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'Matador F1' Shallot Plants
High yielding and stores for months
Grown by Josh
South Downs National Park
The highlights
- A super reliable red-brown globe shaped shallot
- Sweet and delicious caramelised in stews
- Plant in rows in raised beds and veg plots
- Harvest from July to September
Description
- Reddish-brown shallot bulbs with a superb flavour - high yielding with great storage ability
- Mild and sweet flavour ideal for roasting, adding to casseroles and pies or making a savoury tarte tatin
- Grow in rows in open ground or raised beds for the best results
- You will receive a strip of sixteen healthy young plants ready to grow on
- F1 hybrid plants bred for improved vigour, yields and disease resistance
- Plant out after the first frosts and harvest from July to September. Keeps for months!
- Premium plants grown by vegetable experts on a family run farm in Lancashire and sent to you at the best possible time for planting
- Growing your own gives you healthy, fresh produce with a lower carbon plantprint than anything you can buy from a shop
- Easy to grow and care for - simply remove your plants from their strip and pot them on individually until the last chance of frost has passed and they're ready to plant outside
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What To Expect
Supplied as:
Height on arrival:
Eventual height:
Eventual spread:
Tasting notes:
Time to first crop:
Hardiness:
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Rootstock:
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How To Grow
Good pest and disease resistance
Our vegetable plug plants are bred for good pest and disease resistance, but may still be susceptible to common problems. Downy mildew can be a problem especially if plants are too close together. To avoid this ensure there is plenty of room for light to reach the base of plants and for air to circulate. When watering, apply directly to the soil and not overhead. Onion white rot is another possible problem. This is a soil borne fungus, which causes the leaves to turn yellow and a white fluffy fungus will then appear at the base of the bulbs - avoid planting in infected areas and keep the planting area tidy and free of debris.
Water regularly
When you first plant your shallot plants give them a good water, then keep the soil consistently moist. Usually until June the UK rain will take care of that, but, if there are any dry spells, you should go out and feel the soil. If the soil is dry to the touch, then give the plant some water. As shallot plants have shallow roots it is important to always be vigilant and to ensure that the soil does not dry out. It is also important to see if the soil is draining away well. If the soil becomes soggy this will rot the bulbs.
Full sun to partial shade
Shallot plants do best when planted in full sun but can deal with a little partial shade. Position them where they will get 6-8 hours of sunshine every day.
Any fertile, well-draining soil
Shallots will grow well in fertile, well-draining soil. If you are planting your shallots in the ground it is recommended that you rake in a layer of garden compost into the surface layer as onions have very shallow roots. If your soil is very clay-heavy or sandy, then mix in quality compost at a rate of three parts compost to one part topsoil to use as your soil.
No feeding needed
Shallots will get all of their nutrients from the soil. If possible, cover the soil you would like to use with well-rotted manure the previous autumn to give it some slow-releasing nutrients and to also improve its texture.
Planting Calendar
- Best time to plant
- Harvest
- Flower
South Downs National Park
Meet Josh
Slow grown veg from the sunny South Downs
Our vegetable plants are sown on a family farm in Lancashire, then nurtured into strong young plants by Josh in the sunny South Downs before they rock up in your garden. By selecting only the strongest and tastiest varieties, Josh makes sure you get a headstart on your plot, with impressive crops and no waste.
What customers say about us
We do our best to provide you the best experience ever
Growing with Roots
Good to know
Our plants are grown in the UK
Specialist UK growers we know and trust grow your plants the traditional way, with organic fertiliser and biological pest control. They pick only the healthiest plants for you, professionally pruning them so that they’ll grow strong and well shaped.
Our plants are delivered overnight
Your plants are sent to you fresh from the field in our plastic free box that’s specially designed to hold them tight, then securely delivered by specialist plant couriers - straight from the grower to your garden within 24 hours.
We’re here to help at every step
We want your plants to have a long and healthy life. Expect easy-to-follow grow guides and videos devised by our team of experts.
Perfect plants, guaranteed
We’re confident that you’ll be delighted with your new plants. Need help? Alice and her team are here to guarantee you’re perfectly happy.
Learn from our experts
Growing Onions: The Complete Guide
Digging deep to answer your questions
How do I know I'm getting quality plants?
All of our plants are grown in specialist nurseries with the highest standards of plant care and sustainability. We guarantee you'll love them as much as we do! Don't just take our word for it - we've got thousands of great reviews on Trustpilot.
When will I get my plants?
The delivery timescale for each plant is on the web page (near the 'add to basket's button). You'll receive a dispatch email with an exact delivery date once your plants are on their way, so you can get the garden ready.
How will my plants be packed and delivered?
We send all of our orders through a courier network designed to handle plants. Specialist equipment ensures that no plants will be damaged during the packing process and every order is carefully finished and checked by plant-loving humans. Your plants will arrive in the most sustainable packaging possible with minimal to no plastic used.
Where do you deliver?
We deliver to anywhere in Mainland UK for our standard delivery cost. We are able to deliver most plants to Highlands and non UK mainland however this will be at an additional cost. This will be calculated at the checkout. Please note, deliveries to these locations will take longer. Unfortunately, we are not able to deliver to Northern Ireland at present.
Ask the grower
One of our trusted growers will get back to you via email within 24 hours
What customers say about us
We do our best to provide you the best experience ever
Excellent delivery and service
Well, the delivery was spot on, the tree looks healthy enough for a sleeping plant, although at the moment most of the branches are on one side of the trunk which in itself is bent banana-style. quite wonky. One can only hope that it grows into a fruitful plant with some character?
30 January
Nice sized tree in good condition
Time will tell on the quality of the product (bare-root apple trees), but the stems that arrived seemed in great condition and very well packaged so no damage in transit. Looking forward to Spring!
Ange
Appears v healthy
Very happy with purchase
Ms Arlene Bocking
Lovely tree
So happy with my purchase of my Braeburn Hillwell apple tree from Roots Plants. It arrived promptly, well packaged and in a good, healthy condition. I soaked it for an hour before planting and it's doing well. Looking forward to our home grown apples, in time.
Ms Arlene Bocking
It has picked up now and is growing well
It arrived in a heat wave and looked a little bit sorry for itself when planted out but it has picked up now and is growing well.
David Osborne
Good service all round
Arrived on time as the seller said it would and the courier gave me a time slot to track my parcel. It came well packaged and was of good quality for this time of year. It looks a good and healthy tree and will be planted up in a few weeks after the ground has been prepared. I’m pleased with my purchase.
Helen