[Lesley Silvester]

Yesterday I finally planted out my leeks.  I still have cabbages to get in the ground.  Am I the latest in the country?

[Simon O]

either that or earliest

[little blue]

definitely earliest!

my caulis have just about started, they are only tiny but golly they are strong flavoured!

[Lesley Silvester]

I prefer earliest. 

[manian]

mine are still in
both the red and the white
although the white ones have been demolished
they seem not to like the red ones

[Fleecewife]

Year after year I seem to be too late planting out my leeks and I miss out on a good crop.  I hope yours are more successful 

[Plantoid]

Year after year I seem to be too late planting out my leeks and I miss out on a good crop.  I hope yours are more successful 

 Mark your calender with a sow and plant out date & stick to it.

 I have an A3 sheet I made up on the PC with a simple planting sowing and harvesting grid system tried it for a couple of years to iron out any probs and then put it on a disc and took it to an Office World place to get 20 sheets printed off.

 I can take some pictures of both the veg and flower chart if you like and bung them here as a photobucket .

 I can , if you want it as an attachment send you it if it is still on this PC ?

[ellied]

My leeks are out and have been for a while but they're not filling out at all   The veggies on both sides have been cleared and manure put on both sides with a space for them but I'm not sure what they're doing this year, they're more spring onions than leeks so far

Cabbages and kale were all attacked by caterpillars and are still in the ground, I'm not sure there's much to harvest other than a few leaves for the ponies but I thought at least the kale might recover and there's PSB and sprouts in the bed so it won't be dug over til spring..

I'm harvesting celeriac for the first time - not sure whether to pull the lot up or just take what I need and leave the rest in the ground

Beans are about to be taken down as I think they've had it now but theyve been great again this year.

[MAK]

Leeks - an old lady caught me planting my leeks ( just as dad showed me). She advised that I cut the tops off and keep doing such as they grow. I planted 70 and cut half of these whilst leaving the others. They look pretty similar but it maybe that the cut leeks have grown better under the soil ( I bank up to promote more white).
Oh- the oldlady also pulled up some of her  turnips for me and nipped off both the tops and main growing root - I really thought they would not survive but they look great. I can't stand turnip but the pigs will get a few meals with them.
anyone else do this when planting leeks out?

Martin

[manian]

yes i was 'taught' to top and tail leeks
Mx

[SallyintNorth]

I was taught to cut them off to about 9" on planting but haven't heard of trimming them as they grow - I can see the logic, though

[Plantoid]

Over the years I've learnt to take a basic ready to plant leek say 8 inches or so long and cut the body down to five or six inches and trim the roots to a neat one inch  then plant in a dibbered hole so the top is 2inches proud then water it in .

The cutting of the top stops waste energy being used  when the roots are not set ande growing in the soil , cutting the roots  makes the plant make even more vigorous roots  ( the cutting of the top allows this )

 I must confess that I feel heavvy cutting of a good green growing top on a fully rooted plant will reduce the amount of plant available for photosynthisis  surely .. this will make for an inferior plant ?

 Are you talking of a granddy gets his monies worth sort of hair cut or just a slight clipping  on the green tips?

[MAK]

good tips re: planting out but I agree that cutting back leaves as they grow must weaken the plan and maybe allow disease in.
I will certainly plant as others have suggested but will leave alone therafter.
I bought the leeks of a market ( 70 for about £4 ). Now I'm thinking that the cost of seed and all that goes with soing yer own makes the market leeks good value.
Happy winter all!!

[Blonde]

good tips re: planting out but I agree that cutting back leaves as they grow must weaken the plan and maybe allow disease in.
I will certainly plant as others have suggested but will leave alone therafter.
I bought the leeks of a market ( 70 for about £4 ). Now I'm thinking that the cost of seed and all that goes with soing yer own makes the market leeks good value.
Happy winter all!!

Plants will seal off the cut part quickly so disease  getting in will come from  your clippers before it comes from the environment.  There are not many problems with the onion family anyway so I would cut the long leaves and make the "bulb" grow more vigoursly.    The photosynthesis taking place wont be any different  just that the leavs ar shorter but that just makes the plant stronger and make it work harder tro give a good bulb or thicken stem.  which is basically what a leek is. If you cut a shrub down to size it will thicken at the bottom and so the leek is the same.