[snow white]

First year of growing so need advise.  Dryed shallots for four weeks and onions and garlic for 2/3 weeks in the polytunnel. The onions and garlic are now on a metal rack in my shed.  Can I leave them like it till the frosts?  Then can I store them in net bags in a cupboard?  The shallots I just put straight into net bags - should I have dryed them out longer and is it ok to store them like this?  So much to remeber with this growing lark!

[angelavdavis]

RHS recommendation:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=680#section2

[snow white]

thanks - looks like I have it right!

[compostqueen]

I keep some garlic, onion and shallots in the conservatory on decorative plates. It's next to the kitchen so handy
The alliums you have in store in the shed or wherever should be checked regularly so that any that are going soft can be chucked out

So, think about where you're going to put them. If it's out of your reach you won't check it often enough. Keep it to hand 

[Sweetpea C]

From the RHS 'Store in light, cool, dry and well-ventilated place. Storing in the dark encourages sprouting' I didn't know that, my shed probably isn't the best of places then because it's quite dark... looks like we're going to get some kitchen decorations then!!!

[compostqueen]

I keep loads of things in my conservatory so I have them to hand when I'm cooking. Onions, shallots, garlic, chillies, squashes, courgettes and such like. Bowls of tomatoes too. They look great ! 

The bulk of the alliums get hung up from my shed rafters and the shallots on stacking racks.

All my squashes get brought home and put in my conservatory as I have nowhere else to put them.  The windows get cleared to make way for them all. It looks like halloween for months at our house 

[mumofstig]

thanks - looks like I have it right!

The in 'a cupbboard' bit of your plan is wrong, though - as noted above they need to be stored in the light 

[snow white]

Oh I don't think I have a frost free cool light place to store them.  Looks like the shed will have to do then 

[mumofstig]

You haven't got to worry about them till the frosts - how many do you use - will you have made a big dent in them by then, anyway? 

[angelavdavis]

I must admit, my mum always kept her onions in the same dark cupboard as her potatoes, so the "keeping onions in the light" was news to me too when I read it.

I have plaited my first harvest and they are hanging on the utility room door now.  The next harvest are drying in the conservatory....

[Salmo]

I have always stored my onions/shallots in cardboard fruit trays my garage, which is dark, and not noticed premature sprouting. The main thing is to make sure they are completely dry and keep them as cool as possible without freezing. 

[Trillium]

I store mine in the dark as well as it's the only frost-free place I have that's cool enough.

[rogertb]

hi chaps some of my onions are going soft/rotting, I maybe didn't dry them off enough but they're also now stored plaited in a 'dark' warm bike shed, I say warm 'cause where isn't warm in the south at the moment, I don't have a basement, maybe under the stairs but that's still dark ... next year I'll have a bigger shed at the allotment for drying off and it is glazed so 'light' but it will still be warm ... any advice very welcome. Roger