It will be a few months until I canstart planting seedsof warm - weather condition crop , like eggplant , peppers and tomatoes , but late January is prime time to start leek seeds . Leeks , like other members of the allium family , are quite tolerant of cold temperatures , and because they require a long growing season , starting the seeds early is a must .
If you have n’t originate leeks before , I extremely recommend yield them a attempt . Their flavor is mild and onion - like , and they ’re various in the kitchen . Another big bonus of grow leeks is thatif you clock your plantings right , they can be harvested year - pear-shaped .
How To Start Leek Seeds
Start Allium porrum seeds indoors under grow lights in mid - wintertime . When they first germinate , the plants are very small and hair - like , but the seedlings grow cursorily . It take about six to eight week for them to develop large enough to be planted out of doors . I clock my ejaculate inseminate date so the plants are ready to go into the garden in late March or early April here in Pennsylvania , which means I put ejaculate to begrime sometime between the last hebdomad of January and Valentine ’s Day .
When they ’re ready to be moved out of doors , I implant my leek transplants about 4 to 6 inches asunder in middling garden territory that ’s been amended with a hearty back breaker of compost . I usually plant them in run-in to make protect them during the winter month a bit easy ( more on this later ) .
Most leek varieties reach about 2 feet improbable , with stalks measure about 2 inches in girth . Unlike other phallus of the genus Allium menage , leeks do not form a light bulb . or else , we use up the stem .
Blanching Leeks
If you ’ve cooked with leeks before , you know that the eatable parcel of the plant consist of the tender , down portion of the stem that ’s bright blank , so the longer the white portion is , the better . To increase the sizing of the comestible portion , blanch the stalks to block out light and soften their grain . you’re able to mound soil up around the plants as they uprise to blanch the stalks , or surround them with one ofthese family point .
Although leek are engraft into the garden early in the natural spring , they are n’t reap until the tumble . In fact , if you mulch the plants in the autumn with a few inch of shuck , you could even harvest leek all wintertime foresightful . Sometimes , if the wintertime is n’t too abrasive , I ’m still harvesting leeks the following spring !
Storing Leeks
Once pulled from the filth , store leek in a plastic bag in the electric refrigerator . design on a two to three hebdomad ledge - life . If you want them to last longer , just keep the plants in the garden and harvest them as needed .
Leeks are the first seeds to be planted under my grow lights and I take care forward to doing it every year . There ’s nothing better at beating the wintertime Amytal than originate something unripened !
