How to Grow Hardy Leeks

, written by gb flag

Fat leeks

Tough as a Glaswegian bouncer, hardy as an Orcadian crofter, the leek may be the national emblem of Wales but Scotland is its true spiritual home. Even the most popular leek for home growing, a heritage variety called ‘Musselburgh’, is Scottish!

The Musselburgh (often sold as Giant Musselburgh in the US) was developed around 1834 on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where harsh conditions on the Firth of Forth helped develop a sturdy, reliable variety which is more than capable of standing up to the cold breezes coming in off the North Sea. Perfect, then, for filling out a winter garden.

The Right Time to Sow Winter Leeks

I grow other hardy varieties of leek in addition to Musselburgh – variety is the spice of life and all that – but I like my winter leeks to be chunky, so every year I wrestle with the temptation to sow them extra-early in the hopes of producing drainpipe-sized leeks. Despite being able to shrug off frost and snow once mature, cold temperatures during a leek’s formative stages can be responsible for causing the plant to prematurely run to seed, or 'bolt'.

Leek flower

A bolted leek shooting up a pale pom-pom flower is highly ornamental, and is a useful nectar source for beneficial insects, but unfortunately it also means that the plant is past its prime. You can cut the flowering stalk out, but it goes right down to the base of the leek so it means you may lose a fair chunk of the edible stem. If you see a flower bud, dig up the plant straight away – the amount of stalk will be minimal, and if it hasn’t gone too hard the whole leek can still be cooked and eaten. Finely chop up any flower stalk, or blitz it into a soup.

For winter leeks, it’s best to delay sowing until at least early spring. These later sowings can be started off on a sunny windowsill, in a greenhouse or cold frame, or even directly into the soil if it’s warm enough. In late spring or early summer, when leeks are about pencil thickness, it’s time to harden off seedlings that were sown under protection and plant them out into rich, fertile soil.

To Blanch or Not to Blanch Leeks?

The traditional method of planting leeks is to make a hole with a dibber, drop the leek into the hole and then ‘puddle in’ by gently filling the hole with water. Over time the soil will gradually backfill around the leek and blanch the shank (stem), making it paler and more tender. The only problem is that soil inevitably finds its way between the layers of leaves, making washing leeks hard work. Some gardeners use toilet roll tubes to blanch the shank instead, but I found that the space between tube and leek quickly became a popular hidey-hole for slugs, so this experiment was soon abandoned!

Slug inside cardboard tube used for blanching leeks

Despite what many recipes say, the green leaves on leeks are perfectly edible, so leeks can be planted without puddling in unless you really need that pale shank. I use a bulb planter to plant my leeks, which enables me to secrete a cache of chicken manure pellets below the plants, in the same way that I plant shallots. The roots gradually suck up the nutrients from the pellets and feed the plants over the course of the growing season, and the loose soil allows the shanks to swell.

Spacing leeks at least 20cm (8in) each way will result in plumper plants, and also makes it easy to squeeze in a spot of intercropping. I like intercropping with lettuces as they fill the space between the upright leeks, helping to keep weeds down. As they’re short-lived plants they can be lifted before the leeks need the space to fatten up into.

Lettuces interplanted with leeks

It’s a good idea to mulch with compost between leeks to keep fertility up, weeds down, and moisture in. Leeks don’t need much additional watering unless it’s very dry. A liquid feed such as seaweed is beneficial a few times during the growing season.

Hardy Winter Leeks

Hardy leeks such as the Musselburgh will stand proudly in your vegetable garden over winter, even poking up through a thick blanket of snow, until needed in the kitchen.

Leeks in winter

Leeks go well with just about anything containing potatoes, eggs or cheese. Since leeks are so important in Scottish kitchens, it’s only natural that some of the most popular Scottish dishes feature these alluring alliums. Why not try leek and tattie or cock-a-leekie soups or, one of my personal favorites, a side dish of no-nonsense buttered leeks?

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Comments

 
"First time Leek groer"
Martin Donovan on Saturday 2 April 2016
"First time leek grower"
Martin Donovan on Saturday 2 April 2016
"Most of my Musselburgh leeks bolted this year. So, I just snapped off the flower stalks and left them in the ground until I was ready to harvest them in the second week of September. When harvest time came, what I did was cut off the bottom 1/4" to get rid of the roots and trimmed the leaves to about 6". Then I took a knife and slit the leeks halfway through and right down the full length to remove all of the flower stalks. I then chopped them up, gave them a good wash in a colander ready for freezing. My wife got four large bags out of this years crop. I only lost a couple of leeks and that was due to rust."
Stephen McKelvie on Sunday 18 September 2016
"Sounds like you got a great crop despite them bolting Stephen. I favour digging leeks out, chopping them up and freezing them as soon as I see the flower stalk - the whole thing still works great in soup at that stage, so there's nothing wasted."
Ann Marie Hendry on Thursday 22 September 2016
"Thank you for that advise, Ann Marie. My back garden is my veg plot, and I spend a lot of time away from home. So it's my wife and son that looks after my veg while I'm away. I'll pass that knowledge on to the Inspector of Works for next year."
Stephen McKelvie on Thursday 22 September 2016
"Hi, first time leek grower here. I put them in a pot and they are about 1cm in diameter. I think the pot is probably exhausted of nutrients. Do i add more fresh compost to the pot, lift and them, or transplant into my beds where I have a bit of space now? Many thanks"
RB on Saturday 19 September 2020
"Hi RB. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere it sounds like you may have been a bit late in getting your leeks started. You could try transplanting them straight into the garden now, but it might be better to pot them on into bigger pots and keep them under cover (eg in a cold frame) over winter. They're unlikely to reach full size at this stage, but you could use them as spring onions when they get large enough (this might not be until next spring)."
Ann Marie Hendry on Saturday 19 September 2020

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