When to Harvest Leek

A relatively new crop in gardens is the leek. In Western Europe, this onion has been grown for a long time, it is an essential ingredient in most traditional dishes. Leek has an interesting taste, gives a pleasant bitterness, and most importantly, this onion contains a very large amount of vitamin C and other trace elements necessary for the body.

There is nothing difficult in growing leek, but in order for the crop to be stored for a long time, you need to know some rules for harvesting this crop.

Features of the leek

In order to correctly calculate the time when you need to harvest leeks, you should understand the features and nuances of this culture.

So:

1. Leek is unpretentious, it can easily grow in almost any climatic zone, withstanding drought, humidity, and temperature extremes. Only sub-zero temperatures are fatal for onions, so the leek crop should be harvested for the winter.
2. Leek is considered a very productive crop. If we compare it with onions, which are more familiar to s, then leek definitely wins in terms of productivity: two to three times more mature plants are harvested from the same area.
3. The most valuable part of the leek is the white head and neck. It is in the lower part of the onion that contains the largest amount of vitamins and minerals.
4. Leek can be eaten in different ways: it is eaten raw, salted, pickled, dried and used as a seasoning, added to soups and side dishes. Leek is delicious and nutritious.
5. Leek is a biennial crop, so growing it from seed in one season will not work. The most effective ways of cultivating leeks are planting seedlings or sowing seeds before winter.

You can pluck green leek feathers at any stage of crop development – the leaves have a piquant taste and give a slight bitterness to salads and hot dishes. If the gardener plans to keep the crop until next spring, you need to take care of the correct harvesting and provide the onions with suitable storage conditions.

When to Harvest Leek

The first thing that the owner of the leek plot should learn is that the ripening time of this crop largely depends on the variety. Today, there are many varieties of leek, among them there are both early-ripening and “evergreen” varieties grown “on a feather”. There are also varieties of leeks whose feathers remain soft and juicy throughout the growing season, other varieties of onions are grown precisely because of the value of the heads.

The harvesting time of the leek also directly depends on how soon it will be used. For example, if you need fresh greens, you can cut feathers during the summer and all autumn. Those who want to stock up on delicious onions for the winter should take care of a place to store them.

Usually, leeks are cut for the winter in early October, but here a lot depends on the climatic features of the region.

In principle, the longer the onion stays in the beds, the better – all the nutrients will remain in it for a long time. In regions with mild winters, leeks are sometimes left in the garden until the beginning of spring, only in this case the plants need to be well covered – so the onion can withstand frosts up to 8-10 degrees.

Colder winters force gardeners to dig leeks out of their beds. After that, the question arises about the storage of this valuable vegetable. Remove the onion like this:

• • carefully dig the heads out of the ground, trying not to damage the delicate feathers;
  • remove yellow, dry and damaged leaves;
  • onion feathers are cut by two thirds;

• the roots are shortened by about half;
• wash the onion under running water;
• dry thoroughly in a well-ventilated room.

How to store leeks

There is no single rule for storing leeks, the method may depend on the purpose of the vegetable:

1. Even in the summer, you can make blanks of the green part of the leek. To do this, cut off the grown feathers and cut them into rings or straws. Chopped onions are put into bags and sent to the freezer. Such blanks can be used to prepare salads and other dishes.

   

2. Leek can be finely chopped and dried in an oven or in an electric dryer, setting the temperature to no more than 50 degrees. In such conditions, almost all the nutritional properties of onions will be preserved. This herb can be used alone or mixed with other herbs.

   

3. To keep whole leek feathers fresh for a long time, you need to choose the most beautiful and strong leaves. They are thoroughly washed, dried, then put in bags of no more than eight pieces. The bags should be placed in a cold place (temperature from -2 to +2 degrees) for several hours, then make several holes in the polyethylene and put the onion in the freezer. The storage temperature of leeks should be no higher than -5 degrees, then for about 5-6 months the vegetable will retain its taste and appearance.

   

4. For about six months, you can store leeks in the basement, but special conditions must be created for this. The air temperature should not rise above 10 degrees, and the humidity is about 85%. Leek is stored in wooden boxes with wet sand. The dug stems with heads are placed vertically, immersing the lower part in the sand, then sprinkle the feathers with moistened river sand – the layer should be at least 20 cm. In this state, the leek will perfectly retain all the vitamins and will be as fresh as from the garden.

   

Each owner chooses the way to store his crop, but in any case, you need to know some features of leeks:

• you can’t immediately put the onions in the freezer – before that, the feathers must be cooled. If you do not follow this rule, the leaves will not retain their freshness, after defrosting they will be soft and lethargic.
• Leek can also be stored on the balcony, but it needs to be well covered. In such conditions, the vegetable will withstand frosts down to -8 degrees.
• Periodically, the condition of the onion stored in any way should be checked. Damaged or rotten stems must be removed.
• For drying leeks, you can use heating up to 100 degrees, but valuable vitamins will be preserved only when such processing is short-term – no more than 20 minutes.
• If you miss the moment and do not dig up the leek before the first frost, you can lose most of the crop. Frozen feathers will not be stored.
• Leek should be dried on gauze or cotton fabric. In no case should the sun’s rays fall on the unfolded bow.

Leek is a very unpretentious culture, it is quite simple to grow it. It is also easy to preserve the harvest of this healthy vegetable, you just need to be able to properly harvest it and prepare it for long-term storage.