I'm just starting some dinner today using the last 3 leeks from my winter garden. It's Mother's Day weekend, so I needed the bed for more lettuce. When I started having children, I went through a spell of health trouble where my Chinese herbalist recommended I not eat any allium vegetables during my treatment (for psoriasis). I was devoted to this for about 2 years and my health improved dramatically and swiftly. But I can eat them again now... things are back into balance. And I'm more in love with them than EVER!! (Can you imagine cooking without onions or garlic? Hint: Substitute with bacon.)
Alliums are onions, leeks, scallions, garlic, shallots. They have all sorts of wonderful health benefits. I think we forget we are eating our veggies when we've just put a pound of leeks into a soup. Here in the pacific northwest, we are able to grow... almost effortlessly... these crops all year round. I like to follow
Steve Solomon's growing guide. It means I don't always have a big onion from the garden, but I always have something like that. Here is the alium schedule that I've got from him:
Early June: Start leeks nursery bed. Sow them close together in loose soil so they can be transplanted in later summer and keep growing rapidly. The leeks will be nice and big for December through late spring. I think leeks make a marvelous start to your winter soups. The greeness of them seems to bring a little fresh garden-ness to wintertime food. Save the tops for adding to stock.
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| Leeks, a few weeks after transplanting into their final place for winter. |
September: Sow overwintering bulb onions. These are the onions that will be your summer bulbs. They might or might not be keepers. You plant them in early fall. Thin and transplant thinnings elsewhere in late fall or early spring. Feed them in the spring time... thin for green onions. Eat in mid summer.
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| Overwintering onions in fall. Just wee things ready to hunker down for the winter. |
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| Same onions the following May. Overcrowded ones were transplanted back in March to the other end of the bed, given a little fertilizer and left alone. More thinning whenever I want some green onions in a dish. |
October: Plant garlic and shallots. Nothing could be easier than these crops. I've been planting them among my fall broccoli, cabbages and brussel sprouts that I know will be ready to pull out of the ground at the end of winter. You just put them in the ground in the fall, in the spring time, I feed them and weed around them, then pull them up in July and use them until next year. As I write this, I'm in the first season of planting shallots. I HEAR they are as easy as garlic... but that remains to be seen. I plant both hard neck and soft neck garlic. The soft one is ideal for braiding... and that is just so beautiful (and convenient) to hang in the kitchen. I made one for my mom last year and she said it was her favorite of anything I ever gave her... and would like another this year, please. The quality of the garlic was superb. I am surprised how good fresh garlic is. It's also wonderful to use to make your own potions for the coming winter.
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| Garlic in May. After a mild winter, they've got a good start. |
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| Garlic harvest in July. |
All of these crops depend on overwintering in your garden with absolutely no protection from the elements and no watering... save for the leeks you start in the summertime.
I'm not a super-experienced gardener. I like to follow Solomon's books because they make sense to me. I like to try new things and experiment with extending my seasons and reducing what I buy from the store. I trust his advice because it is specific for this area and our uniquely poor soils. I'm still learning and making a lot of mistakes. But if you buy a lot of aliums at the store, growing your own can save you a lot of money and trips to the store. It's very easy to get a good quality product in our climate. It will make you feel very accomplished in your garden... and in the kitchen!
