Garden Vegetable - Leeks

Botanical Information

Starting

Notes:

Prefers a sunny location in a light well-drained soil. Prefers a dry site and succeeds in clay soils. Tolerates a pH in the range 5.2 to 8.3. The bulbs should be planted fairly deeply.
The leek grows well with most plants, especially roses, carrots, beet and chamomile, but it inhibits the growth of legumes. This plant is a bad companion for alfalfa, each species negatively affecting the other. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.

Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame, though it can also be sown in a cold frame in the spring. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. Well-grown plants can be planted out into their final locations in late summer or the autumn, otherwise grow them on for a further year in pots and plant them out the following summer. Division - in late summer or early autumn. Dig up the bulbs when the plants are dormant and divide the small bulblets at the base of the larger bulb. Replant immediately, either in the open ground or in pots in a cold frame. Bulbils - plant out as soon as they are ripe in late summer. The bulbils can be planted direct into their permanent locations, though you get better results if you pot them up and plant them out the following spring.