Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 25 MayA mounded bed from its far end on 30 May, six or seven seedlings fanning two or three keeled blades apiece out of short pale shanks, several tipped dry and one or two withered right down to threads, orange marker whips standing around them.Week of 20 JulyA King Richard leek lifted on 23 July, its shank running straight and pure white with no swelling anywhere along it, the leaves all leaving in one plane so the plant fans flat, hundreds of wiry roots matted at the far end and trailing over the edge.Week of 24 AugustGlaucous blue-green straps on 26 August, each folded along its keel and arching outward until the clump reads as a tangle rather than an upright fan — tips burnt to straw, one split lengthwise, clover flowering through beneath it in flat overcast light.Week of 28 SeptemberKing Richard leeks on 29 September, one plant shown from the ground up with a straight pale shank that runs into the soil with no bulb at its foot, old sheaths dried to papery tan straps that curl away. Flat gray-green fans, overcast light.Week of 28 SeptemberHanging close enough to fill the frame on 29 September, a glossy mid-green fruit shows three blunt lobes, a deep crease down the near face and a shallow dimple at its blossom end, with a stout curved stalk above. Flat overcast light gives no hard shadows.
