We love leek and potato soup (hot, not vichyssoise) and we use them in a variety of dishes including pizza topping.
We love our leeks.
2026 veggie garden
- Thread starter Fran604g
- Start date
We love our leeks.
The leeks themselves look quite nice. Mine are never so uniform. I need to get one of those magic toys. When I read up on it seemed the plastic parts on the Cuisinart are SS on the Magic machine. That would solve a big problem.
I admire the leeks! I like to pick out the largest and longest at the supermarket or other but growing them no, beyond me.
I did manage to grow some tomatoes (you say tomato) in pots after a move late 2024, but apart from herbs, nothing since.
I learned about determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. The red and yellow small determinate bushy well producing plants even in pots.
The purple cherry tomatoes indeterminate, grew higher than I am, needed staking. Here I was among them in Dec 2024. A trim since! ;=})
Best wishes !!
I did manage to grow some tomatoes (you say tomato) in pots after a move late 2024, but apart from herbs, nothing since.
I learned about determinate and indeterminate tomatoes. The red and yellow small determinate bushy well producing plants even in pots.
The purple cherry tomatoes indeterminate, grew higher than I am, needed staking. Here I was among them in Dec 2024. A trim since! ;=})
Best wishes !!
Wonderful tomatoes! All of ours are indeterminate heirlooms. We have our annual favorites but Sharon always rotates in 3 or 4 new varieties to try.
They're a little late this year for some reason (loss of sunlight from Canada wildfire smoke, perhaps?), we've only had a few ripe Sungolds -- the "cherry" tomato we've grown time immemorial.
Fran
Here too. No tomatoes yet - not a one.
I think in one of the other threads someone mentioned bees, and I have to wonder how they were at the “Bee Disneyland” aka @Fran604g ’s place.
And anyone else’s garden of course. So far in our little gardens I have not seen one honeybee all summer.
Our tomatoes were visited repeatedly by small bumblebees, with an orange butt.
But no honeybees at all.
And anyone else’s garden of course. So far in our little gardens I have not seen one honeybee all summer.
Our tomatoes were visited repeatedly by small bumblebees, with an orange butt.
But no honeybees at all.
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I did finally harvest our garlic a week or so ago and it's drying. No piccies 
but the heads are big and fat. Happy garlic this year.
Made three batches of pesto this afternoon after cutting the grass. Way more effort than I usually expend in one day.
but the heads are big and fat. Happy garlic this year.Made three batches of pesto this afternoon after cutting the grass. Way more effort than I usually expend in one day.
You did 2 things in one day? WTH will you do tomorrow?
Got the garlic in the basement. Not sure if I'll try to hold it in cloves or put it in oil in the fridge. Purple Glazer did very well, Xian garlic was a disappointment.
I saw a couple bumblebees & its an event every time. I'm not certain what is pollinating the veggies but something clearly is.
We have had a significant increase of honeybees for the last 5-6 years. The old Hemlock High School next door was taken over several years ago by a 501(c)3 and is a sort of community center. One of the seemingly useful aspects are that a group of folks put in several bee hives way in the rear of the old school play lot where a baseball diamond was once. That was removed about 40 years ago by a previous private owner.
For quite a long while we had bumblebees and wasps predominantly, and honeybees seemed all but gone. They're really digging our balsam and borage but Zephyr and Honeynut squash flowers attract them the most of all our plants this time of the year.
In March/April when we enjoyed early warm spring days I would place small dishes of honey mixed with water outside in our dry birdbaths to kind of help them along in late winter when those false spring days occurred.
We have ornamental flowers (like primroses, crocuses and hyacinths that also bring them in much earlier than wildflowers like our violets, and dandelions. I think we probably have flowering plants close to 9 months of the year. We're in Zone 6a/5b which used to be considered a microclimate area because of the close proximity of 4 Finger Lakes.
I yanked our onions and leeks this past week.
We grow only hard necked garlic (I think I mentioned that earlierYou did 2 things in one day? WTH will you do tomorrow?
Got the garlic in the basement. Not sure if I'll try to hold it in cloves or put it in oil in the fridge. Purple Glazer did very well, Xian garlic was a disappointment.
). It holds up pretty well, but I usually do lose some cloves from the last couple of heads towards the end of their long internment. Since we have a bumper crop this year, I, too, am thinking about 'preserving' some of the cloves in oil this go around. My good friend & trusted colleague @forkliftman15 introduced me to the notion of doing that.
We love leeks, but we haven't grown them the last couple of years because they take up a lot of space after harvesting, unless one's willing to do a fair amount of work (e.g., make a lot of potato-leek soup 
) during the hot, hot summer.
Speaking of potatoes... I need to dig them out soon, too...
Heck, I could've done three things yesterday, but I need to manage expectations around here, if you know what I mean.
) during the hot, hot summer. Speaking of potatoes... I need to dig them out soon, too...
Heck, I could've done three things yesterday, but I need to manage expectations around here, if you know what I mean.
@Fran604g -- there are (for whatever reason) lots of beekeepers along our road. Last winter's weather battered folks' hives, though.
This year we are flush with (native) bumblebees.
We have a big, semi-naturalized (i.e., I don't do much to keep it in check) planting of "mother of thyme" behind our house. When it started to flower in earnest this summer, it was full of bumblebees. There were hundreds of bumblebees in it on hot, sunny afternoons over the past few weeks. Made me happy.
FWIW, I like to use fresh thyme in my omelets (and I dry quite a bit for that same application during the Dark Months up here near the Arctic Circle). Right now, I have to be extremely careful picking it! One day last week, I grabbed a handful very very early in the morning to avoid bee encounters -- I hoped. As I carried my handful of thyme 'stalks' inside, no less than three torpid bumblebees dropped out! I guess they had decided to spend the night at Ground Zero! 🙀
This year we are flush with (native) bumblebees.
We have a big, semi-naturalized (i.e., I don't do much to keep it in check) planting of "mother of thyme" behind our house. When it started to flower in earnest this summer, it was full of bumblebees. There were hundreds of bumblebees in it on hot, sunny afternoons over the past few weeks. Made me happy.
FWIW, I like to use fresh thyme in my omelets (and I dry quite a bit for that same application during the Dark Months up here near the Arctic Circle
). Right now, I have to be extremely careful picking it! One day last week, I grabbed a handful very very early in the morning to avoid bee encounters -- I hoped. As I carried my handful of thyme 'stalks' inside, no less than three torpid bumblebees dropped out! I guess they had decided to spend the night at Ground Zero! 🙀
GuyK
Junior Member
Chop up a mess o' that thyme and drop it into whatever batch o' bread dough's in the works and you're in for a real treat.@Fran604g -- there are (for whatever reason) lots of beekeepers along our road. Last winter's weather battered folks' hives, though.
This year we are flush with (native) bumblebees.
We have a big, semi-naturalized (i.e., I don't do much to keep it in check) planting of "mother of thyme" behind our house. When it started to flower in earnest this summer, it was full of bumblebees. There were hundreds of bumblebees in it on hot, sunny afternoons over the past few weeks. Made me happy.
FWIW, I like to use fresh thyme in my omelets (and I dry quite a bit for that same application during the Dark Months up here near the Arctic Circle
edit: corrected a typo
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We've discovered that leeks freeze very well simply sliced crosswise and interred in vacuum sealed bags. No par-cooking neccessary. Sharon killed our dear old Foodsaver a few days ago when it inhaled some liquid and she consequently bought the latest version which can handle wet foods. A lucky accident after all. It's quite better than the old one.@Fran604g -- there are (for whatever reason) lots of beekeepers along our road. Last winter's weather battered folks' hives, though.
This year we are flush with (native) bumblebees.
We have a big, semi-naturalized (i.e., I don't do much to keep it in check) planting of "mother of thyme" behind our house. When it started to flower in earnest this summer, it was full of bumblebees. There were hundreds of bumblebees in it on hot, sunny afternoons over the past few weeks. Made me happy.
FWIW, I like to use fresh thyme in my omelets (and I dry quite a bit for that same application during the Dark Months up here near the Arctic Circle
Since leeks are always cooked in various dishes, the freezing doesn't cause any disagreeable taste or texture issues.
JoeThePop
Brussels Sprout King
Just remember, thyme waits for no one*.
Somebody had to do it
* I do know the same lads sang about thyme is on my side but look at them now.
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We're more parsley, sage & rosemary people ...................Just remember, thyme waits for no one*.
Somebody had to do it
* I do know the same lads sang about thyme is on my side but look at them now.
