Shallot tops

Every once in a while, something grows unexpectedly in the garden to surprise and give joy.

I use shallots a lot in our cooking. It brings out another dimension to food when used appropriately.

Our happy pot of shallots started as a resilient little bulb that sprouted in the basket. I kept it aside on the potting rack to pot. But in the midst of renovations, it got forgotten. 

When I next looked, it was a shriveled little clump of sadness that had almost dried out.

I plonked it into a pot of carrot tops I was experimenting with. And this was what it looked like:

It's the poor little cluster at the bottom left. Hopes were not high and it was left to its own devises. 

(Note: The thriving greens with the fancy leaves are carrot tops. Will follow up with a separate post to share the findings of that experiment.)

This morning, after 2 days of torrential morning showers in sunny Singapore, this amazing healthy cluster of joy popped up in the pot!

Just six days after potting, it has grown from 2cm to about 10cm. And from 1 cluster to 3!

 

So now it sits happily in its own pot basking in the sun.

A few sprigs of the shallot tops go straight into our cold soba lunch. Hand in hand with ice cold sparkling water and a slice of lemon from our garden. Perfect combination to beat the heat!

Update 11 Sep 15:

1-2 weeks after enjoying the shallot tops, they died back. A quick search reveals that shallots, onions and garlic do not yield bulbs here in our tropical climate!! 

The greens do flourish, but I have no idea if they last. 

As the little tops were really tasty, I decided to keep a bunch of shallot tops handy. So I popped a little shallot onto a seed pot filled with Welgrow substrate. This time, I had none with shoots. So it's a good opportunity to find out how long it will take to develop shoots. I planted it on 29 Aug 2015. I also did not bury the bulb.

It was a long process to develop the shoot. 2 weeks of little or no action. The roots took a long while to develop as well. 

Then finally on 11 Sep 2015 more than 2 weeks later, the first sighting of some form of life. 

What a relief! Now back to fingers crossed.

Update 16 Sep 2015:

5 days from the first sighting of a shoot, it's still happily going strong. The growth is slower and less impressive than if the bulb was submerged in the soil. But let's see if it lasts longer.