Two seasons ago I harvested leeks from the garden as late as I dared and left a few in the ground to see just how long they would last once we started getting serious frost. I also put a bunch down in the cold room in a pile on bubble wrap and then covered the top of the pile with bubble wrap as well. I harvested leeks from the garden until November some time and the leeks in the cold room lasted until early January. (more or less. I still had to peel quite a few layers from the leeks before I could use them .) This past season I didn’t bother leaving any in the ground but rather dug them all up and ‘planted’ them in a pot of dampened potting soil and stored them in the cold room. They held on much better than they had on the plastic and I was thrilled as we entered February and they still looked great. Until. . . One day about a week and a half ago and discovered the leeks just covered in a fuzzy mold!
Ugghh. Of course the big problem with that, was the fact that mold is one of my big asthma triggers. I took a deep breath, grabbed the pot and rushed it upstairs and out the door. As I let my breath out and put the pot on the driveway I took a closer look at the leeks and was astonished to see this. . .
Aphids! It never fails to amaze me how quickly bugs can multiply. A week before I had seen nothing and now. . . An infestation!
Well, they still lasted nearly a month longer than the year before and I have learned something new again. Even in storage you have to keep a close eye on your produce. Nothing lasts forever.