Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: gordonsveg on January 30, 2008, 09:16:56
-
:-[ :-[ This is definitly going to be my last year for trying to grow leeks, everybody says how easy they are. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
Can anybody tell me the best soil (ph level), type of leek and manuring?.
P.S. I live in Devon if that helps.
-
I cannot offer any great insight, but I have never had any huge problems. I grow in London clay - no idea what the pH is, as I have never tested it.
I grow Musselburgh leeks. In late spring I prepare a seed bed, and sow the seeds in shallow drills. The drills are quite close together - it does not matter, because I am going to transplant them later. The seed bed is probably about 2ft by 2ft, or thereabouts. That is enough for about three or four drills.
When the plants are a reasonable size (the books say the thickness of a pencil, but if you ask me they are never that thick: I just go for it when they are 6-8in tall) I transplant them to their final position. I make holes with a broom handle about 12in apart, drop the leek in and water them in - not pushing the soil in. The holes fills in naturally quite quickly.
Before transplanting, I follow the conventional advice and trim the tops and tails. No idea if it makes a difference, but it makes it easier dropping the leeks into the holes.
Currently enjoying the leeks at the moment: very good they are too...
-
PS Just re-read your post. The leeks go in my onions and roots bed, which means they don't get any manure as the carrots don't like it. No special treatment at all, in fact.
-
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
To tell you the truth Gordon I don't know Huh Can you tell us what you have done in the past, don't be embarrassed its quite possible others are going wrong as well so telling us what you have done can only help everyone.
In your reply tell us if you want early season or over-wintering leeks, long leeks or short then I am sure between us we will have you growing leeks in no time at all.
Look forward to your reply.
-
Beyond all the sound advice given I can add little-but one thing comes to mind-water?-they can take any amount-just a thought
-
I will be sowing mine at the weekend in 6 inch pots approx 40 seeds, bung in cold gh then transplant when 8 inches into 6 inch holes on plot .
-
Like Markfield rover, I start mine off in a container, usually an ice cream carton with holes drilled in the bottom. I also put mine to germinate in an unheated greenhouse and plant them out the same way.
I find Musselburgh are the most reliable ones to grow.
You could try both ways, Gordonsveg, by putting half in a container and half straight into a prepared seed bed. You would then know what works best for you.
-
I will be sowing mine at the weekend in 6 inch pots approx 40 seeds, bung in cold gh then transplant when 8 inches into 6 inch holes on plot .
Will that work in an unheated green house? ust wonderer coz i would like to do that.
-
Aftrnoon
Yes unheated works for me.
-
Sounds good, job for the weekend for me then
-
Is sowing them in a cold GH this weekend ok for Musselbrugh leeks? Also, what about those horrible little catapiller things? I got them on my leeks last autumn. I didn't pull the leeks up and didn't want to spray them with anything so just left them. The leeks survived but have remained fairly thin. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem?
Twinkletoes
-
Musselbrugh leeks? have remained fairly thin
Did you dibble them in?
I prefer to grow them above ground.
(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/tgalmanac/Allotment/DSCF5235.jpg)
-
I did all the usual stuff TeeGee - started them off in a bed then transferred them into dibbed holes, filled with water and left them. They started off ok but got these caterpiller things on them. Others on the lottie did too so it's not just me.
Twinkletoes
-
What variety were they, twinkletoes? My King Richard are fattening up beautifully now, though they probably should have been pulled already, but my bleu de solaise (late leeks) still look a bit sad and thin.
-
They were Musselbrugh Bupster. But its the caterpiller things I'm more concerned about - what were they and how do I protect against them next year? Any ideas would be useful.
Twinkletoes
-
im in Devon mine are growing just slowly lol :)
-
I'm amazed that people are sowing them this early- are these early varieties?
-
But its the caterpiller things I'm more concerned about - what were they and how do I protect against them next year?
Is this what you have? http://tinyurl.com/2jf8fg
I'm amazed that people are sowing them this early- are these early varieties?
I won't sow mine till mid April at the earliest, see no point of starting them early as the take up valuable space in the coldframe that could be put to a better use.
-
quote author=gordonsveg link=topic=38609.msg383485#msg383485 date=1201684616]
:-[ :-[ This is definitly going to be my last year for trying to grow leeks, everybody says how easy they are. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
Can anybody tell me the best soil (ph level), type of leek and manuring?.
P.S. I live in Devon if that helps.
[/quote]
This may sound silly, but one possibility is you are starting too early. My first year (2006) I didn't sow Toledo (a winter variety) in an outdoor seedbed until the beginning of May. I transplanted them in the third week of July.
It's warm down there in Devon and perhaps in these increasingly warm summers and in the south, green veg should go out a bit later not earlier, because they will grow faster. The earlier you put them out the more chance there is they'll go to seed.
Alternatively....
This probably isn't the done thing, but if you happened, like I did last year, to forget to actually sow any leeks this address might help...
http://www.organicplants.co.uk/acatalog/Catalogue____Leeks_39.html (http://www.organicplants.co.uk/acatalog/Catalogue____Leeks_39.html)
Or you could buy a few to act as a control to narrow down whether it's the starting off of your leeks or the growing on that is a problem
-
mine are my last year winter ones !!! :o :o :o :o :o
-
I've just started my leeks (Musselburgh plus another that I can't remember) in seed trays for next year's crops. Seed trays aren't ideal, but I never have any decently deep enough container and if I plant them directly onto allotment the horsetail will hide them within weeks and I'll never see them again!
I usually put some in early (i.e. Jan/Feb) and then plant a few more in seed trays in March/April if I'm not too busy doing other seeds. Sometimes they get pot bound if I'm busy, but it's never had a disasterous effect. I've tried growing 'earlies', 'midseason' and 'late' varieties, but to be honest never noticed any difference in their picking season so now I stick to one or two types. I keep them in a cold greenhouse, sometimes transplanting them into bigger seed trays, until around May when they are big enough to survive the weed onslaught. Yes they do take up valuable space on the plot for a long time of year, but with a family of 5 we get through a lot of them over winter and together with purple sprouting, cabbage and our stored squash they make up our staple veg for the winter months.
I don't prepare our soil at all and our plot is quite exposed. They just go in wherever there's space and wherever I've managed to tame the weeds a little. Did a lot of hand weeding last year cos I entered an allotment competition and I think the leeks benefitted from this. They don't seem to cope well with competition.
Still pulling last year's leeks - they tend to stand quite well here and although some will try to go to seed depending on the weather, mostly they've been ok. They suffered a little from rust and had a spot of white rot (probably from the cheap onion sets I planted) this year, but most of the leeks survived and considering the atrociously wet summer we had I thought they did pretty well.
-
I like leeks in the winter - can't use them in the summer as generally eating beans and courgettes and salads. So I don't start them until may in modules. i plant them out June/July time and start picking the earlies (Pandora) in Nov/Dec, the other variety Bandit stand until April the following year before they start to throw flower stalks. They don't get any special treatment and go in with the carrots and parsnips
However compared to those that grow for the village show - mine are completely out of sync and the wrong type - they are thin when harvested (about 1 1/2 inch radius and the white parts are only about 6 - 8 inches long). But very sweet and lovely tossed in butter and black pepper.
-
they are thin when harvested (about 1 1/2 inch radius and the white parts are only about 6 - 8 inches long).
If you have your dimension correct Suzanne those are championship size for pot leeks.......3" diameter Wow!!I'll have some seed please if that is the case.
-
I'd settle for 1 1/2" diameter - not proud! What can you do with a 3" leek?/
-
What can you do with a 3" leek?/
Polite answers only?!?!
You let the servants eat them, according to a story I once heard about a nobleman - he generously kept the small ones for his table and fed the servants on the bigger ones! I know why...
-
not proud! What can you do with a 3" leek?/
Cock a leeky!
Why peel and chop 6 leeks when one will do?
-
What can you do with a 3" leek?
Add it to a 3" potato and make a pie.
-
;D love leeks ... have lots of different sorts ... like the long slim jobs! :D
Just sown these in the greenhouse ... from seeds of distinction ...
LEEK PANCHO Ref: 0207C
The earliest of the Leeks. A March sowing will crop in August and on to December. Very long bulb free shanks. Pretty useful variety for early production and has a good level of resistance to bolting. Seeds in packet (200)
Need to do Bandit too ... already have Hannibal in. Then Jolant and later St Victor ;D 8)
... oo and there are some blue ones too 'Bleu de Solaise' a Winter Leek some say better than Musselburgh ;D
-
One thought - The first time I grew them, started in a seed tray, thinned out etc.
but I was waiting for them to reach 'pencil thickness' before planting out, as it says in the books... I waited a long time, and in the end it took nearly 2 years to get a single full grown leek!
So don't do that.