Onions & garlic
Leek
Hill to blanch the shank.
- Indoors
- 10 to 12 wk (late Feb)
- Outside
- Transplant spring
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Steady all season; a dry leek stops sizing
- Harvest
- Sep to Dec, very hardy
Care
- Water
- Never let a leek run dry; steady moisture is what builds a fat shank. Soak deep every 3 to 4 days through a July bed, easing to every 5 to 7 in spring and fall, checking the top inch with a finger. A straw mulch holds it between waterings; a dry spell just stalls the sizing.
- Sow
- In the tray, seeds a quarter inch apart and a quarter inch deep, thinned to one strong seedling per cell. Move each out in spring at pencil thickness into a dibbled hole 6 inches deep and 6 apart, rows a foot apart, just 2 to 3 inches of leaf above soil, washed in rather than firmed. Draw soil up the stems as they grow to blanch a longer white.
- Start inside
- Sow indoors in late February, the earliest start on the whole calendar. A mat at 70 to 75F wakes them in under a week; a cool sill stretches it toward two. Under the lights as they break ground, 14 to 16 hours, tops trimmed back for stockiness. Out from May at pencil thickness; frost-hardy, so warm nights are no prerequisite.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked into the hole at transplant starts a leek off. It feeds steadily over a long haul, so give it fish and seaweed liquid every 2 to 3 weeks through summer; there is no bulb to stop for, so keep feeding right up to the first hard frost.
- Ready
- No set date; lift once the shank is thumb-thick or fatter, from September on. Loosen with a fork before lifting, since pulling a hilled plant just snaps it off. They stand through hard frost under a straw blanket into December, taken as the kitchen wants. Clear the last before spring, or they bolt to seed.
- Trouble
- A row of white punctures down a leaf: allium leaf miner, whose larvae then mine into the shank; net through both flights, mid April to May and September to October. Ragged pinholes and tunneling into the stem: leek moth, a lesser local risk the same net covers. Slimy rot in the layers: miner damage turned secondary, headed off by that netting.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 10–15 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in a July heat wave; a bag dries far faster than a bed. Roughly 60 to 90 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams, and never let it run dry.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly on top of the liquid feed; every watering leaches the bag.
- Sow
- One leek per bag, and only the deepest bag you have: it needs a 6-inch dibble plus room to hill soil up the shank all season. The bag is tied up February to December.
First seeds of the year: leeks started under lights in late February for soups from September to December. They hold space all season and justify it in the months when little else is standing.
Growing
Sow indoors in late February, 10 to 12 weeks ahead, thick in a tray like grass, and trim the tops to three inches while they grow inside. Transplant in spring once pencil-thick by dropping each seedling into a six-inch dibbled hole and watering soil in around it; that buried depth is the first stage of the white shank. Hill soil up the stems once or twice over summer to blanch them further. A deep 10 to 15 gallon bag works; a bed row works better. They stand through hard frost, so digging runs September to December, taking what dinner needs and leaving the rest. Do not let summer dryness check them; a leek that wants for water simply stops thickening.
Varieties
King Richard is the quick one for early fall; Tadorna and Bandit stand through real winter; Bleu de Solaise is the handsome hardy heirloom.
Pests
Allium leaf miner has reached the Hudson Valley and leeks are its favorite; the tell is a neat line of white dots down a leaf. The fix is simple and total: insect netting during the two flights, roughly mid April through May and September through October. Uncovered plants end up with pupae tucked between shank layers, discovered at the cutting board.
In the kitchen
Potato leek soup is the destiny; braised halves and leek-top stock cover the rest. Split lengthwise and rinse well, since hilled leeks hold grit exactly where the knife finds it.