Get a head start on planting -leeks

Changes — they are a-coming. One can begin to sense the change in the air and it’s rather obvious that daylight is extending itself longer into the evenings with each passing day. This is quickly becoming the “winter that wasn’t.”

By month’s end the average temperature will have risen nearly 10 degrees higher and though we can perhaps expect a few more rounds of wintry weather over the next six weeks or so, the backside of winter is here and visions of spring are becoming brighter.

The mild winter and fluctuations of temperature have been wreaking havoc on the outdoor plants and I’ve even noticed some heaving where a few perennials are literally pushed out of the ground with roots becoming exposed. I’ve tapped them back into the ground since the soil is not frozen to avoid any damage to the plants.

Meantime, indoors we’ll need to get seriously busy this month sowing seeds and raising plants that will eventually see the light of day in the open garden.

Long-season leeks

Leeks are known as the “gourmet’s onion” due to their subtle and milder flavor when compared to onions. Leeks also are easier to digest and enhance and bind flavors together as few other ingredients do. Leeks can be outrageously expensive in stores and they are often impossible to thoroughly clean. Homegrown leeks, despite their long occupancy in the garden, have superior flavor and are such a trouble-free crop that no garden should be without them.

My fascination in growing leeks began more than 30 years ago when I watched Jim Crockett, from the then popular gardening show “Crockett’s Victory Garden” on PBS, harvest leeks that were as big as baseball bats in length and girth. I couldn’t believe how he had to dig down almost two-feet into the ground to unearth the silky white stalks that make up the most edible part of the leek.

Normally, I plant leeks by the third week of February, however, during the last few years I was never really happy with the size of the transplants that go into the ground in early April. Even with the head start, the leeks seedlings were barely the size of a strand of spaghetti. The small seedlings often had trouble surviving torrential spring downpours and their small size made them especially vulnerable to hungry crows that easily plucked them from the soil.

I’ve changed my leeks indoor planting schedule to the first weekend in February, give them more room to grow in larger pots and continue a regular liquid-feeding regime every two weeks while indoors.

Leeks develop especially long roots, so I use deep eight-inch pots filled with a soil-less planting medium instead of using flats. The deep pots will encourage plenty of long root growth.

I’ve grown the variety Giant Musselburgh every year, for more than 20 years, and I’ll never be convinced that there exists a better type to grow. A packet of the shiny black seeds is sown rather thickly since leeks are notoriously poor germinators. A quarter inch of soil will cover the seed and a generous drink of water will get them off to an extra early start. I won’t need to transplant them into a different container because they’ll go directly into the ground.

Grow Maine certified seed potatoes

One of the problems with buying seed potatoes is that often you never really know where they came from or if they are even suitable varieties for raising in New England.

Maine is definitely potato country (so is Long Island) and it’s here that you’ll find the organic WoodPrairie Farm in Bridgewater. If it is organic, locally grown, farm-direct seed potatoes you want to raise in your garden this year, you’ll be pleased with the quality and selection of potatoes WoodPrairie offers. From Swedish Peanut to Cranberry Red, this company offers an extensive list of potatoes that are not only delicious, but very well adjusted for growing in Connecticut.

You can purchase seed potatoes at www.woodprairie.com or call 800-829-9765 for a catalog. Potato planting is still several months off, but you can order now and have them shipped at the proper planting time.

June tomatoes start now

It has been nearly five long months since the last garden-picked tomatoes were available for eating. As I’ve proven many times before, it’s certainly possible to have fresh garden tomatoes within a week or two after most gardeners have only transplanted their main season crops into the garden in late May.

In order to accomplish this, you’ll need to get an early start on the season by starting the plants now. I start with about a dozen seeds of two or three early tomato varieties in several four-inch pots filled with a soil-less mixture.

After labeling the pots and covering the seed with an eighth-inch of soil they’ll get bottom watered and placed onto a heat pad. In less than a week they will have sprouted and in two more weeks will get moved into individual eight-inch pots.

By late-March the tomatoes will be transplanted into the open garden under heavy-security in the form of individual plastic “greenhouses” that will ward off snow and freezing conditions, if they occur.

This whole process is a bit laborious and can get rather nerve-wracking at times since tomatoes outgrow their temporary plastic homes and become vulnerable to late spring cold blasts, but the extra effort means fresh garden tomatoes on the table by mid-June.

A harbinger of spring

The majority of the bulbs that were potted last October have had sufficient cold weather conditions for bringing into bloom indoors. A week in the unheated garage and a drink of water is the first step.

After that, the pots are brought into the warm basement and placed near a light source. Root growth that ceased during the cold months has now begun to resume and within two weeks the first top growth will begin to sprout. The first bulbs to be brought indoors are the hyacinths and the daffodils. Tulips need a bit more time out in the cold before they’ll be ready to be brought indoors.

Every two weeks another set of pots will be moved indoors with careful attention paid to timing flowers into bloom for the Easter holiday. What a delightful way to bring some early spring color in the middle of winter. After the flowers fade I’ll compost the entire remains, although many gardeners have success planting the bulbs back in the garden for future blossoming.

A mid-winter splash of spring is not curtailed to just forced bulbs. Cuttings of forsythia give impatient gardeners like me a much needed boost this time of year. It’s also an excellent way to trim off congested branches or poorly placed ones since forsythia has a tendency to become rather tangled.

It certainly is easier to do the pruning while the shrub is dormant. All you need to do is place the cut branches into a vase of water. The indoor room temperature will force the buds to swell into long-lasting flowers. The yellow flowers pack a powerful punch and remind us that spring is just a mere 39 days away.

From the mailbag

Q: Every spring I notice some of my radish crops turn dark gray and rot. Would you know what is causing this condition? J. Day, Easton

A: It’s probably either rhizoctonia or fusarium root rot. These two conditions are fairly common fungal diseases that thrive in moist conditions often present in spring. They really do have similar symptoms, so it’s hard to tell exactly which disease is troubling your radishes — it might be both. I suggest crop rotation that avoids planting cruciferous and solanceous vegetables will greatly help. If the problem is severe, plant root-rot resistant radish varieties such as Red King and Fuego.

Readers are invited to submit garden tips and questions to this column. Questions of general interest will be published as space permits. Mail to: Bing J. Carbone, 5 High Meadow Road, Huntington CT. 06484 or email [email protected]

Grow your own leeks with Bill & Sheila
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