You know what I really like about moving into a new house (besides the obvious stuff, like, well…the new house)? Seeing what bulbs come up in the spring, planted by the previous owner. We moved to Portland in September 2007, leaving behind our Brooklyn garden full of irises, tulips, lilies, narcissus, and grape hyacinth –all of which had been planted by the previous owner or spread there on their own. Spring 2008 rolled around, and it was time to see what would pop up in the yard of our Portland house. There were some tulips, some daffodils, and some weird (but oddly familiar) stuff with thick green stems that would send off a center stalk but never quite flower. This spring the mystery non-flowering bulbs returned–many more of them than the three or so we had last year. A couple days ago, after staring at them for weeks, I finally realized what they were. Leeks. Volunteer leeks, scapes and all. Knowing the previous owners, I seriously doubt they planted leeks. They were strictly ornamental gardeners. So how the hell did the leeks get there?

I dug up ten of them, leaving three to go to seed and hopefully give us even more leeks next year. The plan: a big batch of potato leek soup for dinner tonight, and enough left over to share with the neighbors who lent us a whole lot of canning stuff once we realized we were in over our heads last weekend. If only the potatoes in our garden were ready… Next year I’ll make the soup with our leeks AND our potatoes.