Favourite leek varieties?

[Purple Primrose]

I've been growing three varieties of leek this year to see how they compare:

• Musselburgh - Usually reliable, did very well last year but this year they're thin and about 1/2 of them have produced scapes. I'm suspecting it's due to the unusually dry weather while I was away for a couple of weeks during the summer and unable to water them. It's also been a much colder, duller summer up here in the northern isles of Scotland.
• Nipper - the leeks I harvested early in the season were very tasty. The ones I've left to grow on have continued to grow tall and thick, outperforming the Musselburghs, no scapes and a good flavour.
• Bulgarse Reuzen (Lincoln) - so far they've grown much thicker than the others but not as tall. I've not harvested any yet so I can't comment on the flavour. I'm waiting for them to get taller. None have produced scapes.

I usually only grow Musselburghs but it's been good having varieties that mature at different times and types that have done well when the Musselburghs haven't. Next year I'm going to try Autumn Giant 2 Argenta (came free with a GYO magazine) as well.

I'm now wondering if others usually grow more than one variety or stick to growing a favourite type.

[Mr Bones]

Have tried various types and although we sometimes grow a different experimental variety (usually a couple of dozen from a free packet of seeds or plants donated from a fellow gardener), we always come back to Blue Solaise. We normally grow about 100 plants and they do well for us, have good flavour and shape and are ready at the time of year we want them.

[Sweet savory]

This year I am growing Warwick F1, Autumn Giant (the freebie) and some old Musselburgh. The Musselburgh outperformed the Malabar last year and are looking OK this year. They seem to manage to continue to bulk up later into the autumn than others here (I am in the south west). The Autumn Giant is so far not noticeably the biggest which I thought it might be to judge by the name although the Warwick have grown strongly.
I have also grown Porvite in the past which didn’t do very well.
I do like the leaf colour of the Blue Solaise and might give it a whirl next year as it stands so late.

[Purple Primrose]

Blue Solaise sounds like a good one to try out so I'll order some seed for next year.

Can anyone recommend a leek that grows short but wide? I think that shape might cope well with the strong winds we get up here from October onwards.

[Snoop Puss]

I'm growing four varieties this year, all multisown as per Charles Dowding. The multisowing has worked better than I expected (good thickness) but as I found it difficult to plant them deeply, none are terribly long. That said:

Chef's White: summer leek. Have grown amazingly well and a very strong leeky flavour. I've been picking sturdy ones for the last few weeks. Not frost hardy. Will definitely grow again.

Titus: winter leek. Doing very well so far. Should be a good size when harvested. None harvested yet so can't comment on flavour. I bought the seed from a French supplier, which describes it as making enormous shafts because although they're short (20-25 cm), they are very stout. Also, can cope, supposedly, with temperatures down to minus 15 ºC. So might make a good option for you Purple Primrose if you can find them in the UK.

Stocky and Below Zero: old but free seeds from DT Brown. Winter leeks, not as sturdy as Titus. Won't grow again.

[Mr Bones]

Can anyone recommend a leek that grows short but wide? I think that shape might cope well with the strong winds we get up here from October onwards.

Pot leek types are short and wide

[Purple Primrose]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Snoop Puss. Chef's White sounds good so I'll get hold of some seed for next year.

Mr Bones, I don't think I've ever seen a pot leek so that's probably why growing them had never occurred to me. Now that you've mentioned them, I've had a look online and decided I need to get some of those too. Thank you.

Due to living on a small island, low temperatures aren't an issue here. Even in winter, day and night it's usually around 5℃. We rarely get frosts and most years there's no snow at all. Our biggest gardening problem is the winds, hence being interested in the shorter types of leek. Force 8 is common from October to April, with force 10 sometimes and there'll be force 12 (hurricane) at least a couple of times each winter. This all means some plants will be broken off at ground level and nothing much gets above the height of the drystone walls as the tops are snapped off by the wind. Even in summer, I have to support my asparagus plants with individual canes and tie them on all the way up! Over winter, my blackberries, tayberries, buddleia etc each need supporting by a number of bamboo canes so that the branches don't whip around and break off.

[Penellype]

I grow 3 varieties - Bulgarse Reuzen (Lincoln) which is a summer variety and will die if it gets frosted. Mine grow thin and tall - they are currently about 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick and about 3ft tall. Oarsman, a very nice winter variety which has softer leaves and stems than Musselburgh, and Northern Lights which has leaves that turn purplish after frost.

[Purple Primrose]

Thanks for responding, Penellype. It's interesting to find out what different people grow and which varieties they prefer. From looking at photos of that Northern Lights one, it does have very prettily coloured leaves. The list of varieties I would like to try out is now getting quite long! I think I'll aim to plant a couple of favourites each year and try out couple of varieties that are new to me.

[Snoop Puss]

Revisiting this thread as I'm looking for recommendations for winter leeks. Grew Freezo for this season. Useless. Not sure if the packet of seeds is at fault, as some grew really well, but most have such short shafts (5 cm max) that it barely seems worth the effort of cleaning them. You need loads for a leek soup, for example. The smell of the huge volume of leek leaves in my dalek is so strong I have to stand back quickly when I open it. So I'm not going to bother with them again.

I'm thinking of growing my usual Chef's White for summer and autumn leeks and trying Blauwgroene Winter Race Winik for winter.

Anyone got anything to report on the leeks they grew? Any other recommendations?

[Penellype]

As mentioned in my previous post I find Oarsman a good reliable winter leek. If you want long white shafts, the traditional advice is to earth them up, but that risks getting soil inside the leeks. One thing you can do is plant your leeks out then put a tube over them to exclude light. I have seen 2 litre drinks bottles with the top and bottom cut off suggested, but you then have to find something to wrap round inside them to exclude light. I haven't tried this, but I don't see why pieces of drainpipe wouldn't do the job. The exclusion of light will cause the plants to grow tall and the stems should stay white or nearly white. You would need to bury the tube an inch or 2 to prevent it blowing over.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Penellype. I'll keep an eye out for Oarsman. I've never tried the light exclusion thing. I did think about it once but decided it would be counterproductive here at least - they'd likely all cook inside the tubes!

[Penellype]

Thanks, Penellype. I'll keep an eye out for Oarsman. I've never tried the light exclusion thing. I did think about it once but decided it would be counterproductive here at least - they'd likely all cook inside the tubes!

Yes, if you use black drainpipe you could well end up with cooked leeks! I get Oarsman from Marshalls or D T Brown, but it may be available elsewhere.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Penellype. I've looked in my usual suppliers in the EU, but looks like they don't stock it.

[rary]

Just noting how Penellype, goes for blanched leeks, yet I find using the green gives a better taste to soup, the leek is usually topped and tailed, that's cutting off the floppy leaves which are usually a bit rougher to a point where the leek is firm, sliced down to the base and washed, then the root base cut off its usually a mix of slightly more than half of white and the rest a deepening shade of green as you reach the top, as said using the green part, for me, gives a better taste, I know its a matter of taste but years ago, when I was a boy (which I suppose wasn't that long ago😏) the full leek was used, then the supermarket stores started pushing predominantly blanched leeks and now most people think you don't eat the green parts