I didn’t grow leeks this year because i had such an enormous crop the year before (froze them too). Going to try your variety next season. I always leave a half dozen to winter over in the garden (6a) so i will have some in spring and early summer, i just mulch them with leaves to get them through the cold months.
@@spoolsandbobbins I only leave a few to go through the winter in case they don't make it. Mulch heavily, I wouldn't use plastic, that'll cause rot. Our temps go as low as -10F (~ -23C). I say give it a try with a few hardy ones, they may look little weary come spring but hopefully bounce back. If you leave them to grow through the summer they will flower and seed, so if you don't want that use them early.
Hi Susan, thanks so much for finally showing how to preserve leeks. I love leeks a lot, but we all know they do not store like onions or garlic. Just cut 1/4" slices and freeze? Works for me - I bought a small chest freezer this summer to store all my harvest. I did not grow any this year, also because I have also had the struggle to get them to decent size, but I think I might try again this spring. Oh, and as for the dibber - I have that wooden one and I love it. I always use it to plant my garlic in the fall and onions in the spring.
Thanks for the information. I need to harvest my leeks to make room for some fall/winter crops. Mine are Lancelot but your Giant Bulgarians look very interesting. We do a lot of French recipes so having leeks (and shallots) is very helpful.
Great video...Thank you! I have been "dibbling" my leek seedlings for years and the method works fantastically well. My soil is heavier than yours I believe and I have to use the garden fork to get them out I have harvested about half my leeks so far and still have about a 100 in the ground. I tend to grow Giant Mussleburgh leeks but have played with other varieties. We love them - better than onions and your point about the yield compared to onions is quite correct! We had a batch of leeks sauteed with kale, collards and swiss chard tonight over egg noodles!. Yummy! Again...Thank you for the video and enjoy that beautiful garden. Mike 🇨🇦 ❤
Your leeks are giant and look beautiful! So much production. I love leeks so much. I treat them as perennials and just cut whatever I need to eat at the time and let them resprout from the roots. Sometimes the main plant will flower and go to seed, but always sends up a bunch of new shoots after the seed stalk dies. Leeks are by far my favorite alium. I grow garlic, onions, ramps, and chives as well, but leeks are the most fun and the least amount of work. I eat the leaves too not just the stems. Yum!
You mean treat them like bunch onions, cut and leave like an inch or two of leeks in the ground and they regrow? I love garden and canning , freeze a lot leaves
There is a perennial leek that mostly grows daughter plants and only seeds in harsh unfavorable conditions that you can treat like that and it works even better.
Get yourself some Walking Onions. These beasts are super hardy through droughts, floods, extreme heat and cold. They even compete against native grasses and weeds. They produce very large green onions and also bulbils at the top.
I’m trying to grow leeks from store bought leeks now! How do you manage keeping the whites long if you don’t cover them? I’m trying to figure that out.
Timely video! I grew leeks using the winter sowing method. They were tiny threads when I dropped them into dibber holes and they disappeared! It's time to harvest and make potato leek soup, yum! I have a lot this year so I'll try your freezing method. Thanks for the informative video.
I love growing leeks! Yours are beautiful! I am having fun freeze drying them, and then just keeping them in canning jars on the shelf. You can also dehydrate them. Freezing them is a great idea, too, if you have a generator, in the event of a lasting power failure.
I'm growing some from seeds. It will be my 1st try at growing them. I'm in zone 10a Florida. I appreciate your help learning more about growing them and then what to do with them after harvest.
Hi, Melody. I'm excited for you because leeks are wonderful. I wasn't sure if you'd seen my video on starting them from seed and transplanting them (maybe you have) but just in case, here's a link to it: ruclips.net/video/eSiHAiFLxUU/видео.html.
I didn't know you could freeze them like that! I've always hesitated to grow them because I can't eat them fast enough. They are definitely on my list for spring now.
Susan, I grew the exact same leeks (Bulgarian Giant), even put them in a 5" hole, but the only white/blanched part is what was underground. I see that yours are blanced pretty high up the stem even before you harvested them. How did you go about doing that?
Hi, Jeff. Over the years, I’ve experimented with different methods, mainly involving starting them in a trench OR using the British method of making a deep hole with a dibber tool and dropping a seedling in each hole but not filling it in (I let each hole slowly fill in by themselves). Then, once each leek had grown a bit, I started filling in the hole around them, which prevented light from hitting the stems. I hope this makes sense!
@@SusansInTheGarden I used the dibber hold method (5" hole), didn't fill and let the water gradually fill it. However mine only blanched where they were covered in soil. How did you get yours to blanche high above the soil? Did you mulch with something like straw? I wonder if we grew the same variety, bulgarian giant.
I grew my leeks in dibber holes the way you described and it worked really well. I experimented and planted some as singles and multisowed the rest as encouraged by Charles Dowding. The multisown ones grew to pretty much the same size as the single sown ones but of course the more intensive planting yielded more food for the same space! My Bulgarian Giant Leeks flopped over by August this year (both the single and multisown ones) and didn't stand up nice and straight like yours did so I may go back to my old variety.
Interesting about Charles Dowding's method. I do follow him on Instagram. Will have to track down how he specifically does the leek planting, although our climate is much harsher than his! Thanks for letting me know your experiences.
@@SusansInTheGarden I’m in Canada so my climate is much harsher than Charles’ too. I have much colder winters and hotter, more humid summers (Southern Ontario).
So timely! Our ground hasn’t frozen yet (really, whose has this year? LOL) I also follow British gardening vlogs and YT channels and have planted mine in a similar fashion to what you describe, but rather than a single seedling in a hole I’ve put several in the same hole as I saw @huwrichards demonstrate. I think he called it intensive planting. And maybe @charlesdowding demonstrated too. Thanks for the idea of freezing the slices - I’ve had reasonably good luck with storing in refrigerator but my deep freeze is bigger than any crisper in my fridge! Ha! Glad to see you back here. Good for you, taking such a well deserved break. Have a great weekend.
I have a yummy leek soup recipie that calls for the green tops to be cooked with all the ingredients then put thru the blender. Makes a beautifully tasty and pretty green soup!
I thought that leeks harbor alot or dirt and they need to be washed carefully. Yours seemed clean. I'll try growing some next year. I don't have good lock with onions. Maybe leeks will give me a better harvest. Thank you.
Timely video I grew 10 this year just harvested want to look up your soup recipe- now I know what I am doing with my harvest - soup and freezer…🧅from Zone 3
Great info, beautiful leeks:)
Thank you. The 'Bulgarian Giant' leeks are amazing!
Beautiful
Thank you for taking the time to educate the public on how to grow and store veggies. Much appreciated! Happy gardening~
Thank you so much for your kind comments!
Great info and perfect timing as I have leeks to harvest.
Those leeks are beautiful!
I didn’t grow leeks this year because i had such an enormous crop the year before (froze them too). Going to try your variety next season. I always leave a half dozen to winter over in the garden (6a) so i will have some in spring and early summer, i just mulch them with leaves to get them through the cold months.
We can easily get -30’C here in Nova Scotia. Would u say that’s too cold to leave them in, we’ll mulched and under plastic?
@@spoolsandbobbins I only leave a few to go through the winter in case they don't make it. Mulch heavily, I wouldn't use plastic, that'll cause rot. Our temps go as low as -10F (~ -23C). I say give it a try with a few hardy ones, they may look little weary come spring but hopefully bounce back. If you leave them to grow through the summer they will flower and seed, so if you don't want that use them early.
Leeks will definitely go into my garden next year!
That's awesome, Jane! I suppose a certain person won't be able to eat them, though?
Welcome back =)
Thank you.
Hi Susan, thanks so much for finally showing how to preserve leeks. I love leeks a lot, but we all know they do not store like onions or garlic. Just cut 1/4" slices and freeze? Works for me - I bought a small chest freezer this summer to store all my harvest. I did not grow any this year, also because I have also had the struggle to get them to decent size, but I think I might try again this spring. Oh, and as for the dibber - I have that wooden one and I love it. I always use it to plant my garlic in the fall and onions in the spring.
Thanks for the information. I need to harvest my leeks to make room for some fall/winter crops. Mine are Lancelot but your Giant Bulgarians look very interesting. We do a lot of French recipes so having leeks (and shallots) is very helpful.
Great video...Thank you!
I have been "dibbling" my leek seedlings for years and the method works fantastically well. My soil is heavier than yours I believe and I have to use the garden fork to get them out
I have harvested about half my leeks so far and still have about a 100 in the ground. I tend to grow Giant Mussleburgh leeks but have played with other varieties. We love them - better than onions and your point about the yield compared to onions is quite correct!
We had a batch of leeks sauteed with kale, collards and swiss chard tonight over egg noodles!. Yummy!
Again...Thank you for the video and enjoy that beautiful garden.
Mike 🇨🇦 ❤
Thank you, Mike! Have a great garden season.
Great vid Susan 👍 I had a lot of success with leaks during our very wet summer - I never knew they could be frozen.
Your leeks are giant and look beautiful! So much production. I love leeks so much. I treat them as perennials and just cut whatever I need to eat at the time and let them resprout from the roots. Sometimes the main plant will flower and go to seed, but always sends up a bunch of new shoots after the seed stalk dies. Leeks are by far my favorite alium. I grow garlic, onions, ramps, and chives as well, but leeks are the most fun and the least amount of work. I eat the leaves too not just the stems. Yum!
You mean treat them like bunch onions, cut and leave like an inch or two of leeks in the ground and they regrow? I love garden and canning , freeze a lot leaves
There is a perennial leek that mostly grows daughter plants and only seeds in harsh unfavorable conditions that you can treat like that and it works even better.
Get yourself some Walking Onions. These beasts are super hardy through droughts, floods, extreme heat and cold. They even compete against native grasses and weeds. They produce very large green onions and also bulbils at the top.
I’m trying to grow leeks from store bought leeks now! How do you manage keeping the whites long if you don’t cover them? I’m trying to figure that out.
i am Bangladeshi.i so much love your video 💖
That’s a lovely strong looking garden fork. Could you share the brand and if you’d recommend? I’m in the market for a new one.
Hi, Emily. I bought it so long ago, I can't recall the brand! If it comes to mind, I'll let you know.
Thanks for sharing your leek knowledge. I’ve never grown them...yet!
Those leeks are really huge 🌱👍
Timely video! I grew leeks using the winter sowing method. They were tiny threads when I dropped them into dibber holes and they disappeared! It's time to harvest and make potato leek soup, yum! I have a lot this year so I'll try your freezing method. Thanks for the informative video.
I love growing leeks! Yours are beautiful! I am having fun freeze drying them, and then just keeping them in canning jars on the shelf. You can also dehydrate them. Freezing them is a great idea, too, if you have a generator, in the event of a lasting power failure.
I agree!
I'm growing some from seeds. It will be my 1st try at growing them. I'm in zone 10a Florida. I appreciate your help learning more about growing them and then what to do with them after harvest.
Hi, Melody. I'm excited for you because leeks are wonderful. I wasn't sure if you'd seen my video on starting them from seed and transplanting them (maybe you have) but just in case, here's a link to it: ruclips.net/video/eSiHAiFLxUU/видео.html.
I hope you did the same with the green parts cuz they are delicious! Many american throw the greens out and so they dont know what they're missing.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree!
I didn't know you could freeze them like that! I've always hesitated to grow them because I can't eat them fast enough. They are definitely on my list for spring now.
Wonderful!
Great harvest Susan! And great preserving method!
Susan, I grew the exact same leeks (Bulgarian Giant), even put them in a 5" hole, but the only white/blanched part is what was underground. I see that yours are blanced pretty high up the stem even before you harvested them. How did you go about doing that?
Hi, Jeff. Over the years, I’ve experimented with different methods, mainly involving starting them in a trench OR using the British method of making a deep hole with a dibber tool and dropping a seedling in each hole but not filling it in (I let each hole slowly fill in by themselves). Then, once each leek had grown a bit, I started filling in the hole around them, which prevented light from hitting the stems. I hope this makes sense!
@@SusansInTheGarden I used the dibber hold method (5" hole), didn't fill and let the water gradually fill it. However mine only blanched where they were covered in soil. How did you get yours to blanche high above the soil? Did you mulch with something like straw? I wonder if we grew the same variety, bulgarian giant.
What a gift this gardener has for teaching!!
Thank you so much!
I grew my leeks in dibber holes the way you described and it worked really well. I experimented and planted some as singles and multisowed the rest as encouraged by Charles Dowding. The multisown ones grew to pretty much the same size as the single sown ones but of course the more intensive planting yielded more food for the same space! My Bulgarian Giant Leeks flopped over by August this year (both the single and multisown ones) and didn't stand up nice and straight like yours did so I may go back to my old variety.
Interesting about Charles Dowding's method. I do follow him on Instagram. Will have to track down how he specifically does the leek planting, although our climate is much harsher than his! Thanks for letting me know your experiences.
@@SusansInTheGarden I’m in Canada so my climate is much harsher than Charles’ too. I have much colder winters and hotter, more humid summers (Southern Ontario).
I didn't know leaks were milder than onions, that is why I prefer shallots;but no shallot seeds this year.I'll have to try leaks.
So timely! Our ground hasn’t frozen yet (really, whose has this year? LOL) I also follow British gardening vlogs and YT channels and have planted mine in a similar fashion to what you describe, but rather than a single seedling in a hole I’ve put several in the same hole as I saw @huwrichards demonstrate. I think he called it intensive planting. And maybe @charlesdowding demonstrated too. Thanks for the idea of freezing the slices - I’ve had reasonably good luck with storing in refrigerator but my deep freeze is bigger than any crisper in my fridge! Ha! Glad to see you back here. Good for you, taking such a well deserved break. Have a great weekend.
Thank you very much :)
Can you also freeze and store the green top part? :)
Yes, you can. The white portion tends to be more tender and flavorful, though.
aha okey, so thats why people use just that :P Thank you! :)
I have a yummy leek soup recipie that calls for the green tops to be cooked with all the ingredients then put thru the blender. Makes a beautifully tasty and pretty green soup!
@@lulabelle4760 Sounds delicious!
The whole plant is useable. The leaves aren’t bad cooked!
I thought that leeks harbor alot or dirt and they need to be washed carefully. Yours seemed clean. I'll try growing some next year. I don't have good lock with onions. Maybe leeks will give me a better harvest. Thank you.
I love love love leeks! You've inspired me to have a go at growing some next year! Thanks, Susan.
Wonderful!
Yes I did that way last year with the dribbler and it worked great
Timely video I grew 10 this year just harvested want to look up your soup recipe- now I know what I am doing with my harvest - soup and freezer…🧅from Zone 3
There you go!
I did it!! You inspired me & I tried this. Got a great harvest of leeks that I pulled out today! Thank you!
Wonderful! I'm so happy for you, Angela!
How well do they freeze?? Got this imagein my head that they will go brown in the freezer after a few days??
Nope, they don't turn brown at all.
What do you recommend as a fertilizer for leeks? Thanks so much!
I use a high-nitrogen fertilizer at planting time (usually fish emulsion) and that's it!
Love your harden
Are you in Idaho?
I'm in Spokane, Wash.