Never had much sucsess with leeks, but hopefully this year I am determined to get a better crop.
My quetsion is is it best to sow outdoors in a nursery bed or under cover early in seed trays?
When is the best time to sow outdoors?
Thanks in advance :)
The_Snail
From the dobies website
Culture
Sow thinly, 1.25cm (½") deep in drills 23cm (9") apart on an outdoor seed bed March-April. When seedlings are 20cm (8") high they are ready for transplanting. Water the seed bed before lifting, and, using a dibber, make holes 12.5-15cm (5-6") deep and 15cm (6") apart each way. Place a plant in each hole and fill with water to settle the roots. Water freely until well established and then begin to earth up plants, continuing until October. Obtain Leeks of exhibition quality by sowing under glass in February. Harvest September-March.
I tend to sow mine in pots and put them in a cold frame. Sow in Feb/Mar/April and plant out when big enough to handle.
I grow 2 or 3 varieties to get a crop from October through to April before they start to bolt.
Jerry
Thanks for the advice :)
The_Snail
March will have to do for me! I'm already running out of windowcill space ;D
Like Jerry, I grow two or three varieties to give me continuity throughout the darker months. This week I have just sowed a tray of an early variety - Tropita. Giant Winter will probably follow in a couple of weeks.
If no cold frame or greenhouse, then use cloches.
i grow mine in the greenhouse and then tranplant them when they are the thickness of a pencil. when transplanting make a hole about 4/5 inches deep with the bottom of a cane, place the leek in and fill with water, do not put any soil in the hole.
I don't earth mine up but place toilet rolls around them to extend the white bit - it seems to wrok well enough and I have not had any grit at all.
Mine went in last Friday, in a half-tray. Loads are on the way up already. New seed though - last year had almost total germination failure which I think was due to seed having passed its usable date. They're currently inside the conservatory, with temperature about 13C, and once they get a decent size I shall probably shove them in my outdoor growhouse now I've fixed it.
I like my leeks nice and early - I've had some ready in mid-August and still standing until March!
(And I've cheated too - bought little punnets of ready-to-plant-out ones from the garden centre because of germination failure... which is a handy fall-back!)
moonbells
If I plant the seeds in a pot, can I plant them straight out without transplanting them from the original pot into bigger pots.
In other words will the original pot be sufficient until the seedlings are hardened off and planted out?
And how many seeds to one pot?
I've sown them in module trays and then planted them straight out and they've been fine if a bit on the weedy side to begin with - this year I'm going to try sowing them in larger pots to give the roots a bit more space and hopefully that'll get them off to a better start
Leeks seem to prefer their roots settled into wet soil. Disturbing them at transplanting time doesn't check them.
Indeed, and some of the old biys will advocate removing some of the roots and leaf at transplanting.
Personally I have never done this.
I sow in 8" pots, maybe 30 or 40 seeds, I just sprinkle them randomly on the surface and cover with compost.
When I am ready to transplant them I give the pots a thorough soaking by standing them in a bucket of water.
Remove the leeks from the pot and swish them around in the water to help seperate them and then plant out into dibbed holes and water in.
They are pretty tough on the whole.
Jerry
Thanks Sandersj, that's a very clear explanation.
I'll try growing them that way as it seems an easy way to do it. I didn't want to be potting on before planting out.
There is some good info on this thread about leeks :) Thanks all, hope it helps others who are after leek info. I like the Idea of the loo roles for stem blaching. I will try that!
The_Snail