Leeks getting smaller!

[Marb67]

Well I planted out all my leeks this Summer which as you can see got off to a decent start. Y ou can see the deterioration as they have become thin and wispy for absolutely no reason I can fathom. Since the latest photo was taken they have got even smaller. Some have even disappeared!


And why does this site, after uploading an image, state "error - please upload at least 1 photo" ?

[Nicos]

No idea why it does that marb. Seems to do it all the time for you.
Anyone else get that?

Your leeks are looking much like my second lot of sowings

[Penellype]

My leeks look like that too.

[Marb67]

Same last year with shop bought sowings. Happens with spring onions also.

[Marb67]

Here they are yesterday still no bigger. Sean James Cameron on YouTube planted his around the same time and are now huge.

[Snoop Puss]

I have better luck with leeks if I plant them in clusters of three or four about 30 cm apart each way between clusters. They don't grow into absolutely enormous whoppers, but a fair size, as shown in my avatar photo.

Not sure it's worth comparing yourself with a YouTuber, Marb. I bet they only show you the good ones, not the feeble ones.

[Nicos]

Mine are much the same tbh marb. My spring onions were bigger!!!!

[Mark Rand]

If it's any consolation, I harvested three today. They're all infested with allium leaf miner* and the three of them made one medium leek's worth.


*Extra protein?

[peacegarden2024]

you are aware
1.leeks a slow growing and most varieties
take over 100 day from seed germination till harvest.
leeks are heavy nitrogen feederand need be kept well watered.

[Nicos]

Here’s an interesting thread from a few years ago about feeding leeks…..

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...-feeding-leeks

[Marb67]

Aaaaand still when I came to harvest today they are the same, some smaller. Fed over Winter with bfb and chicken manure pellets. What a waste of time that was!

[ameno]

Leeks don't grow over the winter, you know. Pretty much nothing does.
Leeks are meant to grow through the summer and autumn, and then just sit in the ground over winter.

[Marb67]

Leeks don't grow over the winter, you know. Pretty much nothing does.
Leeks are meant to grow through the summer and autumn, and then just sit in the ground over winter.

Oh well. I have some more sown so making sure they go in the ground much sooner. I could have left them in longer but didn't want to risk going to flower and tough in the middle.

[Nicos]

Good call marb.
I guess things not going the way we hoped they would is all part of the learning curve.
My weather here is very different from our old UK home and I had to ( still am in reality) learning what not to bother with here…where to place them( extremes of heat/ dryness etc during the year bugs and pests….. Not helped of course by the changing weather over the years
Last year was a pretty rubbish year for our leeks too -apart from one spot( we have several beds throughout the garden) and that one did really well.
Always good to try different varieties too.

[ameno]

Oh well. I have some more sown so making sure they go in the ground much sooner. I could have left them in longer but didn't want to risk going to flower and tough in the middle.

The flower stem is actually quite tender and perfectly edible, as long as you catch it soon after the stalk appears. It tastes perfectly normal, too (unlike onion flower stems, which I found taste awful).