earthing up leeks

Hi Guys, the wifes leeks are growing and I was wondering wether to start earthing them up and how high up the stem. Any help appreciated.

 

Normally you don`t earth up leeks. The usual thing to do is take a dibber, make a hole about 6" deep and drop the young plant in, when watering, the hole fills up with soil and this produces the blanch. May I ask, how were your leeks planted?

 

Hi, they were planted as you suggested, and the leaves are all the way down to the ground so I think perhaps they do not need earthing up. It was just that I had read an article telling to earth your leeks now.

 

The only earthing up of leeks I've seen is where you dig a shallow trench, dib them into the bottom, then start backfilling the soil after they're established. If not planted that way, and if you want to increase the length of blanched stem more than you're going to get by dibbing, you could draw some soil around them or put some short lengths of tube around them (toilet roll tube, cut pieces of kitchen roll tube, plastic waste pipe, etc.).