I plant mine in the spring - I'm in central Maine. I've ordered seed shallots from Johnny's Seeds and Fedco Seeds with good results from either. I believe I have only planted the Red Sun shallot variety.

Thanks Daria, i was thinking i should plant in the spring also...I just wanted to hear from someone in this "neck of the woods" as to when they planted their shallots, thanks for the tips on suppliers also!

You're welcome! My shallots are actually just about ready to harvest already; the greens have bent over. It looks like they did pretty well, too; each bulb I planted has 5-6 good sized daughters. It's amazing how much money you save vs buying them at the grocery store when you grow them.

I might try planting a couple when I plant my garlic in October this year and see if they survive the winter.

Hi Daria, what varieties of garlic do you sually plant? I planted a small amount of "Spanish Roja" last fall for the first time, it didnt get as large as i thought it might but it did "ok." this fall i will plant it in an area that gets more sun, and i will amend the soil more with compost/organic material. i was also confused as to watering,fertilizing etc etc etc also for this area, i found a lot of good info about that stuff on the G & H Garlic site, they are located in Littleton, NH. I will also be planting other varieties besides the "Spanis Roja" next fall, fresh garlic is starting to show up at local farmers markets, so i'll probably use some of that for seed this fall also.

Hi Pepbob (or maybe just Bob),

Last year I just grew New York White, but this year I added German Extra Hardy and Russian Red hardnecks (hardnecks send up scapes in late June, which have to be trimmed so the proper energy goes into the garlic bulb, and they are yummy). Last year's was OK - not quite as big as the grocery store. I amended my soil better this year and hope for better size. I think I ordered the hardnecks from Fedco and the softneck white from Johnny's this past year - both companies are near me in central Maine and very good with local varieties.

Hi Daria, i plan on ordering about 15 pounds of different varieties of garlic from a farm in Minnesota this summer also i will be getting some form a farm in Massachusetts, and ive seen garlic showing up at local farmwers markets also this summer so i will try and get some of their garlic to plant also.. i will end up with 20 or so varieties, just for fun, The funny thing is iam not a "big" garlic lover as some people are, but i think iam hooked on growing it! Thanks youve been a big help, if you think of anything else i "need" to know, shoot me an e mail! Bob