Seasoned gardener shares why you should be growing this low-maintenance crop every year: 'I had no clue'

Fancy making planting easier and cooking tastier? As always, the online community has a solution for you.

TikToker Kaleb Wyse (@wyseguide), who shares hacks such as making crustless pumpkin pie, getting fall tomatoes, and drying basil for later use, came to the platform this time around to demonstrate how easy gardening can be.

@wyseguide

Everyone loves to grow garlic because it's so easy! Pretty much a set it and forget it plant. But did you know shallot is pretty much the same?

♬ original sound - Kaleb Wyse

"Everyone loves to grow garlic because it's so easy!" they wrote. "But did you know shallot is pretty much the same?"

The scoop

Kaleb, who has been documenting their daily life on an Iowa farm and is preselling a book full of Midwestern family recipes, showed viewers how to plant shallots, a sweeter sibling that's often forgotten in the allium family.

"If you haven't grown shallots in your garden yet, you are missing out on the easiest thing to plant in the fall," explained Kaleb, whose way of life is guided by the seasons. "We plant these now so they get a head start, and then next spring, they're ready to go."

To do so, you need some good, loose soil — a raised bed mix or compost — that will enable you to plant the bulb without much digging, Kaleb said. You plant the bulb in a shallow 2-to-3-inch-deep trench with the root down and point up. As one bulb gives several shallots, leaving around eight inches between the bulbs is wise.

"When the soil is nice and light and has a lot of good nutrients, the shallots can grow really large underneath and their roots can break through the soil really easily," the TikToker added. "Cover them up, water them well, and then watch them grow."

How it's helping

Shallots are a great starter plant. You don't need a well-established green thumb to grow them. Gardening is known to improve mental and physical health, which means you can enjoy the outdoors while growing ingredients that will make your meals tastier.

Under that papery outer skin, shallots indeed constitute an excellent addition to many types of food. Kaleb, who described them as one of their favorite ingredients, said that shallots can be used "in vinaigrettes, in roasting, in cooking in general."

What's your biggest motivation in trying to reduce your personal food waste? Saving money 💰 Helping the planet 🌎 Not being a wasteful person 😇 I don't think about reducing food waste 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Betting on backyard food guarantees that the product is fresher than anything you could find at a grocery store, and it will likely save you money in the long term. Eating local food is also great for the environment. It reduces the need for trucking and shipping ingredients and reduces pollution from energy-consuming warehouses and other infrastructures used to move food long distances. 

What everyone's saying

Inspired TikTokers were eager to plant shallots and get to gardening.

"I had no clue they grew like garlic!! Yummmm," one TikToker commented.

"I always do garlic, never shallots, so thanks for the inspiration!" another wrote.

"I am going to try this, look so easy to plant," a third person said.

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