More fall harvests

I regret not planting more leeks this summer. Actually, I did plant a bunch in my planter box, but I wasn't quick enough to use them for grilled ramps.

I let six of them get to full size in one of my beds. Here are the best looking ones after being cleaned and trimmed after harvest.


I have several soup recipes that these will go well in. All are from Thomas Keller's ad hoc. Yes, one can cook recipes from the fancy French food chef! There is an entire chapter devoted to soup and most call for a base of carrots, leeks, and onions that are slowly cooked for at least a half hour. These recipes are a tad involved, but totally do-able compared to his French Laundry cookbook. My favorites are Split Pea with ham hock, fresh peas, and mint; Lentil and Sweet Potato; and Chicken Soup with dumplings. Another favorite, and the entire reason why I decided to grow escarole this fall, is his Heirloom Bean and Escarole soup. Featuring a smoked ham hock (which, by the way, I get from Bob's Quality Meats down the street) that stews for an hour and falls off the bone. It's the perfect comfort food for a nasty winter day.

I was late in planting out my carrots since this summer was cool. I planned on planting then out in early July, but just barely sowed them before the month was over. It's still July, right? No big deal!

I had to use my contrasting blue cutting board against the orange carrots!

Well, as you can see, these Tonda di Parigi carrots are pretty runty. I think planting them a few weeks earlier would have helped. I'll make sure next year I get these in around the 4th of July. I think I may use these as part of my base for my fall soups. The flavor is a bit too pungent for straight snacking.

Even though we've had record warmth these last few days, I'm ready for comforting winter soups.

Little Box of Leeks

My eyes are bigger than my garden. Every gardener out there has experienced this at least once. Some of us, it's a weekly thing as we decide to just take a spin through a nursery to see what's there without the intention of buying anything.

I tried to convince Eldon that we should go to the Seattle Tilth sale earlier this month. His response, "Do we need more edibles?" Um, yes!

Regardless, I've been on a quest for a culinary bay laurel. I noticed they were at City People's at the end of winter so I went back a few weeks ago to check if they were still there. Alas, no. But, I found a few other edibles to cram into my garden. I replaced my oregano that didn't survive a transplanting and my accidentally stepping on it--oops!

For a couple weeks, I had been eyeing leeks. I scratched them from my seed list and immediately regretted it. Well, I know how to solve that. I'll just buy starts! It will save me some work. And there they were at City People's. I couldn't buy just one pot. I took two. Never mind that each pot has at least 10 leeks.

When I got home, I realized that one pot was probably sufficient. But, with my wall-mounted planter box, was able to stick 12 leeks in there. Eldon loves grilled ramps, essentially baby leeks, so I don't have to worry about them getting too big. I'll just harvest them when they are the size of a green bunching onion.

It's crowded in there, but I still found a way to plant nasturtium seeds in the middle of the two rows of leeks. Why not? Who knows? It may just turn out great.