Shallots and Multiplier Onions
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Kenneth
Posted on: January 13, 2011

I live in the West Island of Montreal and have a pretty good sized garden. A couple of years ago I planted the French Shallot and did not have much luck with it as it did not really produce well.

I am looking for a stronger variety that will be hardy enough for our zone but still produce a shallot like the French Shallot. Can you advise which of the varieties would fit best in my zone and still produce the taste that I am looking for.?

Our best producer, which still has the garlicky taste, is the frog’s leg shallot. Make sure the soil it is planted in is fertile and well drained and do mulch the planting area heavily for the winter. The mulch should reduce winter damage and that in turn will increase yield.

My second question concerns a multiplier onion that I used to grow. It was planted as a bulb and produced many little green onions from this bulb. It was hardy for my zone and in the fall I replanted the bulb and in the spring it produced the little multiplier onions. The bulb had an oak colored skin for the bulb. Can you provide information on which plant I am looking for?

The only multiplier onions that have brown skin are the French and the frog’s leg shallots. The Dutch shallots have yellowish skins and the Welsh onions have green skins. The Egyptian Onion produces a cluster of new bulbs on the top of its flowering stem, so it does not really qualify as a multiplier onion.

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