Leeks - Grow Your Own Wants Your Advice!!

[Lesley Jay]

Grow Your Own is looking for your advice on growing leeks. What are your top tips on growing leeks? How do you get a good blanche and a bumper crop? They also want to know which are your favourite varieties and why?

The best will be published in the March edition of Grow Your Own. So come on everyone!! This will be a big plug for the Grapevine plus you might have your advice published.

[nick the grief]

Top tip - always plant them Green side up

[Snadger]

Top tip - always plant them Green side up

Or white side down!

[Lesley Jay]

That will look bloody good in the magazine Nick!!!

[nick the grief]

Well it is for beginners

I just bung mine in & then eat em when they are big enough

[Lesley Jay]

To think I called you a Guru this afternoon when I was talking to the features editor!

[Snadger]

Why complicate things?

[nick the grief]

well it's a bit like commentators eye - Guru's trowel

Seriously, I usually grow about 4 varieties Mammoth Blanch, Mammoth Pot, Musselburgh and another variety whatever takes my fancy.

I sow them in cells in March time when we have loads of light and then as soon as they start to dry the cells out quickly (obviously got loads of roots) I pot them on into 3.5" square pots. The ones I've got are deep ones, so I pot them up at about 3/4 depth of the pot & then top up with compost as they grow. When it comes to plant them out I use a Bulb planter and plant them as deep as I can and I can never wait till they get big as we love leeks so they get picked at anything fro 3/4" dia onwards and about 7" of Blanch.

One day I'll try and grow some "real" blanch leeks

[jlottie]

Musselburgh is my favourite and green side up really helps - lol

[nick the grief]

Musselburgh is my favourite and green side up really helps - lol

There you go LJ, told you it was a good growing tip

[supersprout]

Grew mine from seed for the first time in the last two years, amazed how easy it was. I grow overwintering varieties - Musselburgh and Yates Empire. I grow pots of seedlings, then transplant - to maximise growing space on the plot.

Growing leeklings
Sown in 7" or 9" pots - two pots = 300-ish leeks, in early March. We find that's enough for a household of two keen leek eaters from November to April/May!
Allow to grow in cold greenhouse, water from underneath.
One week before transplanting date, start to harden off - outside during the day, indoors at night - then leave in sheltered place outside until transplanting time - usually into beds which have been cleared of early beans and peas, during a wet spell.

Planting out
If your bed is mulched, rake off mulch into temporary piles to leave a nice tilth.
Dib holes 4 " apart, rows 9" apart. I used to plant offset 6" apart, but it's easier to mulch rows with a little more space between.
Tip out leekling roots from pot, slice off bottom of pot compost to 2" from bottom of leeks.
Tip trimmed potted 'lump' of leeks into bucket of water (green side up)
Gently separate leeklings, pop one into each planting hole, making sure the root stump is right at the bottom of the hole. I don't trim the leeklings' leaves, though you can.
Once fully planted, water whole bed or growing area with a fine watering can rose.
Cover with 2" of fine mulch - grass mowings or fresh straw.
Leeks will have started to grow through the mulch in 3-4 weeks. Use the mulch from the piles you made at transplant time, and mulch up between rows. This helps defeat weeds, and to whiten more of the stems.
One pot fills one beds 1.25 x 12 ft - in early March.

Harvest
Had rust the year before last, last year had none - due to weather or more breathing space?
Dig up, don't pull
Trim and wash roughly on the plot, at the side of the compost bin, saves on carrying leaves and roots back from the kitchen.
We clear the beds from one end to free up growing space for Spring (good for root veg), yielding leeks of different sizes for different cooking options!

[JennieAtkinson]

I sow my leeks in pots first and then transplant them into rootrainers which allows them plenty of space to grow and a bit more time for me to wait for a space to put them in the ground!

[pigletwillie]

I neither trim the roots or stems as can see no benefit.

As a big leek isnt required for all occasions (!) I start planting mine out at 4" spacings, then some at 6" spacings and then finally some at 8" spacings. The more space the bigger you get. However when serving leeks when entertaining the visual impact of a 2' leek hanging over your plate isnt quite the same as 3-4 baby leeks that are kept small by closer planting.successional varieties are the key and by picking the right varieties you can eat leeks from September through until the spring, ever closing the hungry gap.

The varieties that I grow are

Musselborough

'Bleu de Solaise' Blue Winter Leek - An old French winter variety, long leeks with blue-grey leaves. Hardy and very cold-resistant, it turns darker after frost.

'Jaune de Poitou' Yellow Leek (Early) A nice productive early leek for autumn harvest. The yellow colour makes a great contrast in the garden. (Grow next to the Bleu de Solaise for a real contrast

[Snadger]

I think the benefit of trimming the roots is:-

a) They are easier to pop them into your dibbed hole without snagging the sides!
b) The root tips usually die anyway once they have been taken out of the trays and could cause rotting!
c) It allows the seedling roots to get right to the bottom of the dibbed hole, giving good contact with the soil and a longer blanched section, any roots above the basal shoot will die anyway!
d) To encourage the plant to put out new roots

The idea of cutting some of the leaf off is to slow down transpiration from the leaf area at a critical stage in the leeks growth.

[pigletwillie]

I see the logic Snadger but having tried it both ways for several years couldnt tell the difference so no longer bother. Why cut somethings arms and legs off when its already being put under stress.

That is not to say the points you raise aren't valid.