The leeks will rise again?

So...

Back in sep last year I planted into a border some poor leeks that had been grown in a seed tray and left there (I was in the middle of moving house). I was impressed they survived tbh, had plenty of space so just stuck them in with a touch of compost.

They didn't do much, the outer skin was very tough and I reckoned the bad start had done for them. I pulled a couple out and used them like spring onions. The slugs ate the rest.

Now just in the last month a few what look very like leeks have popped up where I'd first planted them.

Are these my leeks? Are they bionic? Any chance I can get these ones through?

 

They probably produced bulbils on the sides of the original ones. Worth giving them a go, they shouldn't bolt till the second season.

 

I am amazed. I am a bit of a newb, and didn't know they did this. I totally love these leeks, I was the worst gardener to them ever and yet they still come back!

 

If you leave them in too long, they produce little Leek Blubs. Pickled a load one year, much more delicate than pickled onions.

 

Cool. I very much did leave them too long - they never got thicker than a pencil, probably because they'd been left in the worst situation possible (an inch of compost) before I planted them out. Amazed they survived that tbh.

If I do manage to actually harvest any I'm going to have to put them in something fancy in recognition of their acheivement. Proper hardy these leeks! Neither me nor slugs will stop them.

 

You should go for Mussels en Croustade, with Leeks & White Wine

I've got a Rick Stein recipe, but its probably copyright.

Best dish i've ever eaten, mussels picked from a Cornish beach, risked food poisoning by not purging them first though.

Best leeks i've eaten are the wild ones, they grow in clumps (due to dividing by bulbils) Smaller than the cultivated ones but the flavour is a million miles away, we've sacrificed flavour for size

 

Sounds delicious. I have a bit of a mental block with mussels since I discovered a tiny pea crab in a mussel halfway through a bowl. Harmless but the visual is a bit challenging (looks like a tiny alien crab) found it a bit difficult to eat them since!

 

I got a Pearl in a dish of Mussels in Padstow a couple of months ago, only small though. Its still in a cigarette packet in the glove box, no idea what i'm going to do with it.

 

Pearl I could deal with. Pea crab - especially when didn't know what it was - not so much...

Some kind of jewellery? Fob?

 

love you ziggy

 

How d'you purge a mussel?

Where can you find these?