A rather rare occurrence in Michigan for December. I'm going to harvest leeks tomorrow.

[Denninmi]

Ordinarily by now, they would be frozen into the ground, and probably damaged to the point of being largely unusable by cold. But, we're having such a mild fall, that they look beautiful and pristine.

So, I have about 3 dozen nice leeks that I intend to dig tomorrow and store in the fridge in "greenbags" after I trim them up. They seem to keep a very long time this way, and will be nice for winter cooking.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Oh, I can taste that potato leek soup now....loaf of warm crusty bread....

Great news - I've not tried to grow leeks in many years. But we love them!

[Denninmi]

2. Well, I have hundreds of them. Most of them are feral.

I haven't actually planted and used them for years, mostly just let them grow because they're so pretty, and they bloom at a good time here, mid July, when other things are starting to peter out.

This year, I picked up a small bundle of transplants when I was buying onion transplants at the feed store. I divided them into two groups. The first group is in planted at the base of a young pear tree, and I don't want them flopping all over next year, so I'm going to dig and eat them. The others can stay and bloom next year with the rest.

I like the flavor of them. My objection is its hard to get the grit out of them. I think I solved that issue finally -- putting them through the food processor with the thin slicing blade yields paper thin slices that don't hold onto grit after several washings.

[Vanje]

3. You go out into your yard and just take a leeK!??

In Winter!?

[Denninmi]

4. Well, I do try to be discrete.

Wouldn't want the neighbors to talk.

[dmosh42]

5. Yeah, I like my leeks too, but I(NC) don't get the real hard freeze like Michigan...

so I can dig them as I need them through the winter. Then I re-plant in the Spring and start all over. We usually just wrap them in paper towels, and then into the fridge. What are the 'greenbags'?

[Denninmi]

6. Greenbags are specially treated storage bags for produce.

They have a compound in them that absorbs ethylene, the gas that makes produce rot. They work great. I buy a dollar store generic version that is about a tenth of the cost of the original Debby Meyer brand. They really extend the life of produce in the fridge -- I've kept things like lettuce about 4 weeks, and apples and pears for a year, nice and fresh.

Pretty much any grocery store will have some version of these now -- the major manufacturers like Glad and Reynolds have hopped on the bandwagon. Dollar stores sell a generic version as I said. Kroger stores here now even have a version of these in the produce department for the bulk items, but they are thinner than the purchased version.

http://www.amazon.com/Debbie-Meyer-20317-Green-Bags/dp/B0011TMP3Y

[dmosh42]

7. Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll give them a try.

[Kolesar]

8. I harvested ten onions yesterday

They were so tiny that I did not harvest them in September. They grew from the size of a marble to the size of a ping pong ball in the last three months. This has been a warm fall in Ohio like you have had in Michigan.