I don’t think my leeks know if they are coming or going this autumn. One minute it has turned cold, wet and windy, then next it seems that summer is back, and then it’s up and down like a yo-yo for a few weeks before settling into quite a mild and dry spell. To a leek, I imagine this can be very muddling. Should they put out flowers? Or fatten up for winter? Or just give up the ghost? Mine are all being somewhat indecisive, so I am keeping an eye on them. I’ve harvested several that were threatening to flower – you can tell because the middle of the plant starts to push up like a central stem. At this stage, it begins to toughen and before long a bud will form at the top and the central stem will become difficult to cut through with a knife – you’d have to peel off the outer leaf layers to cook them separately.
My moral of this story is to check any leeks that you planted in spring and were hoping to harvest over winter as they may also be muddled and verging on flowering.
Others are still doing okay, and as long as they don’t suddenly bolt, they should then stand in the cold ground once temperatures start to drop properly. My word of advice for these, is to mulch them if you can to keep the soil temperature a little more consistent. It’ll also help by keeping the ground from freezing in mid winter, which can make it difficult to dig them up.