Planting Shallots and Onions

I'm so excited.  I'm going to try growing onions and shallots for the first time.  I bought some gray shallots from Territorial Seed Company and red onion sets from a big box store.

From what I've read, the gray shallots are really easy to grow.  I love to cook with them, but they're not cheap in the grocery.  I'll be so excited if I can successfully grow them myself.

I'm a little worried about the shallots.  They should have been planted in the fall, but I ran out of time before the ground froze.  They are fairly dried out, but I cut a small one and a large one open and there was some hydrated/tender center in them.

I started by digging a trench that was about 1 1/2" deep because shallots should be planted so that the top of their necks stick out a little bit from the surface of the soil.  They should also be planted about 8" apart.  I marked 8' on the handle of my Japanese hoe so that I would space the shallots appropriately.   Once I placed the shallots in the trench, I covered them up with soil.

The onions are a lot fresher, so I'm not so worried about them.  

I planted them the same way that I planted the shallots, only the trenches were 1" deep and I planted them 5" apart.