Author Topic: same as always  (Read 2492 times)

ACE

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same as always
« on: June 04, 2018, 11:04:55 »
I planted the seed in nice compost, pricked out carefully, nurtured and kept them in the right spot. But I still planted out my blades of grass this morning that will eventually turn into leeks. Pencils? somebody is having a laugh.

lezelle

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Re: same as always
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2018, 14:07:58 »
Hi, You and me both. I try and sow in a cold frame at the time it says on the packet but low and behold they never seem to make the size they say for planting out. I admit to sowing thinly and I have tried again and they are only as you say blades of grass. I keep trying but it looks like a purchase of the market again as theirs are always looking good and cheaper by the bunch than a packet of seeds. Good luck.

ACE

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Re: same as always
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2018, 14:21:59 »
They still grow to a decent size but being a respected gardener on our site and supposed to know what I am doing I have to sneak in and plant them over the back of the site and hope nobody notices them. I would love to plant some pencils on the front of the plot :toothy10:

ancellsfarmer

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Re: same as always
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2018, 14:32:18 »
I have found that leeks like it deep!.
So, seed sown week 13 :26/03 in a 5" pot in greenhouse. 140 seeds. Variety "Bleu de Solaise " from realseeds
Transferred to cold frame (still in pot) 4 weeks later.
Pricked out into a frame without cover (36x24x6", filled with new multipurpose compost,week 21: 21/05 Each leek 2" apart, rows 3" apart. Then the size of pencil lead. 102 plants.
Watered frequently.
 Will expect to plant out after early spuds finished-probably week 28:09/07.
 By then they will be like pencils, and roots reduced to fit hole depth 6"
Attached :last years crop taken 17/08/17
Freelance cultivator qualified within the University of Life.

squeezyjohn

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Re: same as always
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2018, 14:45:06 »
I've managed to get them to pencil size the last few years, but certainly not by doing what they say on the packet!  Rather than modules or a seed tray with all the faffing about with pricking out - I sow them in a big 2 foot deep 14" diameter pot with multi-purpose compost in the bottom and a thin layer of seed compost at the top.  Then I sow the seeds quite carefully to space them approximately ½" apart - and I do this in the greenhouse in DECEMBER or JANUARY.  They come up painfully slowly but by March they tend to have a nice head of hair ... then I start feeding with the old "home-made nitrogen" ... you know ... the yellow stuff at regular intervals and bring them outdoors in to a sunny spot in April. 

By the end of May they are pencil thick, nice and tall and their roots go all the way to the bottom of their huge pot.  Planting them out at this size is a whole lot easier than the tiny things I used to have - and that whole dib a hole and water them in thing works much better without a chance of them getting "lost"

I use precisely the same regime with onions grown from seeds and it works just as well.  Very low maintenance - and gives me something to do in December!

lezelle

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Re: same as always
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2018, 15:10:07 »
Hi Ya, Will give both methods  ago and see next season. I have tried blue solaise but to no avail. Mine are showing in the cold frame but only 1 inch high currently. the weeds grew quicker and they took some finding. I will give them ago and try your ways next. in fact I gave some to my next door plotter and hie are better than mine. The watering maybe the clue. cheers.

Vinlander

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Re: same as always
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2018, 08:35:23 »
I also use "Bleu de Solaise" - mainly for the lovely purple they go in winter - and they taste & yield just as well as the others.

I'm actually very interested in leek flower colour - I've seen red ones! but never found the variety. Can anyone help?

I save my own seeds and also sometimes cut the flowers to encourage offsets below the soil.

It's my annual opportunity to take them home and quote "don't say I never bring you flowers". Elephant garlic flowers are striking lilac pompoms but they smell so bad when the water goes cloudy.

Edible ornamental gardening is one of my favourite angles - and possibly the only area where the US is well ahead of us.

Cheers
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

ACE

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Re: same as always
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2018, 11:12:34 »
Front row planting today, pencils! Don't get too excited somebody gave me a bunch, must have felt sorry for me.

Paulh

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Re: same as always
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2018, 22:23:37 »
Similar experience, and what I do now: I sow 50+ seeds in a small pot on the kitchen window sill in February/March, they come up quickly and grow to 2" - 3", I put the pot in the plastic greenhouse, where they grow on another inch or so. Then they used to do no more until I planted them out as grass, but now my twist is  (April/May) to plant them out on the allotment in a "nursery row" - I separate the pot into small clumps and have a row of about 2' long, so still closely packed. These grow to pencil size fairly rapidly. This year? They're still in the pots in the plastic greenhouse ...

Plot 18

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Re: same as always
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2018, 09:28:11 »
I sow mine in Feb in a deep cat litter tray, the bottom filled with MPC and soil the top inch or just MPC (seems to stop most weeds germinating) Sow about an inch apart and leave in the greenhouse til the weather warms up a bit.
Harden off and leave to grow on, giving them the occasional liquid feed.

By the time the early spuds are lifted the leeks are usually pencil-sized for dibbing in :)

Redalder

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Re: same as always
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2018, 18:50:43 »
I sew them as thinly as possible in a tray. When the weather is OK and the seedlings can be handled I cut a long groove with a straight side and a sloping side deep enough so the tops of the seedlings just poke out. I then place them against the vertical side at the spacing I want and fill the trench in. Any left over get plonked into the soil in small bunches to be planted in any spaces available or to replace any the dog has slept on.

lezelle

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Re: same as always
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2018, 08:55:06 »
Hi Ya, Well this year my leeks in the cold frame are the best I have ever had. They are still only about 2" high but regular watering and the weather seems to of helped. Could be just luck and they do have a long way to go. I may follow squeezy's idea and use some yellow nourishment to feed them and see what occurs. Happy Days

Deb P

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Re: same as always
« Reply #12 on: June 20, 2018, 17:17:17 »
I sowed three different varieties in early March this year, pricked them out into rootrainers end of April, and there was a definite difference in the size of the three at planting out last week, only the Hannibal were close to pencil size so perhaps it all comes down to variety?
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

lezelle

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Re: same as always
« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2018, 10:11:15 »
Hi Ya, Well my leeks are still in the cold frame and the best ever they are really growing away now. I am waiting for rain then plant them out. I sowed three varieties but only one has taken off and that was blue solaise, I think the seed may of been old on the other two as only a few showed then no matter what I did died away. Regular watering seemed to help and some feed. Good news

lezelle

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Re: same as always
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2018, 11:04:32 »
Hi Ya, at last I planted my leeks out yesterday. I am very pleased with them as they are the best I have grown. I think the yellow nutrition worked well. I even gave some to a mate to try. The varieties were Blue solaise and the other was musselborough that I thought had died so even more pleased. Only have to watch for the dreaded fly now so will cover them with fleece this week before the main fly infestation from september on apparently. Well pleased and thanks

 

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