Bees and leeks

[Cindi]

Has anyone ever allowed leeks to go to seed in their second year of their life.  I did an experiment because I had heard that bees really enjoy the allium flowers.  This event was something to behold this summer.  I always plant many leeks and this year there was many, many of these beauties growing on in their second year.  The stalks of the plant probably grew about 8 feet tall, and covered the flower head all day long with bees, syrphid flies, yellowjackets (YUK), and a species of strange flies that I don’t actually know the name of.  All these little creatures all shared the abundance of food that they munched on for quite some time, there was enough to go around for all.  It was indeed a pretty awesome thing to behold.  I should have staked the stalks, not realizing how heavy the flower head became.  Many of them fell over of course, but that did not bother the bees, they still found the flowers and brought wonder to the sight.   Great day, Cindi.

[Jerrymac]

I don't have a clue what a Leek is.

[ChickenWing]

It is similar to a scallion or green onion.   

[Finsky]

Leek:  http://images.google.fi/images?svnum=10&hl=fi&lr=&q=leek&btnG=Hae

[randydrivesabus]

there are a lot of ramps around here (wild onions). i'll have to remember to look for honey bees on them next year. they always go to seed.

[Cindi]

Ramps, I actually have never heard of those, wild onions, hmm.  Are they grown for the bulb or are these mostly used as green onions, as are chives?  I have chives growing wild around my place, I divide them over and over and place them everywhere.  Ya, I forgot, the bees do love the chive blossoms as much as they do the other alliums.  The pretty blue flowers are used by me in everything, they make a very pretty addition to potato salads and stuff.  They taste just like the green growing part of the plant.  They self-seed like there was nothing on earth.  But nevertheless, I always take a clump and make many,many new clumps from one single piece of the root.  So much fun. 
Finsky, the pics on the site you sent are awesome, I grow the ones with the big fat leaves, my leek plants leaves grow about 2-1/2 feet tall at least.  My husband makes famous potato and leek soup, along with the best butternut squash soup one could ever imagine, he has mastered this art (oh ya, and asparagus soup too, the soup king).  Asparagus flowers are also something that the bees go nuts on!!!   Great day. Cindi

[IndianaBrown]

I first heard of ramps while I was hiking the Appalacian Trail in 1994.  Randydrivesabus can probably tell you more, but as far as I know they only grow in the southern Appalacian mountains.

More than once that spring and early summer I came across someone harvesting them along the trail.  Folks there were very generous and shared them with hungry hikers.  I can tell you they make a BIG improvement in mac-n-cheese or other trail rations! :lol:  However they are easily confused with another plant that is poisonous, so if you are not sure how to identify them, find someone who knows the difference. 

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=ramps+%28onions%29&btnG=Search

I wonder if I could get them to grow in Indiana?  It sounds like they would be a win/win for me and for my bees.

[Cindi]

I first heard of ramps while I was hiking the Appalacian Trail in 1994.  Randydrivesabus can probably tell you more, but as far as I know they only grow in the southern Appalacian mountains.

More than once that spring and early summer I came across someone harvesting them along the trail.  Folks there were very generous and shared them with hungry hikers.  I can tell you they make a BIG improvement in mac-n-cheese or other trail rations! :lol:  However they are easily confused with another plant that is poisonous, so if you are not sure how to identify them, find someone who knows the difference. 

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=ramps+%28onions%29&btnG=Search

I wonder if I could get them to grow in Indiana?  It sounds like they would be a win/win for me and for my bees.

Well, in looking at the picture on the net, I would say that ramps are what we call green bunching onions.  We grow them up here no problem.  If you can grow grass, onions, pretty much all, (LOL).  I see no reason why chives cannot be grown in your area.  Our chives here begin to sprout out of the ground the beginning of January.  They are one of the first things around my place that show their pretty green shoots.  Chives in our area require a short period of dormancy, about the end of October (frost kill) they die back to the ground (it may be a little later, but I can count on not having any green chives about this time).  They are out of site, not even a stubble (of course I do remove the mushy foliage anyways).  Then, come shortly after the winter solstace, lo and behold, up they come.  When they first come up they are very very strong.  Meaning that when I go to pick them, they are difficult to actually pick, I use my garden shears or most likely scissors, because it is cold and the kitchen scissors are the most handy.

Check out your garden stores for chive seeds.  They are a long process when started by seed, but they will grow.  I would send you a bunch of chives when the ground thaws, (LOL), we have had extraordinary weather that is very cold, with about 1 foot of snow, but I don't know if border crossing allows the transport of this, they are very finicky about what is exported to the states. 

I also grow garlic chives, now they are something to behold.  I have gathered many, many thousands of seeds from this plant.  Very similar to regular garden chives, but with a flat leaf, a perennial, as chives are, but the leaf is a combination of garlic and onion.  Yummy.  I treat the leaves of my garlic plants that I grow as a green in spring/summer too.  They are even more garlic flavoured than the garlic chives, but man are they good.  The flowers that arise from garlic about a month before harvest are also very yummy.  I dehydrate these and use them for flavouring in any dish that uses garlic, crunchy or soft, very yummy.  The bees love the garlic flowers too.  I will post a picture of my garlic harvest.  I never did get around the counting the bulbs, the picture is deceiving, but I think that I probably have about 2,000 garlic bulbs, so good.  I have "things" I am going to do with the excess garlic that I have, and that pertains to turkeys and chickens.  Ha, ha, great day. Cindi

[IndianaBrown]

I see no reason why chives cannot be grown in your area.

Chives grow easily here.  We keep a flower pot or 2 of them around, but there is really no need since the neighbor's yard is full of them.  Smells great when the grass is cut.  :)

I also grow garlic chives, now they are something to behold.

I'll have to look into 'garlic chives'.  They sound great!

As far as ramps, I suspect that they like shady, cool, wet conditions.  I am not sure how they would do here in the summer, but I have places in my backyard that may work.  I just have to see if I can find some to plant.  Time to go find the garden catalogs or start planning a hiking trip.  :)

[Mici]

i'm  kinda lost in all this terminology. well, from the pics some of you have shown, one of them is this:
http://www.kulinarika.net/clanki/cemaz1.jpg
this would be the "ramps". it smell like garlic, but is much healthier, plus you don't have to worry about bad breath, we put it on salads, instead of garlic. it grows in the woods but only on north sides-shady areas. my menthor says that honey can get pretty "garlicy" from all this "Allium ursinum".

i also live in a pretty flatty terrain, so, the first picture is very familiar to me, we have whole meadows of this "wild garlic", this year i even found a "mutant" a pink one. mostly people can't agree with what is what, some will say, that the plant in the first post is wild garlic, others will claim that wild garlic is-what i posted.

[Cindi]

i'm  kinda lost in all this terminology. well, from the pics some of you have shown, one of them is this:
http://www.kulinarika.net/clanki/cemaz1.jpg
this would be the "ramps". it smell like garlic, but is much healthier, plus you don't have to worry about bad breath, we put it on salads, instead of garlic. it grows in the woods but only on north sides-shady areas. my menthor says that honey can get pretty "garlicy" from all this "Allium ursinum".

i also live in a pretty flatty terrain, so, the first picture is very familiar to me, we have whole meadows of this "wild garlic", this year i even found a "mutant" a pink one. mostly people can't agree with what is what, some will say, that the plant in the first post is wild garlic, others will claim that wild garlic is-what i posted.

Mici, Wow, what a beautiful plant.  It must be an absolute wonder to put in some butter and saute.  The flowers of this plant look very similar to the garlic chive that I grow, meaning they both appear to have umbrels that are consistent with certain species.  Our garlic chives have very fine leaves, does not grow very tall, probablyl no more than say 10 inches, maximum, the leaves may be only about 1 cm thick, if that, strange, good stuff.  Great day.  Cindi, by the way, the pink "mutant" must have been very pretty to see.

[Mici]

yea<h well, i guess we are talking about the same plant.
by the way, Cindi, the picture shows only the drying of garlic, this isn't storing, right?=
and, i'll make sure to find the pink "wild garlic/onion" next year and take a photo of it.the topic will most likely be forgot, but, who cares:)

[Cindi]

yea<h well, i guess we are talking about the same plant.
by the way, Cindi, the picture shows only the drying of garlic, this isn't storing, right?=
and, i'll make sure to find the pink "wild garlic/onion" next year and take a photo of it.the topic will most likely be forgot, but, who cares:)

Mici
So this is how garlic is tended, and stored.  Plant the cloves in the fall, a couple of inches apart, these grow all winter, come about the middle of June, the garlic sends up its flower stalk.  Sometimes I cut this off, other times, I get too busy and just don't get around to it and leave it on until harvest.  It does not actually seem to make any difference as far as I can see if the stalk is off or on, it is certainly much easier to deal with the plants with the stalk removed.  So, then when these are dug up, (the garlic bulb is now usually about 8-10 cloves,) I grow the hardneck variety, and these cloves surround a very very hard stalk, the softneck do not have the stock that the cloves grow around, the stalk is kind of above the cloves, so the bulb stays intact.  This may seem a little confusing, don't worry about it, it is OK.  Softneck type is good for braiding, hardneck is too stiff and difficult to deal with. Anyways, I dry the garlic in the sun for about half a day, then I gather them in bunches and hang them to dry for about 2 or 3 weeks, in an airy dry spot.  My open shed that is alongside my greenhouse is perfect, the wind blows through and dries them very nicely.  They are hung upside down, the stalk acts like a wick and draws the moisture from the bulb.  The bulb must be very dry to store properly, like onions, of course.  After the drying time, I cut them down with about 1/2 inch of stem, cut off the hairy roots a little, just for esthetics, dust them off a little and put them into something to store, like I use wicker baskets.  Garlic likes to be kept dry and not cold, but not hot either.  If they get too cold, they think that it is winter and time to sprout and you do not want that.  They store like this until next summer, and by then I will probably have eaten a good portion of them all up.  We do have many relatives and friends,so there is always plenty of people who love the garlic handout.  By the way, garlic should always be stored at room temperature, don't put the bulbs or cloves in the fridge.  Hope you liked this  information.  Have a great day, Cindi.

[Mici]

hehe, too much information. my mom does the garden work, but i help her, often, so i know how garlic is grown.
thanks for the info anyway

[mick]

I just had a leek, out the back, under the lemon tree, we have a drought you see.

It shows how amazing bees are at scenting out whats available. Bees, I have concluded are real survivors.

I might start collecting bees in amber, but those crafty Chinese can manufacture anything nowadays.

Pot `o leekie soup yum yum. leeks and spuds mmmmmmmm curl the mo jo.