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Alliums
Onions and garlic are staples in the kitchen and the garden for a simple reason-they are delicious. So why not expand your culinary horizons and grow the subtler, more complex flavors of the other members of the onion (allium) family? Leeks, shallots, and their close relatives are as easy to grow as onions and garlic-patience is the only demand they place on you-and your reward is a bountiful crop of gourmet vegetables that can flavor recipes from nearly every cuisine in the world.
Getting Started: Gardeners in regions with mild winters, such as the Pacific Northwest or the Southeast, can plant some alliums, such as leeks and shallots, in spring for a summer or fall harvest and then again in late summer and fall for a spring harvest. If you garden on the Gulf coast, alliums grow best when planted in late fall or winter. In most other areas of the country, plant alliums just after your average last-frost date in spring.
You can find sets or seedlings of leeks, shallots, and other alliums at a well-stocked garden center, in a catalog, or from a local farmer. This is the best way to start if you are truly a novice. They're a no-fail crop if you spend a little time prepping the soil.
But if you want to be sure you have an organic crop from start to finish (and the gratification that comes from doing it all yourself), get seeds from one of the sources listed below. Start the seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before you want to plant them out in your garden. Sow seeds in trays filled with a seed-starting mix, place them under ordinary fluorescent shop lights or in a sunny window, and keep them consistently moist. The young plants can be transplanted outside when they are half the size of a pencil, but bigger transplants tend to grow better. "I like to transplant when the plants are about the size of those fat pencils popular with second graders," says Jim Muck, who grows leeks and shallots for the customers of Jim's Produce, his organic farm in Wheatland, California.
Ready to Transplant: The long seed-starting period for alliums gives gardeners time to turn their attention to the soil. Alliums perform best in loose, fertile soil. "They have soft roots that can't power their way through heavy soil," says Muck, who spreads compost and tills deeply before planting his alliums each spring. Muck recommends that gardeners add compost, loosen the soil with a garden fork or double-dig their beds, and weed thoroughly before planting. If you have dense clay soil, plant alliums in a raised bed.
Before transplanting, gently trim the seedlings' roots and tops to encourage new growth. Set them into your prepared bed with about 6 inches between each plant. Keeping the bed weed-free for about 45 days is essential, Muck says. "Alliums just cannot compete with weeds because they take so long to establish," he explains. "I mulch with 4 to 6 inches of rice straw and don't have a weed problem." Alliums also like consistent moisture in the soil, says Doug Troy of Stoneridge Farm, in Bradford, New Hampshire. Troy recommends watering frequently, especially in gardens with dry soil, and mulching to keep the soil moist.
Leeks: Tall, regal leeks (Allium ampeloprasum porrum) look magnificent in your vegetable garden, and they are prized by chefs for their buttery flavor in soups and vegetable dishes. They are expensive to buy, yet take little effort to grow as they are relatively pest-and disease proof.
Dig a trench about 4 to 6 inches deep and then set your seedlings, which should be about 8 inches tall, 6 inches apart (or as close as 3 inches if you intend to harvest them young). Backfill the trench until the tips of the plants are 2 to 3 inches above the soil surface. For the highest-quality leeks, hill the soil around the base of each plant as it pushes through the loose soil. This process (called blanching) forces the leek to reach toward the sun and keeps the bottom part of the stalk tender and white. "I hill the leeks up only once, when they are about 8 inches out of the ground," Muck says. Fertilize leeks once a month during the growing season with diluted fish fertilizer.
Leeks are a long-season crop (75 to 130 days), but you can extend your leek harvest by growing several varieties of leeks that mature at different rates. You can harvest most leeks at any stage, but some varieties, such as 'King Richard' and 'Lincoln', are bred to be harvested both when they are young and tender and later in life, while others are best when left to mature in the ground through late fall or even over the winter. Cold-hardy varieties tend to have stout shanks. Eat tall, thinner leeks at the baby stage?when the shaft is no more than 1/2 inch thick. Increase the cold-hardiness of those that stay in the garden longer by banking the hill with 6 to 8 inches of straw before the first hard frost.
Store your leeks right in the garden through the fall and early winter until you're ready to eat them-just be sure to pull them before temperatures dip below about 10°F or when seedheads start to form from the center, which indicates that the leeks have become too tough and fibrous to use in the kitchen. Store leeks in plastic bags in the refrigerator, where they will last for several weeks. Saute mature leeks in butter or olive oil and use them to add depth to stews, soups, and quiche. Tender, young leeks taste best gently braised or grilled for antipasto, or finely chopped and tossed into a salad.
Shallots: If you've grown garlic (or have been afraid to try), you'll be pleased to discover that shallots (Allium cepa Aggregatum Group) are just as failureproof and can be grown from either bulbs or seeds. The easiest strategy is to simply push the bulb into soft soil in early spring, leaving about 6 inches between bulbs and the tip of each bulb slightly above ground. Avoid planting in very rich soil, because high nitrogen levels encourage green tops and rob flavor from the bulb. Clusters of bulbs form over the summer. Gardeners with temperate winters can also plant shallots in midfall for a summer harvest the next year. For the fastest results, plant sets (small bulbs) rather than seeds, Muck advises. "Sets seem to size up better than plants started from seed," he says. Shallot seeds became available to gardeners in the past decade and are an economical alternative to bulbs.
Starting shallots from seed takes a little longer than starting them from bulbs, yet the French-type varieties 'Matador' and 'Ambition' grow an ample yield of 2-inch round, reddish brown shallots in a few short months. "Sets are easier," says Troy, "but we grow our shallots from seed because we've found them to be more disease-resistant, and they do grow to full size for us." Organic Gardening's Pennsylvania test gardener, Pam Ruch, also had winning results growing shallots from seed. "We started the 'Matador' seedlings in early March, and planted them in the garden 6 weeks later. By the first of August they were mature and ready to harvest," she attests.
Harvest shallots when three-quarters of the plant top dries and falls over. Let the bulbs cure in a dry, warm, well-ventilated spot until the tops are completely dry and the papery shell feels crispy. Like garlic, shallots keep well if you store them in a cool, dry place, or in a decorative braid. They are flexible enough to be sauteed, braised, glazed, caramelized, grilled, or added to stir-fry. Jill Nussinow, a cooking teacher from Santa Rosa, California, and author of the cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment (Vegetarian Connection Press, 2005), instructs her students to use shallots rather than garlic in vegetarian recipes. "They are milder and blend with vegetables in recipes more easily and without an overpowering blast," she says.
Three Alternatives: Most alliums are grown as annuals, plucked from the ground and delivered to the kitchen or braided and dried for winter storage. Yet many will grow as perennials and come back year after year with only a little coaxing on your part.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are slender-leaved alliums with a strong onion flavor. Even among chives there are varieties suited to every preference. Choose 'Staro' if you prefer thicker, juicier leaves and 'Purly' if you seek thinner, delicate leaves. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) feature flat leaves with an intense flavor that is pungent enough to replace a regular garlic clove in most recipes. Flowers always follow a burst of spring growth, and provide both an excellent garnish and a colorful addition to salads. (Just beware of letting garlic chives go to seed in your garden- they sow with abandon and you'll be pulling them for years to come.) All types of chives accent the milder flavors of eggs, potatoes, salads, and fish. You can plant a division of chives or buy a small pot at a nursery. More unusual varieties are easy to start from seed. Once chives become established, they divide and transplant very well, so you can pass them along to fellow gardeners and friends.
Egyptian walking onion (Allium cepa Proliferum Group) produces a topknot of bulblets on a hollow stalk. The weight of the top-setting bulbs bends the stalk to the ground, allowing the bulblets to take root. These novelty onions are fun to watch creep across the garden, but they can wreak havoc if left unharvested. Plant Egyptian walking onions in the fall and harvest from midsummer to fall when the tops begin to wilt and dry. Use the minibulbs fresh or allow them to plant themselves and then harvest the scallionlike volunteers.
Bunching onions (Allium fistulosum) form a cluster of full-size scallions that are ready to eat from seed to table in just 60 days. New leaves that spring up from the scallionlike base are tender and ideal chopped into a salad. Harvest perennial bunching onions, also known as Welsh onions or multiplier onions, when they are pencil thin. Lift the whole clump, take what you need, and put the rest back in the ground. You can also remove side shoots and relocate them to another spot. 'Hardy White Evergreen' is a popular variety that produces winter-hardy, snow-white scallions.
'Deep Purple' (a cultivar of Allium cepa) is an annual type of bunching onion that produces bright burgundy scallions that hold their color when cooked. Sow seed directly into the garden in spring or summer-the scallions will be kitchen-ready in 60 days. Add a bit of zip to salad by finely dicing bunching onions, or for a traditional Japanese dish, pull them as a clump, dip into a tempura batter, and fry them in hot oil. Harvest a batch of any of these crops, and you'll be inspired to break out your cookbooks and try new savory recipes (caramelized shallots on toast with goat cheese, anyone?). But if you're a cook who seeks inspiration from the garden rather than a book, try this simple trick. Chop a leek and a shallot, heat a little olive oil in a pan and saute over low heat. While the kitchen fills with a luscious aroma, take a mad dash to the garden to see what can be harvested and added to the pan to complete your simple homegrown meal.
Cleaning Leeks: After harvesting leeks, trim the roots and the green tops, leaving about 1 inch of green above the blanched shaft. Do this either in the garden near the compost pile, or in the kitchen. The green tops make an excellent addition to both chicken and vegetable stocks. Slice the leek lengthwise, keeping root end intact, and run under water, separating the layers to dislodge any soil that may be hidden. For grilling and roasting, use baby leeks whole. Slice large leeks in half lengthwise. For the base of soups or stock, cut leeks crosswise into 1-inch sections and gently saute.
Best Varieties:
Leeks 'American Flag'
'King Richard'
'Lincoln'
Shallots 'Ambition'
'French Gray'
Chives 'Purly'
'Staro'
Garlic chives
Bunching Onions 'Deep Purple'
'Hardy White Evergreen'
Egyptian Walking Onion Allium cepa Proliferum Group
