After some speculation whether the leek that goodlife bought many years ago from the now defunct Future Foods company, is Babington's Leek or something else, we came to the conclusion that it is possibly the true wild leek that still hangs on in some warmish coastal areas in Britain.
She explained that it propagated freely from offset 'babies' and sent me a clump to plant here in December 2014. They have come through 2 winters fine and have fattened up considerably into into sizeable leeks. They have produced no babies apart from one that is tiny and really not ready for being detached. Currently they are preparing to flower.
I wonder when they will start producing offset 'babies' like they did for goodlife? I will certainly let them flower and harvest the seeds. I had sort of expected them to make offsets last year, but they just bulked up dramatically. So much so that I wonder whether they are planted too close and I should have spaced them better to allow for offset 'babies'. But I am not moving them now that they are developing flower scapes.
In fact, goodlife had so many offsets I wondered whether they were actually a form of Perlzwiebel, like Minogue. Growing the plants here shows that they are very different from Minogue. They are definitely a leek, slightly shorter, but stouter than Babington's. The foliage is dark green and I had some faint purple showing on the leaf tips last winter.
I am still hoping for something like on this youtube video. This is what goodlife had and gave to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OEqDpRwyBg
This wild leek remains a mysterious plant. Having read that they like the milder parts of Britain where they are still hanging on in the wild, I am glad that we had fairly mild winters since I got the plants. It will be good to have seeds as insurance against colder winters. Although they survived some cold winters at goodlife's location.
After flowering (unless they start making offset babies) I may need to dig up and move every other plant, in case they need more space to make 'babies'. The video also mentions copious fertiliser but goodlife said that she hadn't fertilised a lot. Mine had the usual dusting of fish/blood/bone meal but not a lot of extra. Maybe now is the time to help them with a bit more?
I hope the original bulbs survive after flowering. If not, seeds will be very welcome to try again as this has the potential for a useful perennial plant.
The url refers to the original discussion (under the topic of Babington's leek) on A4A. There is a reference by goodlife to an article celebrating the flowering event in one of the locations that this wild leek still hangs on.
Always assuming of course that we have identified this plant correctly as 'Wild Leek'. It certainly is nothing like Babington's leek and very different also from Multiplier Onion Minogue.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/...c,78539.0.html
She explained that it propagated freely from offset 'babies' and sent me a clump to plant here in December 2014. They have come through 2 winters fine and have fattened up considerably into into sizeable leeks. They have produced no babies apart from one that is tiny and really not ready for being detached. Currently they are preparing to flower.
I wonder when they will start producing offset 'babies' like they did for goodlife? I will certainly let them flower and harvest the seeds. I had sort of expected them to make offsets last year, but they just bulked up dramatically. So much so that I wonder whether they are planted too close and I should have spaced them better to allow for offset 'babies'. But I am not moving them now that they are developing flower scapes.
In fact, goodlife had so many offsets I wondered whether they were actually a form of Perlzwiebel, like Minogue. Growing the plants here shows that they are very different from Minogue. They are definitely a leek, slightly shorter, but stouter than Babington's. The foliage is dark green and I had some faint purple showing on the leaf tips last winter.
I am still hoping for something like on this youtube video. This is what goodlife had and gave to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OEqDpRwyBg
This wild leek remains a mysterious plant. Having read that they like the milder parts of Britain where they are still hanging on in the wild, I am glad that we had fairly mild winters since I got the plants. It will be good to have seeds as insurance against colder winters. Although they survived some cold winters at goodlife's location.
After flowering (unless they start making offset babies) I may need to dig up and move every other plant, in case they need more space to make 'babies'. The video also mentions copious fertiliser but goodlife said that she hadn't fertilised a lot. Mine had the usual dusting of fish/blood/bone meal but not a lot of extra. Maybe now is the time to help them with a bit more?
I hope the original bulbs survive after flowering. If not, seeds will be very welcome to try again as this has the potential for a useful perennial plant.
The url refers to the original discussion (under the topic of Babington's leek) on A4A. There is a reference by goodlife to an article celebrating the flowering event in one of the locations that this wild leek still hangs on.
Always assuming of course that we have identified this plant correctly as 'Wild Leek'. It certainly is nothing like Babington's leek and very different also from Multiplier Onion Minogue.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/...c,78539.0.html
Comment