Thursday, May 10, 2012

Garlic To Leeks With Greens In Between



These are the scapes of Allium vineale. They were tender enough to snack on raw, which I did, but most were chopped to flavor roast turkey.

I was impressed with the bulb size at about an inch. I've left the remaining vineale to size up. At this size there is a woody stalk at the center of the bulb.

The butter lettuce on the left and romaine on the right. Best grow fast lettuce, tomatoes are on your heels.

The cima di rapa, or rabe, is also growing fast. Eating rabe will put sand in your gullet. The leaves seem to have the magic ability to capture grains of sand deep into the leaf axil -soaking doesn't always get it. The answer is cultural -I think a mulch to keep down splash up is necessary.

Ahh, the elephant garlic. Just four 'cloves' pulled from a Fairway purchase were planted last fall. Elephant garlic is not really garlic, but a leek (Allium ampeloprasum), which explains its mildness as a garlic.


2 comments:

If I do not respond to your comment right away, it is only because I am busy pulling out buckthorn, creeping charlie, and garlic mustard...