[Fleecewife]

I planted out my one leek (i've named him Mike) last week and he is doing ok, I put a homemade cloche over him (a juice bottle cut in half) but it blew off but he doesnt seem any worse for wear.

Mike was a bit bigger than your little guys though, if spring has really sprung where you are I would be tempted to plant them outdoors. But I'm sure someone more experienced will have a better clue! 

Poor Mike turned out to be grass! There must have been a stray grass seed in my old bag of compost. Now I have no leeks but at least I wont have to go through the trauma of eating Mike, my rabbits can eat him instead! 

     Mike must be the only grass plant ever to be named and covered with a cloche 

[MikeM]

I'm not sure whether to be relieved or concerned...

[Clarebelle]

 

[Plantoid]

thanks Mike 


We've got heavy clay soil here so I am concerned that making a hole with the broom handle will compact the soil too much and and prevent the roots from spreading out.


I'm half inclined to drill the holes with an electric drill and a half inch hole boring auger...... or is that being TOOOOOO ridiculous??? 

yes - I think that's a bit extreme actually

Ram a steel bar 8 or so inches 200 mm in the ground and do it in a straight row ussing a garden line every 5 inches .
Rive the bar round a couple of times so the hole is cone shaped and about 2 inches 50 mm in diameter , fill the hole with decent sieved quality enriched soil and then water it . The next day slip the same bar down the in the middle of the cone , rive it around a bit and plant the leek in the hole . Muvver nature will do the rest , give them the occasional watering during dry periods ..

[suziequeue]

Well after all that I've given up with my leek seedlings and have got some plug plants to be going on with.


I think I planted my seeds too densely and in the wrong sort of container. When I tried to thin them, the others came out too.


Next year I'll mix the tiny seeds with sand to ty and sew more thinly and sow them in a single propagator box rather than cells.


I have potted all my plug leeks into separate pots to grow them on a bit before planting out. We have decided to dig six inch holes with the auger, fill them with leek compost and then do the broom handle thing with whatever comes to hand.

[Plantoid]

Don't throw the seedling outs , they can be easily rescued , soak the tray in rain water for an hour or so till the growth medium goes sloppy and then transplant them into  a bigger pot  , say a 9 inch pot  .
 
Use the back of a teaspoon handle to tease the seedlings apart and re pot in the bigger pot  say 12 plants per bigger pot and grow them on till they are about six  inches or slightly more tall .
 Then like before soak the pots well and ease the bigger plants out with the spoon handle or gently pour on  jugs of water over the plants  when the whole pot content has been tipped gently onto a table top etc & gently wash the growth mediun away from the  leeks , now  put them in the holes you previously made in garden ( as above )

[Mammyshaz]

SQ I find leeks very resilient. The seeds get scattered in a small plastic tray filled with compost. They are within mm of each other. Water well for an hour or so before planting out and tease out with a teaspoon handle ( or plant label). An old neighbour told me to dig a hole and plant them at 45 degrees with a third to half of the plant sticking out. I think this helps a good root development for our windy area.they grow tot he correct angle and are strong through our weather. They don't get much TLC and are already planted out by 3-4 inches tall. Our leeks are one of the plants that always do well here.

Don't give up, your seedlings should be fine.

[suziequeue]

Oh - OK. 

I'll have a go with the seedlings I've got left and grow them on too. If we end up having a glut of leeks.... then we having a glut of leeks  .

I have just sold a bag of spinach at work for £1.50!!! and the buyer's comment was "I'll take what ever you've got!" so there will be a market for my leeks in the winter I'm sure.

Thanks

[Plantoid]

I sorted out the leek plants  on Saturday afternoon ,, used an end  tapered stick to make 8 inch deep holes and gently swirled a 10 inch long leek including  roots down the holes and left them for nature to carry  on with things. don't bqack fill the hole nature will do it for you
 There was barely an inch of greeenery showing , today there is almost two inches showing .
 
 One of the old Italian ( EX UK POW's ) boys on the allotments used to use an old square tined  standard adult garden fork that had only three tines on it , having had the middle two cut off and replaced by one of them in the center of the other two to make a trident of sorts
 He used to dig his spade width trenches about 2 feet deep in winter  , put a foot of well rotted cow muck & straw in it and back fill level to the top .
 By spring it had sunk down some six inches and it was here that he used his trident to make the leek planting holes then planted the "  leeklings " when they were seven inches tall .
 He grew the bigggest and best leeks on the whole 120 allotment pitches .

[suziequeue]

Next year I'll mix the tiny seeds with sand to try and sew more thinly and sow them in a single propagator box rather than cells.

Well - I have tried that and a few of the seeds have germinated. They are last year's seeds though……. should I use this year's?? And am I trying to do this too early?

[Fleecewife]

How long ago were they sown?  Leeks seeds tend to be a bit sporadic at germination but they don't need it hot.

[suziequeue]

um - I put them in on 16th February. They are not so clumped together this time.


I wonder if it would be better to take them out from under the light.

[Fleecewife]

Patience patience      Give them another couple of weeks to germinate.  The light's fine unless it's drying out the soil, and if some have come up then they need light, but as I said not heat.