[Glentarki]

Never grown veg before and this year thought Id have a bash......All my seeds sown in the green house have done well and I'm confident I can reap some sort of harvest without killing them off , except the leeks!..................Ive got 2 trays of them about 7 inches high when should I plant them out?......Do I plant them out at the same ground level that they are in the trays.... or dig a hole and drop them in

Any advice much appreciated
Cheers
Dave

[Eastling]

Iam just starting with veg. I found this hope it helps http://www.helpwithgardening.com/vegetable-gardening/how-to-grow-leeks.php

[Glentarki]

Brilliant just had a peek thanks for the link

Dave

[Fleecewife]

Just looked at the link too - he says just what I was going to about using a broom handle to make the holes, then dropping the leeks in and pouring in some water.  He then says to push soil in every now and then, but I find the rain does that for me as the leeks grow, so no need.  Before you make the holes, make sure your soil is deeply dug or the broom handle won't work    I dig in masses of well-rotted sheep manure as leeks are hungry feeders.

[ellisr]

If you want really white bottoms you can pop a collar round them ie small bits of drain pipe rather than banking up the soil as this will lead to a cleaner leek.

[Glentarki]

Looks like I will be busy come this weakend following all your advice

Much Appreciated
Dave

[NorthEssexsmallholding]

make a Nitrogen feed, I dig mine up and put them in a bucket with water and chicken manure or cow muck, they  soak up the feed and it gets them well on their way once they go into the dibbed holes.  ANother way is to use urine mixed with water, I have also done this and its a good fertiliser.

[ellied]

I planted seed leeks this year, direct into the bed - they seem to be coming up fine, but not sure that I can do any of what is advised for planting out..  Will just see how they grow but is there different advice for seedgrown ones?

I have shallot seeds coming up in the plastic greentent to plant out later - can hardly see a difference to the leeks so thought it best to keep them separate in the seeding stages

[Fleecewife]

I have rapacious weeds as well as finding it impossible to keep my flying chickens off the veg patch, so I sow my leek seedlings in pots, then plant them out into the deep broomhandle holes once they are about 6" tall - you can cram a lot into one pot.  I am very late this year so I will probably plant them closer and use them as baby veg instead of expecting them to survive the winter.
Having sown your outdoors, you will have to move them on in about July or they won't have room to develop.

Interesting you are trying the seed shallots ellied.  I have grown them three times now - first time swamped with chickweed, second time not worth it, third time in the tunnel with careful weeding crop ok but not exceptional - quite fiddly little bulbs. Haven't sown any this year but I will be interested to hear how yours go.

[Plantoid]

A tip I picked up from  a commercial  market gardener grower of leeks .
When the baby leeks in the nursery bed are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick lift them wash the roots ....  Cut the roots off to an inch with sicissors and snip the leek body to about 6 inches long  , in the bottom of the well manured prepared trench  dibber them in then water them in ..


Commercial growers have done this for years .. the plants go into overdrive to produce roots  and once they are struck the rest followsquickly .

 I have two and a half  dozen  lengths of white round 3 inch rain down pipe for the leeks  and roughly the same number of 3 inch square ones for extra leeks  and  blanching the celery

[lazybee]

 :wave:This is what I do. I sow them in a line, then thin them out a couple of times as they get bigger. We eat the small thinnings as spring onions. When they are the size of a pencil, move then to a leak bed. I cut off all but about 3" of the green leaves (if not the leaves droop to the soil and die back). I make a hole with a small dibber and puddle them in. Always works a treat.