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I have been adding Leeks for my vegan soup, which also includes wintermelon or mogwa squash, kale or chard, celery, carrots, onions, thin dried tofu, mushroom (e.g. black, shitake, white), seaweed, etc. I use this low-cal, high nutrient soup for my daily midday snack at 3-4 PM, to get those enzymes flowing ahead of dinner (i.e. similar to Dr Hiromi Shinya's advice to drink 2 cups water 2 hours ahead, and a fruit an hour later).

I have save the Leek bottoms (3 inch or so) and place in water to root, then plant in garden a week later. A couple dozen are already growing.

However, the plants send up a central stalk with a bud on top. If I break off the stalk and bud, would that promote new growth of the leaves -- rather than letting the bud flower, and perhaps causing the plant to wither?

I have never grown leeks, as they are a cooler weather crop and summer where we lived was too hot. However, I did grow some of its relatives, various onion species, including those that form bulbs and scallions, as well as garlic. All are biennial, meaning they flower in their second year. I suspect the bottoms that you are replanting "think" it's their second year, and that it is their time to set seeds. My experiences with onions tell me that nothing stops this. The plant will use its energy for its reproductive function as opposed to making another leek for you. I tried to find some comprehensive information for you, but these two are the best I could find:

http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetable ... Garden.htm
http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/ve ... /leeks.htm

Apparently allowing them to flower means you get lots of beneficial insects, which is always a plus.

Interesting, I used the blue-green tops for my vegan with lentil & barley soup, or in potato-leek soup, rather than the tough fibrous white cylindrical base, i.e. the shiny white parts of the leaves. When I did cut portions of the white base into the soup, these portions being inedible, with the shiny area tough to chew. Perhaps, the base is meant to be cut into short cylindrical sections, and cooked in soups for the flavor, like an onion.

I will let my leeks grow minus the flowering but and see what happens over the summer, but allow a couple to flower and seed for replanting via seed. pic2 pic3

I've figured out the Life Cycle of the Leeks, and how you can grow your own. Recall I saved the leek bottoms and planted in garden, they would grow for awhile, send up a flower stalk, and die off. Apparently, as Plumerias stated, leeks have a two-year life cycle, in which they flower the second year before dying,

So the leeks were allowed to continue growing, and sending up the flower stalk. The stalks would eventually bend over gracefully toward the ground. At this point, instead of flowering the bud formed a dense-bundle of leek "slips". It seems to be looking for soft ground, so I stuck them in a pot to root.



Note curved stalk that starts upward, then curves back down (into the pot!).

Once rooted, the slips can be removed and replanted.

Now I have thirty leek slips growing individually in the garden. The summers might be too hot in San Jose, but if they make it through the next couple months, they should grow into the mild winter. And, another set of slips is rooting for the next crop, with more sets on the way.

Excellent! Nice cilantro patch too.

Great job Darryl! Interesting photo!

oh how interesting. It's fun to experiment. I don't use leeks enough to have researched it. Thank you for sharing. That is one heck of a stalk too!