Leeks - the ghetto vegetable

I saw something as I was walking through Dunedin a couple of days ago that perfectly proves the point I was trying to make with this blog.  It was a great example of not needing a lifestyle block or even a veggie patch to grow vegetables.

OK so admittedly a main street in central Dunedin isn't exactly the ghetto but it was still the last place I was expecting to see vegetables growing!  In the window boxes of what I assumed was an office building were some very healthy looking leeks and celery, I had to cross the road to make sure I wasn't imagining it :)

Leeks in the hood

I love the idea that some enterprising worker has commandeered these window boxes to grow vegetables, although I suppose the building might have been converted to flats and have people living there.  

Celery on the left and leeks on the right, so very cool!

I have to admit that I previously would not have recommended either leeks or celery for container gardening, both require mounding earth around them to blanch the stems, so you get that useable white part.  Though after seeing these I've changed my mind!  The trick would be to get a long rectangular planter like those in the photo that are deep enough that you can plant your celery/leeks only filling up the container half full and leaving room to top the soil up as the plant grows.  I know tomatoes and lettuces are easy container plants, so if you can grow celery in a pot too then that's the whole salad right there!

You can grow leeks from seed in seed trays and plant out when they look like large blades of grass.  As always, slightly easier and only marginally more expensive is to buy a punnet of leek seedlings at the garden centre.  Ideally you would plant these seedlings in trenches about 20cm deep, and then fill the trench in as the plants grow, this gives the leeks that white end that is most used in cooking.  If you are going to try container gardening with leeks and your container is not going to be deep enough you can mound soil around the leek as much as possible for the same effect, you may just have to check it more often after heavy rain to make sure that the leek is still covered.  If all else fails, baby leeks are sweet, tasty and can be used whole in cooking.  If I was the owner of the leeks in this photo, I would, every now and then, be eating alternate leeks as a baby leek to give the neighbour leeks more room to grow into full size :)

You can plant leeks at two different times of year, late summer/autumn and spring/early summer, avoiding the hottest and coldest couple of months.  It may be a bit late to be planting leeks now unless you do it in the next week or so, I might try for one last planting before winter, though it might be better waiting until September/October.

Celery needs trenches in a similar way to leeks. although you can use things like black plastic sleeves or brown paper sleeves instead of earth.  This stops the celery from being bitter, for some reason too much sun exposure gives it a too bitter flavour.   I planted mine in December and I am still picking off stalks as I need them ... not sure how much longer they will last!

At this time of year celery and leeks make great ingredients for soups, casseroles and stews.  I've got both ready in the garden now and am slowly filling up freezer bags full of both these things to go in winter warmer dishes over the next few months.  I made a tasty Irish Stew yesterday using these and it did just the job on a rainy Sunday! :)