Plant · P-177

Leek

Allium ampeloprasum

Leek yields edible bulbs, leaves, flowers and bulbils - the highest edibility rating in this collection - with leaves available from autumn through spring, giving a genuine standing cool-season harvest rather than a single-cut crop. Its aroma deters deer and is reputed to repel moles and insects, though those two claims are hedged rather than firmly documented. In a hot-summer climate it grows only as a cool-season crop, sown in late fall or early winter and set out in early spring, resting through summer heat; it also inhibits nearby legume growth, so it should never share a guild bed with a nitrogen fixer. All parts are toxic to dogs, cats, horses, cattle and sheep, causing a cumulative blood disorder from repeated small exposures, so beds need to stay behind stock-proof fencing and trimmings must never reach a paddock or compost that poultry work.