Leeks - Musselburgh

Its suprising given the lack of light we've had.

This thread made me think about the Wild Leeks that grow on the South Coast, not been down for some for a few years, they grow in large clumps, not very wide, about a finger thick, but the taste is fantastic.

We've bred a lot of the flavour out in favour of size.

 

How's everyone's leeks doing then?

My Musselburgh have been sat on a windowsill since Feb 19th, got first shoots on 5th March. Some are getting a good second 'leaf' on them now:

 

Some current pics of my leeks. How are yours doing?

 

Not sown them yet ... :(

 

Put mine inbetween the onions yesterday as the roots had reached the bottom of the pot.

 

If there are roots coming from the bottom of the seed tray should I plant them out proper now?

 

I sow mine, laboriously, in a polystyrene fish box neatly in rows & columns at about 1/2" - 1" spacing. They stay there until planted out when i just tip the whole box out, split them up, and plant them. The time spent on sowing the seed carefully is saved on not having to transplant (twice) nor having them too thick in places that they get "drawn". But, initially at least, it's a high-faff approach

 

Tee Hee, just googled that.

http://www.littlecraftybugs.co.uk/m...id=4237&subxgroupid=4237&xgroupid=128&id=4237

 

Thanks for the info all. I've been reading up growing Leeks and I've got some MORE questions:

When the roots start showing through the bottom of the seed tray would be okay to bung them all into one large deep pot and let them grow on in there, and also blanch maybe?

Could I re-use the soil from the two seed tray they're growing in now? What if I added some blood fish and bone to re-add the NPK? I'd be missing all the other trace elements etc wouldn't I?

How is the soil supposed to fill in the hole that I make when planting them in their final position? Why can't I just fill in the hole myself?

 

They need space, individually, to develop. Consider that there is a recommended planting distance along-the-row and between-adjacent-rows. So I don't think that just bundling them together in a single pot will give you the result you expect. People do plant bunches of leeks, all together, but that is with the intention of getting small leeks - e.g. to fry (usually used so as not to waste any "left overs" after completing planting)

You don't need to fill the hole, just water them in. That washes enough soil down the hole to cover the roots. The remainder of the hole is then left open which provides space for the Leek stem to expand. Over the course of the Summer with rain / irrigation some soil will be washed into the planting hole, but as the roots are right down the bottom there is no need for more soil - its dark enough in the hole to blanch the Leek, and if there is more soil in the hole it will be inclined to find its way into the core of the Leek, making it rather gritty to eat!

 

I'm wanting to plant my Leeks in their final bed tomorrow, do they look ready or am I being impatient?

 

The conventional description is that they should be "pencil thick" before final transplanting ... most folk here tend to say that their's only get to "biro refill" thickness but height is fairly important. I like to be able to make a hole pretty deep, drop the leek in, and it stick out of the top several inches so it can see sunlight. Its only the bit underground that will be blanched white, so the deeper you can plant them the more white-bit you will have.

If they were mine I would wait longer ...