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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] - now harvestingleeks!

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  • From: "Alliums" <garlicgrower AT green-logic.com>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] - now harvestingleeks!
  • Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 12:11:07 -0500

Hi, Folks!

 

<< you havest leeks in the winter?  You can leave them in the ground?>>

 

Yes, most varieties should be able to be left in the ground and when mulched well (leaves/straw/whatever), be dug out when needed.  There are some newer varieties (Seeds of Change promotes them) that are considered “summer leeks” that can’t take a freeze.  As a person of Welsh ancestry, I find the idea of “summer leeks” that can’t handle a mild frost to be appalling, but I guess that there are folks that find uses for them.

 

 <<I pulled all of mine a couple of weeks ago because they weren't looking as good as they were a couple weeks before that, stuck them in a couple inches of water in five gallon buckets, and stored in the cellar.  But they're smelling a little funky now, and the outer layer or two is kind of mushy and needs to be peeled off.>>

 

Yikes!  That much water for any alliums just isn’t what the genus enjoys!   

 

<<So, was that the wrong thing to do?   Should they be left in the ground until it freezes?>>

 

Do you know what variety you have?  If it’s a “summer leek”, you have to eat them.  If not (and most of the older varieties, especially the British ones, were made for winter eating), you should be able to apply mulch thickly and be okay. JAUNE DE POITERS, a yellow leek from France supposedly doesn’t even need the mulch, but I always give it at least some.  BLUE SOLAISE (one of the most common), AMERICAN FLAG, KING RICHARD, etc should be okay with mulch.

 

<<And, I'm all over the sheet composting thing.  Lay it on, lay it on....  rake it off in the spring and good to go.  The garlic seems to like the bedding coming right out of the barn, chicken poop and all.  And it still meets the 120 day limit of the nop, far as I can tell...>>

 

Sounds on-target to me. Even if you are harvesting your garlic in June, if you’re applying the bedding now, I can’t see why NOP would have a problem with it.  Personally, if I knew where my squash beds were going (especially winter squash), I’d lay out the barn sweepings on their beds now for the same reason – they love nitrogen and why spend the time composting when the plant doesn’t believe that nitrogen is anything it can ever have too much of?

 

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator

St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth

 

A mission of

St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA  19460

 




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