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Jim Jackson · 22-11-2009, 03:33 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

wrote:

Garlic, onions and leeks, when they start going to seed or growing
flower heads or whatever, what, if anything, can be done to rescue
them or limit the damage?

My impression is - garlic, you can just leave it or cut it off (at which
point?) and they still grow fine, but not so well if you don't cut them;
onions and leeks, you can still eat them, but you can't store them once
they have started growing a flower stalk?

Am I correct? Is there anything to be done to prevent them going to
seed, and is there anything I can do on first spotting it happening?

Mine store ok. I nip off the flower stalk as soon as it shows.

My leeks have done rather badly this year. Don't know if it's the lack
of water, but I thought the soil they were in was better than
previously, but they seem to have stopped growing at about half an inch
thick, for some reason. :-

Ditto - and most have thrown flower stalks. Leaks are fine apart from
the flower stalk is can be pretty inedible, and once you've removed
the stalk there often tends to be not much left.

In my experience onions vary. If you snip off the flower heads early, some
onions seem fine and store ok, others not. But then that's the same for
those haven't thrown flowering stalks :-)