The leek variety determines the time of harvest. Harvesting leeks properly is not difficult. If you take the following factors into account, with a bit of luck the plant will thrive twice a season.

Harvest summer leeks twice

If leeks are sown behind glass in winter and planted in spring, they are ready to harvest after 5 to 6 months. Since the vegetation has put in the botanical turbo from June to October, prudent hobby gardeners use this phase for a second harvest:

  • Cut the summer leeks close to the ground in the first harvest
  • mound the plant a little and water it
  • a second, narrower leek grows back

Only during the second harvest run do you completely dig up the summer leeks. Ideally in time before the first frost.

Dig up winter leeks

Hardy leeks are available for harvest throughout the cold season. Get it fresh from the bed if you want to enjoy the 'vitamin prince of winter'. Since there are no prospects of regrowing leeks at this time of year, the harvest is now as follows:

  • choose a frost-free day for the winter harvest
  • loosen the root area with the digging fork in the morning
  • pull the entire pole out of the ground in the afternoon

This harvesting technique offers the advantage that the nitrate content in the leek drops significantly. In addition, you are more likely to recognize a possible worm infestation in the afternoon.

This is how you harvest long, creamy-white leeks

When leeks are served, everyone grabs the creamy white parts of the plant. No wonder, because they taste wonderfully tender and aromatic. Hobby gardeners therefore endeavor to plant leeks with the longest possible, white shafts. This is how the trick works:

  • Plant leeks preferably in the merry month of May
  • pile up the young plants again and again
  • alternatively put a dark plastic tube over the leek

Piling up is one of the traditional working methods in leek cultivation. You push a small wall of soil and mulch together around each individual stalk.(239.00€) The better a shoot is protected from light, the paler and more tender it thrives.

tips and tricks

The leek roots, which are up to 150 cm deep, enrich the soil with many nutrients. Resourceful hobby gardeners do not leave the valuable soil unused and sow lamb's lettuce or lettuce as undersown. Post-culture carrots and early potatoes also benefit from the nutritious bedding soil that leeks always leave behind.

Category:

Vegetable garden