old leeks

[chilliking]

i was given some leek seedlings last summer and planted them in a shady spot. when the end of the summer came i didn't have the space to separate them and dib them in properly and ended up forgetting about them.

they're still there about pencil thick, 30cm high, mainly all bunched together. do i...

a) add them to the compost heap?

b) pull them and eat them?

c) pull them and dib them in to my freshly dug veg patch like i should have done last year?

[chris]

Me, if I fancied some 'baby leeks' I'd eat a few - I'd plant the rest. You could even leave them to seed if you like - not only are they attractive, but you won't have to buy leek seeds the following year

I did the exact same thing, I've ~8 leeks that have stood the ground under a tree (before I cut it down) all winter - I'm going to transplant them in a new area and let them goto seed.

[Kristen]

I would pull them and eat them (or make soup if they aren't right for a meal, as such)

I reckon if you plant them they will run to seed this year, rather than bulking up ('coz that's what they will have thought they were doing last year)

Leek flowers are pretty though - so you could transplant them to the flower garden.

[Flummery]

I agree, get 'em etten!

[cupcake]

If you have alot of them they will freeze.

[Two_Sheds]

Eat them. Mine are pencil size too, I planted them out far too late in the year

[Aberdeenplotter]

If you leave then or replant them, they will bolt as they are bi-ennials. As the others have said, into the cookpot with them.

[Nicos]

Just about to eat some of my pencil sized leeks!

( had to nibble a few - as you do!- and they are so sweet and delish!!!)

[Glutton4...]

Mine didn't even get to the size of a pencil, and are still in the pot! I will plant them out for aesthetic value!

[arpoet]

Most of the leeks we have been eating this past 4 months are pencil thickness and about a foot long, growing in old kitcken cupboards under my apple tree. They have a been very tender and tasty.
roger

[Jeanied]

Eat some, and let some flower. Then cut the flower tips off the globe and grab the leek 'grass' that grows as new leeks for next year.

[Lotsaveg]

Yep, eat them or you'll regret it when they are useless half flowering twigs in the summer!