Growing Leeks: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 18, 2026
Leeks take their time — 110 days from seed to harvest — but they ask for very little in return once they’re in the ground. If you’ve grown onions or garlic, leeks are the same family playing a longer, more patient game.
What to expect
Start seed indoors 10 weeks before your last frost; leeks are slow to get going and want a head start. Transplants go outside a few weeks before that frost date, since young leeks tolerate cool soil better than the heat later in the season. As they grow, hilling soil up around the base blanches the lower stem, producing the long white portion that’s the whole point of growing leeks instead of just buying scallions.
Common problems
Thin, weak stalks usually mean the bed was too crowded or too poor in organic matter — leeks are heavy, steady feeders over their long season. Because they’re an allium, don’t plant them where beans or peas are going in nearby: alliums inhibit the nitrogen-fixing bacteria on legume roots.
Where this fits in your garden
Leeks share the same root-crop pest confusion benefit that carrots and onions offer each other — see the full companion guide for leek. At 9 plants per square foot they’re dense enough to fit into a smaller bed footprint, but plan around their long season in the Garden Designer since they’ll occupy that space well into fall.
Companion planting guide for Leek · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-9. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Start indoors — Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside — Leek needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing).
Varieties worth considering
- Lancelot — Cornell's Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners database rates it 5 stars — an early-season hybrid at 90-100 days with a mild flavor and thick interior that resists bolting, a useful trait if your spring warms up fast. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety — we haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy leek seeds
Some links on this page go to retailers we may eventually earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews — see the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing leek" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video — results vary and aren't vetted by us)