[prakash_mib]

is that ok to harden shallots sprouts in modules (two in a plug) now? I kept them outside during days for the past two days (good light). outside today under cover (cold and cloud predicted all day). one sprout said that she was going to wilt and dropped her head down. should i pull her out or let her get her chin up?
I dont have greenhouse but a plastic cloche bought from B&Q is all i have

[JayG]

My excellent and easy-to-use spreadsheet records  ( ) tell me that last year my shallots had been in the ground for a fortnight by this time (as they would this year if the weather hadn't been so dire!)

Shallots are one of the hardiest plants you can grow and don't need mollycoddling. If you've been growing them indoors you may want to cloche them up at night if the nights are very cold but really you should be thinking of getting them in the soil ASAP.

I don't know why one has "wilted"; if that's the only one it may just be a duff one or have been nobbled by something or other.

[DD.]

The back of my fuzzy brain has to agree with JayG.  If I could find the back of my envelope, it would probably say the same.

PLEASE PEOPLE do not mollycoddle these plants that have been designed to stand the cold - far from getting a head start, you will kill them with kindness.

[prakash_mib]

Thanks JayG and DD.
They will remain outside under cloche for day/night.
will go into soil by the weekend

[bonfire]

Well said DD!

I am starting to find this forum confusing because there seem to be so many people believing that if they put a yoghurt pot on the radiator they can grow anything from mangos to garlic whatever the time of year.

When a plant is really hardy why start it under protection in a pot and when there is a growing season for something why not grow it in season?

[DD.]

Sadly those of us who have been around on this forum for a while see it every year, one of the reasons I was encouraged to write this sticky to help prevent disappointment by mis-placed eagerness.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=49569.0

We can only hope to guide people in the right direction, at the end of the day the way to go is theirs, but we've seen so many tales of woe of brassicas in heated propagators  .something had to be committed to what we hoped would be a "must read" sticky, along with a lot of other useful ones.

If you do nothing else this weekend = check out the GYO Sticky Forum, we've now assembled them all together, we hope here:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?board=36.0