Category: leeks

New year’s harvest

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The weather warmed up and it wasn’t raining, yet. So Sam and I spur-of-the-moment decided to dig up the rest of the potatoes. It was an adventure. Exciting to find these big tubers glowing in the partly frozen ground under mounds of hay mulch. The varieties are Katahdin (white), Adirondack Blue and Adirondack Red. Maybe next season, less colors and more white. There’s something unnerving about finding red and blue colors in your food.

Potatoes for the new year

These are now drying on a table inside under cardboard. Then they will go into cold storage in the pantry.

And then for good measure, we dug up a patch of very dirty leeks. I did not want to do this, but Sam forged ahead. I didn’t think there would be anything salvageable, but after a few slimy layers were scraped off, there was another bunch of perfectly good leeks for the fridge.

Leeks in a five-gallon bucket, before washing and cleaning

Yep, it’s winter

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It’s cold. After a warm November that lulled me into laziness. I didn’t get everything done in the garden. So some things froze that aren’t supposed to. Granted, I don’t really have the infrastructure needed to keep greens in the main garden. That would probably be cold frames. The row cover is not adequate. That’s the way it goes.

Frozen mizuna, maybe still edible?
Frozen leeks
Frozen broccoli rabe
Kale patch. I’ve seen this start to grow and then go to seed in the spring, so I had planned to leave this. I did harvest the chard next to it, and we’re still eating it.

The dried heads of various flowers are interesting this time of year. A variety of browns and all different textures. I don’t cut them back until spring so they can provide cover or whatever for creatures that might depend on them.

Tansy
Goldenrod
Autumn Joy sedum
Spirea – meadowsweet (I think)
Monarda fistulosa

And I spotted these sweet little cups when cutting back fronds in the asparagus bed. They are growing on bits of straw. The largest is maybe 1/4 inch wide.

Bird’s nest fungus?

Lotta leeks…and beets

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Sam helped me harvest at the community garden today. He dug the leeks and I dug beets. Then I processed them back at home. A messy muddy task.

What was I thinking! This is a huge quantity of leeks. And there are more in the home garden. I will have to look for more leek recipes.

The beets seem more reasonable in volume. A good selection of medium ones and another of baby beets. A few greens were harvested, but most were not edible.

And this always seems to happen. No matter how painstakingly I try to harvest all the onions and shallots, some slip by. I found this glowing plateful today.

Allium family

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This is my harvest of yellow onions on the Community Garden. I pulled them out of the ground because most were falling over. They are curing for a few days while the weather forecast is predicting warm and sunny.

Curiously, the red and white varieties are still growing and haven’t fallen over. Interesting.

Yellow onion crop

I decided to fill in the trough these leeks were growing in. I think the trough is supposed to aid in blanching the bottom of the leek plant to provide a longer white stem, good for eating. These plants finally look healthy, after a rough start from an overgrown pot of seedlings that I rescued.

Late-planted leeks

Spring day

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An exciting day at Cross Road Gardens. It really felt like spring, for the first time, I think. A burst of gardening energy, although I only really worked for a few hours.

Frilly pink Hazelnut bud
Dug about a pound of leeks from last year, stored under mulch
Planted peas and spinach under a relocated trellis
Seedlings: Brussels sprouts and red cabbage
Kale seedlings
Broccoli and leek, shallot, cippollini seedlings
Indigo seedlings looking fresh
Removed mulch covers from garlic
Garlic sprouts ready to grow

Starts

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I moved my seed starting schedule two weeks forward. I think I started too early last year.

So far, so good. My alliums have sprouted and some kale. Still waiting on celery leaf and indigo.

Left: a full tray of mixed broccoli.
Center from top: kale and cutting celery, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, alliums.
Right: a pot of indigo.

Today I planted brassica seeds: broccoli blend, Speedia Brussels sprouts, and Mammoth red cabbage. All Fedco.

Baby kale sprouts.
Alliums: King Sieg leeks and Cippollini onions.
Two kinds of shallots: Conservor and Big Ed’s.

Community Garden – fall milestone

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Sam is cleaning the inside of the emptied water tank at the Community Garden
Setup with generator and power washer
Sam and Lesley discussing something, probably how to reduce algae buildup in the tank
Last radicchio of summer
I still have a row of leeks growing
Judy’s beautiful patch of thyme
Panorama – water barrels are still out for awhile
Next plot over still has some blooms
Sam’s still working. I got a bright green dot in the photo, don’t know what caused that.
Time for me to head home on foot
Venerable
Selfie walking home at sunset
Tree near the driveway
Tree along the driveway
Our hazelnut bush turning color

Community garden planted

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I put the squash plants in at the community garden. Planting is done there! Now I’m waiting for the plants to do their thing while I nurture them as best I can.

Three rows of squash
Too small to see, but leeks are in the trench and Cippollini onions are to the left of the trench
Six rows of onion plants, one row of shallots

There’s also a nice perennial sunflower and echinacea plants, not in bloom yet.

It begins! 2020

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Twelve weeks (estimated) until last frost date for my zone (5b). I’m using May 8 as that date.

First seeds started

So we started seeds today. I’m trying to get more organized with my garden planning. I used a planting schedule from Johnny’s Seeds to plan out the indoor seed starting schedule week by week. First up, alliums:

  • Conservor shallots
  • Borrettana Cippollini onions
  • Bleu de Solaize leeks

We used our soil blocking tool and a potting mix composed with the following recipe:

  • 5 parts ProMix Growing Medium
  • 3 parts compost (Vee, left over from last year)
  • 1/2 part sand
  • 1/4 part azomite
  • 5 parts water

I sprinkled the seeds over the top of the blocks, then sprinkled more ProMix over the top and misted. The flat is on the kitchen floor for now, where the radiant floor heat can keep them warm.

Next week, I’ll start some celeriac and leaf celery. Maybe parsley. And I need to fill out my planting schedule with set-out dates and direct-seed dates.