Hi, wondered if anyone's got any views about flowering leeks.....can I
leave them where they are...should I cut the flower heads off...or dig
them up and start again. I understand that once a leek has flowered it
can be tough to eat in comparison. As a mere seedling of a gardener,
opinions are welcome.

Thanks

A flowered leek is a spent leek. It will go woody inside and be inedible.
Pull it up.
I think they tend to run to seed if they have insufficient water, or they
are planted too early.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Thanks David, it's as I feared....my holiday was good for me....but not
my leeks obviously!

"bramble" wrote ...
Thanks David, it's as I feared....my holiday was good for me....but not
my leeks obviously!

The flowers make nice cut flowers though, just do what the florists do and
stand them in a very week solution of bleach for a few hours to get rid of
the smell.

--
Regards
Bob

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006, Bob Hobden wrote:

Thanks David, it's as I feared....my holiday was good for me....but not
my leeks obviously!

The flowers make nice cut flowers though, just do what the florists do and
stand them in a very week solution of bleach for a few hours to get rid of
the smell.

What smell? The bleach or the leeks? ;-)

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

"bramble" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi, wondered if anyone's got any views about flowering leeks.....can I
leave them where they are...should I cut the flower heads off...or dig
them up and start again. I understand that once a leek has flowered it
can be tough to eat in comparison. As a mere seedling of a gardener,
opinions are welcome.

Let it flower and save the seed, you will get about two million seeds,
enough to last several lifetimes, but you could supply all your friends with
free seeds.

Alan

Thanks for the advice........I've thinned them out and cut some to put
on display as I too thought they were beautiful. I'm going to leave
some to collect the seeds and see what happens to the rest next year.

As my vegetable area is my garden I do like to grow things that look
good as well as being functional, particularly as it is a communial
area I've resuced from weeds and imminent concreteing!

Thanks again for all your tips

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message . com
from "bramble" contains these words:

Hi, wondered if anyone's got any views about flowering leeks.....can I
leave them where they are...should I cut the flower heads off...or dig
them up and start again. I understand that once a leek has flowered it
can be tough to eat in comparison.

As food to eat, your leeks had it. But as a stunningly attractive,
longlasting ornamental flower, they are a great addition to the garden
IMO. Far better value and longer lasting than many of the big ornamental
allium bulbs.

Last year my leeks flowered and I enjoyed them so much I left the
flowers on until winter .In spring, the same plants sprang back to life
(more densely) and flowered all over again. At the moment they are a
forest of strong, self supporting 3 to 4 ft stalks, each carrying a
tennis ball sized flower head shading from pale green to purple.
Beautiful.

Janet.

Yes. I have one in the front garden, it is 10 years old now and still going
strong. The number of people who ask for a cutting/seed is amazing, as is
the look on their faces when they laern what it is.