Garden Wisdom Blog — leeks

Last summer I planted a few rows of fall and winter harvest leeks in our demonstration beds at Kirkland House here in Ladner. We chose the varieties described as “winter harvest” since they are bred to stand up to frost, but included Alto Varna, which is known mostly as a fast growing summer harvest leek. All these leeks were sown last July, and transplanted into five inch holes in early September. While they are intended for harvest between November and February, they lasted in very good form until late April. While we did harvest a few leeks over winter, the...

Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum, var. porrum, syn. A. porrum) This member of the Allium family is thought to have been in cultivation since the 2nd century BC, from ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia. The Romans believed that eating leeks imparted a sonorous voice — to the point that the emperor Nero had leek soup served to him every day in an effort to increase the volume and resonance of his orations. He was nicknamed the porrophage (porrum being the Latin for leek) by his senators, essentially “leek-mouth.” From what we know about leeks in the historical record, it’s possible they were cultivated...