The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Q on January 07, 2015, 11:12:54 am
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I dont have a problem with growing leeks apart from the size - they always end up a bit on the skinny side.
Firstly, What variety of leek do you find is best - I have been using musselburgh for years now.
and secondly I always do what it says about planting with a broom handle etc but leeks I planted in may 2014 are still too skinny to eat - share your fat leek secret with me please?
Do you trim the roots & leaves when you replant?
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First of all you need a very fertile soil, dig in well rotted muck a few weeks before planting or plant in soil that has been well mucked for a previous crop. How far apart do you plant your little leeks? The closer the planting the smaller the leeks. I too grow Musselburgh and plant them about eight inches apart, some do six inches. Water well until the soil is level, i.e. don't fill in the planting hole, just water and the soil will wash down and fill the hole.
Good quality seed or plants helps too.
My leeks are as they should be, short and fat ( a bit like me ::))
Also, they do better in a clay soil rather than a light, sandy one, I think.
On the 8th March I am going to an evening with Monty Don, a Christmas gift from my younger son and if anyone knows his leeks it's him! I shall pick his brains on your behalf, so if you let me know where you live, soil type etc. I may have some expert knowledge for you ;)
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All what devonlady says, and YES do trim the roots. We do have clay soil, plus tons of goat manure. I grow both Bandit and Musselburgh, Bandit is now getting a bit mushy on the outer leaves, Mussselburgh looks much better and fatter!
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Thanks for replying - the ones I planted from seed last summer are still in the rows I planted them in because they never really got pencil sized for transplanting - if anything they are that sort of pencil size now - and as you say a bit close together.
It looks like if i transplant them now they may be ready for this summer but I would expect them to go over if I did that now.
Monty Don evening sounds interesting. :excited:
I grow them in 2 different locations in Northampton - one is very sandy and the soil always seems 'thin' to me but I dont have problems growing onions for example.
The other location is much more loamy - no sign of clay whatsoever but was an allotment that had lots of couch grass that I cleared but was told the previous owners loaded it with muck regularly so I wasnt expecting problems with fertility. As I said before the leeks germinate perfectly well - very well in fact.
The seeds are newly bought from Thompsons and I also planted some from a lonely leek that I inherited on the allotment which had gone to seed.
In both sites i glower with envy at other peoples leeks :roflanim:
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Will ask MD and let you know! I sow my seed very thinly in pots and use the tiny ones as chives, leaving the stronger ones to grow on.
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When do you sow your leek seeds? Maybe give them longer to grow at the beginning ie sow earlier. If they look like they're going to be checked before the ground is ready to plant them out, give them a liquid feed.
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I have problems with my leeks being skinny too, but while reading this it dawned on me that once they are in the ground they normally do OK, it seems to be the slow start that keeps them small. Once they germinate they seems to slow up a lot and almost stop doing any growing for a month or so. Last year I transplanted them long before they got to the size of a pencil.
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I have problems with my leeks being skinny too, but while reading this it dawned on me that once they are in the ground they normally do OK, it seems to be the slow start that keeps them small. Once they germinate they seems to slow up a lot and almost stop doing any growing for a month or so. Last year I transplanted them long before they got to the size of a pencil.
Interesting point - I may just be waiting too long to transplant them. The birds nip the tops off them if they are too small.
I will transplant some of those from last summer I think - just to see if I can get anything out in this summer.
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I think they will just bolt if you put them out now, and have a horrible unuseable hard core. I'm just going to eat my skinny ones, lots together, and pretend my cuisine is cordon bleu.
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They will almost certainly bolt if left in for another year so you can either eat them small or transfer them to the back of the flower bed. Leek flowers look really nice and the bees like them too, I often put some spare ones in the flower bed.
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Q, I am going to meet Monty Don this Sunday and haven't forgotten about your leeks! Anyone else have any requests?
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:roflanim:I had forgotten. :innocent:
I planted some a few weeks ago - 3 different varieties & all germinated well & about 75mm tall now - these will be my autumn ones - I will plant some more out in may for the winter ones.
All the ones from last year are still about pencil sized apart from 1 single leek that seems to have grown to what I would expect & is usable - I dont get how 1 could grow so differently
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i just read an article as leeks are on this years to do list that says better results are obtained with the late season varieties sown direct into the soil in april, aiming to harvest december onwards as its the starting them too early that seems to upset them...
i already have some in a tray started but i have space to try an experiment, one lot inside then planted out as babys and one lot sown direct...
i tried to refind the article to link it but can't doh!!!
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I'm sure that all queries will be answered on Sunday. I will be 65 on Sunday :) :'( :) :'( :) :'(!!!
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I did an early sowing in pots last year and planted out a couple of hundred and mnay of those bolted in last years hot summer. I had already decided that this year i'd do abut a hundred early and the second hundred much later on the grunds that the energy going into bolting would have made them fatter if they hadn't.
I've still got the skinny leftovers in the ground and still eating them.