Topic: ID an onion or leek for me :)

[Hector]

Do any of you folks recognise this?




I've only ever planted Babbingtons leeks and potato onions......


On a separate note...we are lucky that no evidence of crows pulling labels this year.....but new pup does...inbetween pinching Chitting potatoes.

[Silverleaf]

The flat leaf says leek rather than onion, but I'm afraid I can't help more than that!

[galina]

The flat leaf says leek rather than onion, but I'm afraid I can't help more than that!

I agree, but there is the smell/taste test.  Leek is not garlicky smelling/tasting, Babington Leek is.  This could potentially be a garlic that was missed last year.  Did you grow garlics in that space? 

[Hector]

No garlic there. This was the bed two years ago that had Babbinton leek, Minogue, Japanese onion and was wiped out when livestock from adjoining farm field got in.

Before the livestock hit we had issues with crows and label pulling.

[Jeannine]

It looks like garlic to me,, could you have had one some time ago that produced and was left in, if it then propagated itself from a scape it would come as a single onion shaped bulb rather than the usual cloves. I have grown from bulbils, tiny little things that could be lost in the soil easily and the first year thy come up exactly like that. The greenery would smell exactly like garlic.   I thought about  wild ransoms in the area but the leaves are wrong at least compared to the Canadian ones they are.

[galina]

No garlic there. This was the bed two years ago that had Babbinton leek, Minogue, Japanese onion and was wiped out when livestock from adjoining farm field got in.

Before the livestock hit we had issues with crows and label pulling.

Looks like Babington, which seems most likely given what you grew there before.  It isn't Minogue.  Minogue leaves are narrower and bulbs are smaller and shiny.  If you replant, the bulbs will split and the Babington will develop a flower shoot and you can tell for sure from the flower, which has the bulbils inside.  Babington leaves smell slightly garlicky. 

[Hector]

I'll do a sniff test . Thanks all, much appreciated :)

[Hector]

Scratched bulb...no garlicky scent but ate a bit of leaf...slight garlicky taste

[Jeannine]

Then not garlic, it really smaells strong.. I would think Babbington then

[Hector]

Thank you :) I am beyond pleased. I thought it had all been trampled when livestock got in our garden 😃

[galina]

Scratched bulb...no garlicky scent but ate a bit of leaf...slight garlicky taste

By the way, this disappears when you cook them as leeks.  I can't detect any garlic flavour as cooked veg or with a cheese sauce. 

Glad they survived, but they are very good at coping with adversity. Because they don't make fertile seeds (at least not in UK) their other propagation mechanisms - bulbs splitting, bulbils and bulblets - are working well.  I would say you have put that to the test

[Hector]

Thanks for that Galina. I'm really looking forward to tasting them but will hold off until I increase their number. Lovely looking plants :)