Gadenin日本語Get the appThe dying tops are the signal to lift
In early summer the tops yellow from the tips down, flop over and dry to straw. That is not the plant failing; it is a summer-dormant crop finishing its year on schedule, and the die-back is the only harvest indicator you need. Underground, the clump is now a tight cluster of ten or more bulbs that have taken back everything the leaves were holding.
Wait until the tops are properly down rather than merely yellowing at the tips. The last week or two of die-back is when the final reserves move into the bulbs and the skins set. A clump lifted while it still carries green leaf gives bulbs with a thin, clinging skin, a soft neck and a texture that goes limp rather than crisp when pickled.
Do not wait indefinitely either. Once the tops are fully dead, the bulbs sit in warming soil, and in a wet early summer they begin to rot in place or to break dormancy and root again. The window between fully down and starting to deteriorate is roughly two to three weeks in most gardens.
Lift on a dry day after several dry days, so the soil crumbles off the bulbs instead of caking on. Wet soil clinging to the skins means washing, and washing this crop before storing is a direct route to rot.
Lifting the clump without damaging bulbs
The bulbs sit shallow and packed together, and every one you spear with a fork is a bulb that will rot rather than keep. Work the fork in well outside the clump and lever the whole cluster out in one piece, then take it apart with your fingers in the air rather than in the soil.
- Fork out from four inches (10 cm) outside the clump Push the fork in beyond the spread of the cluster and lever gently upward from underneath. Never pull on the dead tops; they tear off at the neck and leave the bulbs behind.
- Shake off soil by hand Knock the clump against the back of your hand and rub the dry soil away with your fingers. Do not wash, and do not hose the bulbs down in the garden.
- Break the cluster into single bulbs The bulbs separate along natural lines with a gentle twist. If a pair resists, twist rather than tear so you do not damage the base plate, which is where any rot enters.
- Sort as you go Put the largest, firmest, best-shaped bulbs aside for replanting in autumn. Anything soft, split, spear-damaged or sour-smelling is thrown out on the spot rather than mixed into the good ones.
- Trim only what you are about to use Cut the roots close and the dry tops to half an inch (1 cm) on the bulbs going straight to the kitchen. Leave the bulbs kept for replanting untrimmed until they have dried down.
These bulbs sprout in days, so use them fast
This is the crop's one real inconvenience and it dictates the whole harvest day. Pickling shallot has a very short natural dormancy after lifting, and within a matter of days at ordinary room temperature the bulbs begin pushing a green shoot from the tip. A sprouted bulb is not dangerous, but it goes soft in the center, loses its crispness, and is disappointing pickled.
Plan the harvest around what happens next. Lift only as many clumps as you can clean, trim and either cook or put into brine within about three days, and leave the rest in the ground for another week if the ground is dry. If you must hold bulbs, keep them somewhere cold and dark in an open container with air moving, which buys you perhaps a week, or refrigerate untrimmed bulbs in a paper bag for up to two weeks. Sealed plastic does not help; it holds moisture and speeds rot.
The traditional answer is to pickle immediately, and it is still the right one. Brining or pickling within a day or two of lifting captures the bulbs at their crispest, and once in the jar the sprouting question disappears entirely.
| What you do with the bulbs | How long they stay good | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pickle or brine within a day or two | Months in the jar | Best texture; this is what the crop is for |
| Cook fresh | Three to five days at room temperature | Trim only when you are ready to use them |
| Cold dark room, open tray | About a week | Check daily and use any that show a green tip |
| Refrigerated, untrimmed, paper bag | Up to two weeks | Sprouting slows but does not stop |
| Dried down for autumn replanting | Until the soil cools in autumn | Cure two weeks in shade, then store cool and airy |
| Sealed in plastic | Days, then rot | Trapped moisture; avoid entirely |
Keeping back next year's planting stock
Set aside the best bulbs from the best clumps before you take anything to the kitchen, because once cleaning starts the good ones disappear first. As a rough guide, keep back one bulb in ten, choosing the largest and firmest with an intact skin and no damage at the base plate. From a bed of twenty original plantings you will have far more than you need.
Those replanting bulbs are handled differently from the eating ones. Leave the dried tops attached, spread them in a single layer on a mesh tray in a shaded, airy, roofed place for two to three weeks until the skins are papery and the necks are tight, then keep them in net bags or open baskets somewhere cool, dark and airy until the soil cools in autumn. Check them every couple of weeks and remove anything soft, and if a batch starts sprouting early, plant it rather than fight it.
Count what you lift. Recording the number of bulbs from each clump, and the ratio of bulbs lifted to bulbs planted, gives you the health of your stock as a single figure. A ratio falling from ten or more towards four means the ground is tiring or disease is building, and you have a season's notice to move the bed.