Table of Contents:
Introduction: Home grown leeks are so much better
The quality of home-grown leek from your own soil with lots of compost, organic material and humus is like comparing the Champions League with amateur football class D. The same but still not comparable. You can prepare young leek like asparagus fried in bubbling butter. The tasty white shafts of mature leek can be eaten deliciously stewed and the blue-green part of the leek plant gives flavour to any vegetable stock or soup. Growing leek is easy. You can sow leek with intervals from January to April and harvest leek plants from the end of August through the winter to February.
Like most other vegetables, you will harvest better, more beautiful leeks in a sunny position with soil that is packed with organic matter, compost and humus. Follow the basic principles of leek growing here.
1. Growing leeks is not quite Vivaldi, barely three seasons
You can grow leeks in three different crops. Summer, autumn and winter leeks. Pre-cultivating leek plants (from seed to planting) takes 80-90 days for all crops. For a good cultivation schedule it is important to know that the growth period after planting varies enormously. Summer leeks are ready in 80 to 100 days, autumn leeks take 80-180 days and winter leeks will remain in your vegetable garden for 180-300 days. Leeks are closely related to the onion species (allium) and admit it, the smell of a freshly cut leek ... does indeed sound a bit like onion. And sometimes when you clean leeks you suddenly become emotional and tears come to your eyes.
Winter leek overwinters in the snow
2. Growing Leeks for Highly Nutritious Meals
Here is a brief summary of the nutritional values in 100 grams of leek:
- 130 kilojoules
- 2 g protein
- 0.3 g fat
- 5 g carbohydrates
- 250 mg potassium
- 5 mg sodium
- 60 mg calcium
- 1 mg iron
- 30 mg phosphorus
The levels of vitamins and nutrients vary greatly between the white and green parts of the leek. The green parts contain the most vitamins. So don't throw them away in the kitchen, but use them in a hearty soup. Hmmm, delicious to drink when you take a break in the vegetable garden. You can get back to it right away.
3. Growing leeks – Which varieties do I choose?
The varieties can be classified as summer leek , with a light green bath colour, a relatively long white shaft and a soft structure. This makes them quick to use because they do not cope well with autumn weather. Examples are Swiss Giants and Bulgarian Giants. The latter is best eaten immediately because it deteriorates quickly in autumn. Bulgarian Giants are in certain cases somewhat more sensitive to viruses but they are less sensitive to thrips.
In general, Autumn Giant types are mainly used and recommended. Autumn leek has a fairly short to moderately long shaft and the leaf is wide, grey-green and thick. The autumn type is the Blue-Green Autumn , these also have an upright leaf position and are less susceptible to diseases
And finally there is the winter leek , with dark grey-green leaves, which are not too wide. Has moderately thick and short shaft, but has a good winter hardiness. For winter leek you can best use the Blue-green winter .
