Leeks

[saddad]

First of the season...
Using drainpipe lengths to increase the length of white shank...

quite noticable, the one problem is they have grown so well this Autumn that we are struggling to get some out of the tube!
;D

[saddad]

[tim]

Nice bit of fodder there! Ours started well then slowed up.

[calendula]

one of my favourites, they look great - we've been eating ours for awhile now as I tend to grow an early variety, maincrop and a late one as well, so we can eat them right up until spring - such a versatile veg and the best in 'fast food'  :)

[manicscousers]

does it work as well with paper collars, ours have grown really well in the leaf mould/grass bed but the soil's a bit soft to earth them up, been importing15 year old rotted horse muck and earthing up with that, really need cleaning before eating   ;D

[Deb P]

I've just been naughty and bought some more Leek seed, a 'blue' leaved variety from Real Seeds co;  should be interesting! there always room for a few mre seeds........ ;D

[Mrs Ava]

oooo, glad you showed that saddad as I have plenty of drainpipe and wondered if I could use it like that!  I have been 'earthing' up with shredding paper and straw as I planted mine all close together so no room to earth up.  I shall take my saw with me next week when I go. 

I was also wondering about loo roll tubes as I saved about 2 dozen for this purpose, but then had second thoughts wondering if they would go mouldy and rot the leeks.  Anyone had any success using cardboard tubes?

[saddad]

Those are Musselburgh Deb... I have bought some Mammoth from Robinsons, shall we trade a few at pricking out stage!
::)

[tim]

Boring to repeat, I know, but WHY do all this, unless you're going for exhibition. And how many of you have time for that?
What's wrong with a deep dib??

Wish we had room for succession - the rot & all that.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I just dib a hole and drop them in. When I'm preparing them, I slice the white bit, then take the coarse outer leaf off and slice the tender inside. Lovely!

[muddy boots]

I just dib a hole and drop them in. When I'm preparing them, I slice the white bit, then take the coarse outer leaf off and slice the tender inside. Lovely!

Same here.  Also, they are great like that with a little ginger too!

Mmn!  Obviously, not sure how to put that quote in a little box >:(

Answers please?

[Mrs Ava]

Oh I dib dib dib as deep deep deep as I can so that just the little tops are poking out of the ground, but as I can't earth them up to blanch the stem due to the close planting, I thought the loo roll tubes would be worth a spin.  Mine do have about 20 to 30cm of white stem, and I do use the green, but I just thought, why not, nothing to loose by making them longer.

[Dadnlad]

EJ  -  loo roll tubes work fine (the tubes rot by summer but not the leeks) but they dont increase blanche length by much  :-\
Pringle tubes however do increase the blanche length and due to the foil lining can be reused each year (well 3 so far)  8)
But  its only cosmetic - the green part is just as tasty !  ;D

[tim]

Oh, dear, not another excuse for the children to buy Pringles??

[Heldi]

At the start of this thread I thought..."Oh no I didn't know you were supposed to earth them up!"  By reading through Tim came to the rescue. Now feel I have done alright although I wonder if I could have dibbed a bit farther ?

[tim]

Depends upon your soil?

The books say 5" - we do 12"!!

[calendula]

I never earth up or go to the trouble of 'tubing' them in any way and always get long leeks - this can be helped by selecting the best varieties as there are short ones and long ones  :)

[plot51A]

Last year I put some loo roll tubes round mine - but they very soon got wet and most of them unravelled. On the ones that survived (tubes that is) as Dadnlad says it increased the white - but not much. This year I dibbed deeper - and earlier I think but am not much of a record keeper - and am delighted with the results.

[STHLMgreen]

This was my first year with leeks. I grew them in a large grow box in my balcony. 10 Musselborough. They were great. The leaves got really long and a few grew really thick. I will try these again next year on the allotment now that I have one!

And thanks to Tim I'm also delighted to hear I didn't do anything wrong.  :D

[tim]

Calendula has a point there?

Despite a 12" dib, I don't get 12" of white with some types.

[OliveOil]

12" Tim!!!

I dibbed about 30 leeks or maybe less - felt like 300, my hands were soooo blistered and swollen for a week after the ordeal!  And i only managed to dib a few to 5" but most were 3" and some even 2"... after that i gave up and just planted the rest in a tiny bit of a hole!

Next year i'll prepare the bed better i think but dibbing deep is the worst lottty job  i can think of!