Lancaster F1 Leek Seeds

Days to Maturity: 95

Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

Lancaster Leek, an F1 hybrid, is a bulb vegetable bred for a long growing season. The plant produces uniform, long, thick, succulent white shafts with smooth skin and a mild, sweet onion flavor, great for soups, salads, and roasting. Leeks are a good source of folate and potassium as well as a source of fiber, thiamin, and vitamins B6 and C. They also contain phytonutrients.

A hardy herbaceous perennial, typically grown as an annual, Lancaster Leek is a member of the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). The plant has a fan-like sheaf of flat, blue-green leaves that grow to about 12 inches long and won't keel over at the first hint of frost. The plant has a relatively slow growth rate but grows continually as long as it is blanched.

Leeks are great companion plants in the garden. They naturally deter certain garden pests, like aphids, Japanese beetles, sugar beet-flea beetles, deer, and rabbits. Scattering them around the vegetable garden helps to produce healthier harvests.

Bolt resistant, highly versatile, and easy to grow, leeks perform best in sunny locations with deep, organically rich, moist, well-draining, sandy loams having a pH of 6.2 to 6.8. Leeks have shallow root systems and need consistent moisture. They are heavy feeders. To increase plant size, add manure or compost to the soil several weeks before planting (or the winter before) and apply fertilizer when planting and again when plants have 5 to 6 leaves. Keep beds free of weeds, which will compete with the leeks for water and nutrients. Lancelot Leek plants are disease resistant, but to aid in disease prevention, practice crop rotation, and do not plant leeks where other onion family crops have been grown in the prior 3 years.

A cool-season, winter-hardy vegetable, the toughest of the cool-season crops, one of the first to be planted in the garden, leek seeds can be direct sown into the garden as soon as the soil is workable in early spring, about 3 weeks before the last frost date. But they can also be started indoors and transplanted, spring and fall. It needs cold temperatures to germinate and grow, withstanding heavy frost and temperatures below 28 degrees, but protect plants from extended heavy frost with row covers. Leeks may be successfully overwintered in regions with mild winters.

Harvest leeks when lower stems reach 1- to 1½-inch diameter, or at desired size for baby leeks. Leave them lying in the garden for 1 to 2 days to dry, if weather permits; continue drying them for 2 to 3 weeks in a cool, dry, sunny location; and once completely dried, store them in a dark, dry environment in mesh bags or crates with good air circulation.