Vegetable · Amaryllidaceae
When to plant leeks
Stands in the ground all winter, which makes it one of the most useful crops in cold climates.
Start seed indoors
8 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
0 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Days to maturity
100-120
From planting out to a first picking.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make leeks plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 8 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant out 0 weeks after the last frost.
- Expect 100–120 days to maturity, counted from planting out.
Getting the timing right
Sow indoors eight weeks before last frost, transplant around the frost date into deep holes. Harvest from autumn right through to spring as needed.
Frost tolerance
Hardy to -15C and often the only fresh vegetable still standing in midwinter.
Classified as very-hardy, with damage expected below -15°C (5°F)5°F (-15°C).