Topic: Leeks.

[Jeannine]

I have left it a bit late for seeds and was hoping to find some plants.. no luck so I am going to sow anyway.

Has anyone any help with sowing this late.

I have Bleu Solaise,Carentan,Varna and Chinook.

[ancellsfarmer]

I think that all you will lose is size, leeks grow until lifted, proportionally to ambient conditions, then go to seed!

[Crystalmoon]

I haven't sown my leeks yet either but plan to do it by next week....I'm sowing Herfstuezen 3 - Porvite (Thompson & Morgan) & the packet says they are fine to sow outdoors right up until the end of April. The packet says sow January to February if sowing under glass. These are bolt resistant & I have found that this really is true...I picked the last of last years crop this week so no bolting at all. I'm sorry I'm not familiar with the varieties you will be sowing Jeannine but hopefully they will be ok if you sow them outside in a seed bed perhaps????
I have found the leeks I grow to be really ok with pretty much anything. One year I had transplanted my leeks into what was supposed to be their permanent position then the housing association whose flat I rent said they were coming to paint the outside of my flat & my raised bed was in the way so I had to dig up the leeks & put them in pots for a month then put them back into the raised bed. They all did ok despite all this moving around. I have also had an occasion where a fox buried its kill in my leek bed badly disturbing/uprooting the leeks that had been in their permanent growing position for several months...these all did ok when replanted. xJane 

[InfraDig]

My Bleu de Solaise packet from Thomas Etty says early March to mid April outside. Although I have sown Oarsman and Musselburgh earlier in the year I have only just bought these so am hoping they will catch up!

[InfraDig]

Why is my posting time an hour behind? Do I need to change something?? Thanks

[galina]

Why is my posting time an hour behind? Do I need to change something?? Thanks

It isn't UK time, I think, but there is a way of changing it, I remember a moderator telling us how to do it.

What is the worst that could happen, Jeannine?  Slightly smaller leeks, which you can plant at closer spacings.  Not a problem (unless you want big 'uns).  It is more tricky with onions, which stop growing after mid summer.  Leeks keep growing and put on a lot of growth after planting out (which here is quite often as late as May or June). 

[Jeannine]

Galina, since posting I have realized that three out of my four are outdated so I have chucked them all together into a huge tub in the greenhouse, if anything come up I can use them as baby leeks.That leaves me with the Chinook which is a summer one so I will pop out  tomorrow and try and find a winter one and sow them straight away..thank you all

XX Jeannien

[Vinlander]

Smallish leeks from late-sown seed will become hugeish leeks in March - if you transplant them into the greenhouse bed as soon as space appears in Autumn.

Cheers.

[woodypecks]

Hi Jeannine , I just read this post. Funnily enough I did this last year , due to big op and being poorly I sowed my leeks as late as it said that I could on the back of the seed packet . like end of April last year . So they grew as normal and I planted them out , they slowed down in growth over the coldest part of winter and as of today they are beginning to grow away again and are at baby leek size now .
 They will probably continue to grow bigger ;  by now I,d normally be using up much bigger grown leeks then using the space for something else . So I have been using some of these as baby leeks and letting some grow on until I need the ground .