I started some Carantan Leeks from seed last August. I've never grown them before and I've been waiting for them to give me a sign. No flowers have appeared and the leaves never browned out. Now that it has been raining a lot, they're greening up with more new leaves. They're about 1 1/2" at the ground. Surely I've missed something because the onions and garlic have all been harvested for 6 weeks.
When to harvest Leeks?
twiggybuds, you can harvest the leeks whenever the stalks are as wide as you would like for cooking. You want to harvest them before they start to make a flowerbud. The flower will form on a very woody stalk that will be a very tough core in the center of the leek. At that point, you can slice down the stalk, use the outerlayers as you would normally use a leek, and use the woody core to make stock/broth. The woody core is too tough to eat and must be discarded after boiling the flavour out.
If they the flower buds do come up, you can cut them and keep them in a vase for several weeks. The green "onion dome" makes an interesting accent to flower arrangements. They will continue to develop if you change the water regularly and will eventually open to a nice fluffy flower.
Leeks are gregarious. They like to hold roots with each other under the soil so you'll need to loosen the soil around them to pull them up.
Thanks GM. I think I'lI leave one in the hopes of a flower and subsequent seeds for saving. I've read that onion family seeds don't stay viable for years like some other crops. It's OP and I'd like to keep growing them now that I might have a clue what I'm doing. They're very easy.
To harvest onion family seeds, do you just leave the flower until it browns out? The crazy things better hurry up or it will be time to plant again. I've always heard that onions are a cool weather crop in zone 8 but these leeks don't care. It was triple digits for 2 weeks.