Vegetables - Leek

I've grown leeks, but shall probably give up, as the last two years they've suffered badly from alium leaf mining fly. This apparently turned up in UK in 2002 and so isn't well known, but it destroys the crop!

Leeks are sown outside, in March-April. The seed is small, so they tend to be sown in rows, then transplanted, in the summer. This can cause a problem, as summer is often dry, and transplating causes a check in the growth. Sometimes I leave single leek plants in their original position, and they grow better than the transplanted ones.

You can harvest them when the leeks are big enough to make it worth your while. Pull the leek up, cut off the roots, and the leaves - it's the stem that you want. Then strip off the outer leaf or two of the stem unil it looks completely clean - very satisfying!

Last year I noticed that my leeks plants seem to have fallen over. This is because they were infested with alium leaf mining fly. There were black streaks on the stem, or even a deep slit (see photos). Cutting the leek open, you can see the fly lava. The longer you leave the leeks in the ground, the worse the infestation gets. It happened again this year. You can eat any part of the leek that hasn't actually got the larva in, if you want, but they spread throughout the root very quickly.

A recipe using leeks:

Frittata

Seeds