden as long as you take a few precautions to make sure they’re healthy. Each bulb or clove will make one new plant, so buy enough to fill your bed. For garlic a few heads will do, for shallots, a small bag will be enough to get you started.

• Shallots can be very expensive in the store and you may think that means they must be difficult to grow. They’re not! Shallots are very easy to grow and don’t need a whole lot of attention until they’re ready to harvest. You can find sources to buy shallots on the Internet. Shallots can be grown from seed, seedling or from bulbs. Bulbs grow the quickest. The bulbs need to be separated, to do this just simply pull them apart.

• Once all of the shallots are separated into individual cloves, check them carefully to make sure there are no signs of disease. Look for bulbs that are firm and have clean shiny skin. You don’t want to transfer a sick or dirty shallot into your garden. Shallots are very hardy and they rarely get diseased, but it’s best to make sure you always add healthy plants to the garden. For each bulb, make a hole with your finger or the handle of a trowel. Place the bulb 1" deep and 5 inches apart. Gently fill each hole with soil.
  
  
• In a few weeks the shallots will start to emerge. When they come up they’ll look a little like a piece of grass. Make sure you don’t pull it out by accident when you’re weeding. Shallots grow well over the winter but they don’t like to be too cold for a long period of time. Once they’re up, come back and give them a heavy covering of mulch and hay to protect them while they grow.

• Garlic is one of the hardiest and most adaptable garden plants. Garlic likes what most plants like, rich deep soil and plenty of food and nutrients to keep it growing. There are 3 main types of garlic, Stiff-Neck garlic that has a hard stem and evenly sized cloves, Elephant garlic that is very large and has a mild flavor and Soft-neck garlic, the kind you see sold in a braided strand or by the bag in the store. This type is very hardy and easy to come by.

• Each head of garlic is made up of a lot of small cloves. The largest cloves are around the outside and the smallest are in the middle. The meaty interior of the clove is the food source the garlic will use to put up a stem and to put down roots. The garlic cloves around the outside are best to plant because they’re larger and make stronger plants in a shorter amount of time. Most garden pests don’t like the strong smell of garlic. That’s why garlic is a main ingredient in many organic pest control sprays.

• Like shallots, garlic is very adaptable. Over time it will take hold in almost any soil type. It has few pests and even fewer diseases. The biggest threat of transplanting garlic is to make sure the cloves you plant are free of soil. Soil can carry diseases from other gardens and you don’t want to take a chance on adding anything bad to your garden. Make sure the cloves are all clean and the skin that covers them looks shiny and dry.

• Plant garlic cloves in a row. Since each head will get 3-5 inches wide, so plant the bulbs 6 inches apart. Using your finger make a hole 1 inch deep for each one. Set the pointed side up and the flat side down. If you’re not sure which way is up, look for a small brown or tan patch. This is where the garlic clove was attached to the head. The roots grow from this area, so that side should always point down. If your garlic cloves are starting to sprout, put the green stem end up.

• In a few weeks all of the onions will begin to come up. While the weather is still warm during the day, leave them uncovered. Once the temperatures start to drop spread mulch to protect the new stems. Luckily garlic grows under snow and ice for short periods so they will do fine in the winter garden.

• Water the garlic and shallots regularly so they will have enough moisture to open up through their skins. Keep them damp but not wet. Once the ground is moist, add a small amount of slow-release fertilizer along the tops of the garlic and shallot rows. As the fertilizer dissolves it will give the new plants an extra boost of food. Use 10-10-10 because it has a very balanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Water the beds again to dampen the fertilizer just enough to wet it, but not enough to wash it away.