Leeks are tough, as they don’t hold up long. I clean them up, trim them (both ends) and put them in green bags and in the bottom of the fridge. They’ll hold up several weeks this way, but not forever. I try to use them up as quickly as possible, but invariably end up either sauteeing a bunch and portioning them out for the freezer, and/or making a potato-leek soup, also for the freezer.
Vichyssoise anyone?
Have you tried growing shallots as a fall/winter crop? i remember the raised plot next to mine at work one year had about a hundred shallots growing like weeds, even around the outside
Mystery heirloom cherry tomatoes are breaking color first. Green peppers won’t be plentiful but that’s ok- mom won’t eat them. I enjoy how much less
bitter they are than store-bought. Patio lettuce is still happy; this is the second planting of the summer for that. First planting produced for a long time before bolting.
Lettuce and pepper envy here!
You can’t grow them?
I haven’t had much luck with lettuce mid-summer here - too warm, and it bolts immediately. We stopped harvesting in June. I’ve got some tiny seedlings going now for fall harvest. It all works out, however, as there are cukes, and zuccs, and tomatoes to be had in the mean time. But I’m thinking a leafy green salad would also be nice.
Conversely, our peppers are currently miniscule because it hasn’t been warm enough. It has to be a really hot year for us to get a good pepper crop. I’m hopeful there’s still time, but while our days have been warm and sunny, the nights have been very cool. We have yet to have a real hot streak this year.
I have the same lettuce issue - I keep them on the patio mostly shaded. And there will be a point in the summer when it’s just too hot no matter what I do.
I know I’ve been told, but can’t seem to find it; where do folks garden? There is no way I could grouw most lettuce here outside of maybe October to April, and no way I could grow le5and peppers during the same season.
Here ( technically Bay area- but more like central valley-ish Nor Cal), lettuce is cool season and peppers arae hot.
Prasopita or Leek Burek is a way to use leeks, and you can freeze it, bake later.
I’ve been making leek gratins (also celery gratins and kohlrabi gratins)lately, too. Less effort than vichyssoise.
We’re in similar climates - perhaps you can advise me on cabbage. I keep getting nice big plants with nice big outer leaves, but they don’t like to form heads. What am I missing?
Thanks so much for these timely ideas!
I was planning an Ottolenghi gratin I like to make for next week, and as you suggest will use leeks here instead of onions.
Also on my radar is a leek quiche for Thomas Keller COTM month. The Burek looks divine, but while I love phyllo for a special occasion, it’s not something I typically indulge in (alas).
Ha! Cabbage has me totally befuddled. I’ve been growing it only a couple of years.
I plant about 20 each spring, and in a good year might get half. This year I got 7. I just planted 18 more for fall harvest. I typically plant 3-4 varieties, and hope one of them does well, depending on conditions. Most consistent to produce in my garden (PNW maritime climate) are Alcosa, with Green Express in a close second. I alway plant Bobcat hoping for the best. They rarely do well, but when they do, they are huMONGous!
I think the lack of head formation has something to do with temperatures early in the game. If it’s warm and they start to grow, and then there is a cold snap, when they revert to growing again as temps warm up they go straight to bolting.
When and if I figure it out, you’ll be first to know. As it is, I just keep throwing stuff at the wall and hope something sticks.
Southeastern PA. Close to the Maryland border.
I set out shallot sets in November when I set out garlic, and both would ideally be harvested in the summer, but it is so hot and dry by May that they sometimes require more coddling than I am up to. . A few times I’ve grown from seed, but not often.
Here’s some of what "Golden Gate Gardening " says about “Onions and day length” in our area.
And about “why onions bloom instead of bulbing” here.
Anyway, it’s convoluted, and that’s not even accounting for how fast it gets hot when alliums are supposed to be bulbing.
Here’s what’s been shared this year
I am in Northern California ; Sunset 14/15 or maybe 8/9
@mig Southeastern PA
@ewsflash Arizona, Sunset zone 12, USDA 9b
@Phoenikia Canada; maybe Ontario
@small_h ; a balcony in Manhattan!
@bogman Central Virginia
@MunchkinRedux Washington, coastal side of Cascades, 8b
@tzigane Sunset zone 14, central Contra Costa
@pavlova maybe Ottawa
@badjak tropics or sub-tropic
@kobuta- New England
@ewsflash Tucson Arizona
@Saregama -sometimes California, sometimes NY?
@Elsieb “suburbia”
@ipsedixit I think So cal
@Midlife So Cal
@Lambchop ?
@mts- RM-W?..Oh! Rocky Mountains West, 1 hr from BC
@Sasha " similar to @MunchkinRedux "
This is a good food gardening resource to have- thank you for posting this
Well, I figured you knew better than me, you being a master gardener (one of which I am NOT), but thought I’d run it past you anyway. I was surprised at the total fecundity of the shallots, and the plot had since been abandoned, but it’s one of three raised plots on a drip system, so I guess they survived- and prospered.
Yep. My garden is in Southwestern Ontario, halfway between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and halfway between Toronto and Detroit . Zone 6b.
Looking up fecundity…I think I know 
. Are you saying that they keep going without help? I wonder what kind they are!
