They will stay tender enough to eat, as a rule, until the flower stalk grows to about double the height of the foliage and the blossom bud gets about the size of a large marble/ping pong ball. You can eat the "scape" -- the bud and stalk, if you wish, much in the way garlic scapes are eaten. After that, it will to too tough to really eat, although you could always throw it into soup, etc., and remove and discard after it releases its flavor into the broth much like one would with bay leaves. The flower is very attractive and ornamental. After flowering, it makes a large round green seed head which self-sows easily, and 2 to 4 baby leeks will emerge in the fall from the base of the old flower stalk to repeat the whole cycle.

Start now, I wouldn't mess with the tree roots, but it will probably be fine, and I definitely wouldn't put a tarp over it. You don't list a location except zone 5, that could be a lot of places. In a dry place you might want something damp like burlap on the top, but where I am in zone 5 (WI) it is generally soggy enough that no damp-cover is needed. In any event, you WANT the wind and snow and everything to work on it. Add when you can, that is the joy of lasagna gardening. No need to build it all at once, that only really works if you are buying stuff for it (stupid, in my opinion) or you have been hoarding stuff for a long time. Good luck, I love lasagna gardening, am making a HUGE one right now. I put down cardboard, then lots of old produce including many cases of old peaches, some wood shavings from chainsawing, horse manure, some wood ashes from the stove, more produce. Put in the leaves today, getting more horse manure tomorrow. After it settles a little, more leaves and horse manure and produce . . . Marcia

Depending on if it will be dry most of the time & wet just a few weeks of the year or if it will be moist during the growing season... You might be able to direct some of that water to a channel & plant on the higher sides of it to prevent drowning plants during the high water times. What grows well for me in the shaded moist woodland: groundcovers: Ajuga reptans, Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia), spotted dead nettle (Lamium maculatum) grass like foliage: Acorus (sweet flag), various Carex like 'Ice Dance', Iris (I. foetidissima, Japanese Iris), common orange daylily Hosta Astilbe Aruncus (goatsbeard) Japanese anemone - fall bloomer that tolerates part shade Tradescantia (spiderwort) Mimulus (monkeyflower) Try looking at this swale garden creation with pics (uses rock to help control water & fill space) http://herselfshoustongarden.com/2007/01/swale-garden.html Here is a link that might be useful: bog plants

This is the exact procedure that I do and have been doing. I do not know about cold areas of the country, but here in the Buffalo area it works great for me. The reason I started doing it was that I wanted to plant these critters in a basically basic soil situation, sweet, yes, but not good as we know. I wanted drainage. I wanted a high organic matter content, in fact, here is what kicked me into the beehive. From my reading and looking at research the comments were that the ideal growing substrate was LEAF MOLD. Last winter I used alternating layers of shredded office paper and coffee grounds. This year I have compost, leaves, light layer of manure, leaves, pine needles and then a top dressing of coffee grounds. I got it about a foot to 18" tall. To plant I cleared an area for each plant. Into that area I placed a soil mixture, tuned to acidic loves of rhodies. I am using small shrubs so this area might be a foot to two feet in diameter. Into that soil mix goes the plant. Now I have a huge bed with, if you will, rhodo pimples here and there, along with some arborvitae. The soil mix is as high as the lasagna. But the lasagna will decompose and shrink? Oh baby I hope so, cause that means it is going the way of the dodo bird. I will simply keep layering things on top. Can you say replenishing organic matter? During the spring this will be rough bark or other mulch. In the fall, there we go again with layers of leaves, etc. Mangia mangia!