Leeks

[emilykf]

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, and probably won't be my last! After growing a few things in grow bags/pots at my old flat, I now have a lovely big garden in which to grow fruit and veg. At the mo my boyfriend and I have got leeks, red & white onions, potatoes, runner beans & strawberries.

My question is about leeks, I know that you're supposed to draw up soil around them to blanch them, but when are you supposed to start doing that?! Any info would be gratefully received - thank you!

[Snadger]

If they are pot leeks like Musselburgh for instance, and they are planted deep enough, you shouldn't need to draw up soil around them.

[zazen999]

If not, do them now and as often as you can

[Paulottie]

Septemberish...

[Paulottie]

There we are three different answers!...all clear?

[Paulottie]

I do mine in celery style trenches but they are for a show (length of blanch counts in the South; whilst girth is important with pot leek comps in the North). Normally for table use in the winter I wouldn't even set them out let alone earth them up yet.

When they are about pencil thick you set out...Just drill a hole 4-6" deep with old fork handel. pop in leek (Top tip...line leaves along row for tidyness later). then water them in and they will settle over a couple of months. when they start to expand at the end of the summer you can begin to draw the soil up...never easy without getting grit in them...hence my use of the trenches as they weather in naturally plus handyness of leaves along the row so you don't tread on them and can get to soil to draw it up. Too soon and you pack them in and the roots are too far down.

[emilykf]

Thanks for your help guys! I'm sure I'll be back with some more questions, just reading through the other posts has given me a wealth of information I didn't know before!

[Maddie106]

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, and probably won't be my last! After growing a few things in grow bags/pots at my old flat, I now have a lovely big garden in which to grow fruit and veg. At the mo my boyfriend and I have got leeks, red & white onions, potatoes, runner beans & strawberries.

My question is about leeks, I know that you're supposed to draw up soil around them to blanch them, but when are you supposed to start doing that?! Any info would be gratefully received - thank you!

I cheat with mine and when they've got going after transplanting(probably late August/early september).Transplant when they are pencil size....I just make a hole about 6inches deep, drop the leekling in and then water it in well.

I put the cardboard inner of a kitchen roll tube over them to do a bit of blanching.Make sure they have some green leaves sticking up over the to of the cardboard tube. Just pull soil up around the tube to hold it in place. The cardboard eventually goes soggy and rots down.(by which time you should have leeks to harvest!)

Trouble is, you have to collect the tubes for months in advance, so I sometimes resort to bog roll inners, but they disintegrate more rapidly, as well as being shorter!

The method seems to work well to produce reasonable leeks for the kitchen without a load of soil and grit to remove before cooking.

I'm late with my leeks this year because the first lot didn't germinate due to me trying to re-cycle compost from last years spuds.( I'm really trying to save money, but this was a big mistake!)

When I went to local garden centres, they were asking £3 for 10 seedlings that were bigger than mine, or £2 for 10 the same size.( I ended up NOT buying any plants)

I do wonder if some garden centres are trying to cash in on the move towards Growing your own? Some of the stuff I saw locally was really naff, but they were still asking top prices.