Leek "pearls"

[EPawlick]

Originally Posted by bower

What varieties do you grow?

Usually, whatever my local nursery carries. They are so generic, they just label them "Leeks".

Two years ago, I picked up leek seedlings from William Dam Seeds.

http://www.damseeds.ca/productcart/p...idCategory=145

Two years ago I bought Belgian Breeder's Winter Mix leek seeds from Wild Garden Seeds in Oregon. "F7 population, a wondrous blend of leek colors, leaf widths, shaft lengths and diameters." I like getting a mix like this which will adapt to my garden.

I've just googled, and they are also being sold by other small seed companies.

[EPawlick]

Originally Posted by LDiane

Two years ago I bought Belgian Breeder's Winter Mix leek seeds from Wild Garden Seeds in Oregon. "F7 population, a wondrous blend of leek colors, leaf widths, shaft lengths and diameters." I like getting a mix like this which will adapt to my garden.

I've just googled, and they are also being sold by other small seed companies.

Nice! I think I'll research that over the winter.

[bower]

The Belgian mix sounds great!

I notice from reading several seed sellers sites that there is quite a difference in winter hardiness of leeks (and so many kinds!) with the earliest leeks usually not the best to overwinter. So I'm not sure if there's much chance for me to find really hardy varieties that will also set seed earlier than American Flag here. (our season is so short!).

Blue Solaise is one I read is winter hardy in Vermont. And Bandit is hardy but quite late. In any case I'm going to try for the Mammoth this coming year, and see if I can overwinter them too.

[NewWestGardener]

I overwintered Mammoth no problem, and we are in the same country, Bower

[bower]

Originally Posted by NewWestGardener

I overwintered Mammoth no problem, and we are in the same country, Bower

I like your optimism!! Indeed, maybe a country of optimists.

[bower]

Well here it is mid-January and the Mammoth leeks are just seeded, but I had to take a pic to update my greenhouse leek pearls vs perennial green onions, it is a bit of a surprise to me. I had thought that the perennial green onions would also continue to grow like the leeks. They did not!
My pic from November is a bit blurry but you can see how it looked at planting time. Leek pearls with a few green sprouts are planted in three rows from long stalks row and to the left. Perennial green onion is the good looking green shoots in two rows on the right.
Second pic taken today Jan 17. The winner is... Leeks!!!
The greenery is now reversed: perennial green onions have gone dormant, but the biggest leek shoots are now nearly a foot tall. All that growth in temperatures mostly in the 30's occasional 40's and some dips below zero. Not to mention daylight hours less than ten, and very low light levels on days when the greenhouse has been snow covered. November 5 it was still 9 hours 46 minutes but January 17 we are only back to 8 hours 56 minutes. Rule of thumb from Johnny's is that vegetables need 10 hrs per day to grow, so leeks are truly exceptional.