Leeks Archives - Page 3 of 5

Last week I mulched my 1/2 of my double row of leeks with some manure/humus mix I bought bagged at the local garden center. My plan is to harvest the other half during the rest of the summer and then harvest the half I just mulched through the fall. At least that is my plan. I’ve never grown leeks before and they may be ready much sooner than I am.

What to do with all these leeks? If anyone has any recipes I am all ears. So far my favorite by far is Potato Leek Soup. It can be served cold or hot but I prefer it hot. As with most of my recipes I don’t really measure so the amts are aproximate. Your mileage may vary.

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Potato Leek Soup.

3-4 cups chopped leeks
1 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cans chicken stock
water if necessary
6-8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 potato peeled and thinly sliced
1 can evaporated milk

Add the butter, olive oil and to a stock pot. Cook on low-medium heat till softened. Add chicken stock and potatoes. You want the liquid just to the top of the potatoes. Add more or less stock and or water as necessary. The thinly sliced potato is to help thicken the soup. It will cook faster than the cubes. Boil on low-medium heat till the potatoes are tender. Add evaporated milk. Mash somewhat with a potato masher to help break down some of the potatoes. This helps to thicken the soup. Enjoy

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The tomatoes are the Big Beef and Classicas I started during the greenhouse class in March/April. I grew the BB last year and was pleased. They were huge, good tangy tomato flaver and because they were indeterminates we had tomatoes for some time. The Classica’s are a paste tomato I am growing for drying this year. I always liked the San Marzanos but we get the blight here and I have found that growing anything not resistant insures a minscule crop that doesn’t last long. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on the flaver of these.

The broccoli came from starts from the local Walmart. First 9 then a couple of weeks later 9 more. We have harvested the main heads from the first 9 and am about ready to harvest some of the second 9 as well as some side shoots off the earlier ones. Not sure of the variety but they had really good flavor.

The zucchini is my old standby Black Beauty. I’ve had the seed for these for several years and introduced some new genes into the pool this year with the addition of a new seed packet. I have 3 hills from what was started in the greenhouse, 2 hills of later starts and I planted some seed yesterday for another hill in a month or so when some of the first 3 should be winding down.

The Stella D’Oro daylillies I rec’d at last year’s plant swap are doing great. They were nothing more than spindly little guys in a shovel full of gravel last year and with some TLC they are doing awesome this year. Thank you to who ever I rec’d these from.

I started these Dianthus way back when mom was still here. They were one of the two plants (a creeping phlox) that I brought with me when we left her place. They had lived in a pot until last year. I actually thought I had lost them as they hadn’t bloomed in a year or two and were doing very poorly. I decided to plant them out and give them one last shot…glad I did. I never realized i had three different flower color/types in there.

These leeks are the Solinaise(sp?) variety I purchased from Park. So far they are looking great. This is a new crop for me. Keeping my fingers crossed. At $1.50 each at the grocery I am looking forward to putting some of these in the freezer for storage.

Tag Archives: Leeks

Potato Leek Soup

Tomatoes, broccoli, squash, Stellas, Dianthus and Leeks in early June