I have a packet of leek seeds here (musselbrough) that say "sow directly in your garden" on the cover, from Feb-April.
Reading the small print however it suggests planting them "in warm moist soil" 1/2" apart, in rows 12" apart, and then transplanting them to "final site" (at unspecified date) to grow to maturity.
Am a bit confused about this. The soil is not warm at this time of the year! And if you are planting directly in the ground, why bother moving them? Why not just start them off in a greenhouse or coldframe? Or is the advice to start them off in one place because they need to be covered at first, and it saves space?
The reason for transplanting is purely for saving growing space. I like the final planting distance of my leeks to 6" apart with rows 1 foot apart. The leeks however do not need anything like this amount of land until late summer.
I sow my leeks in a 3" pot, transplant to deep trays, transplant again to a holding row before moving them again to their final quarters. No good for the show bench but ideal for the kitchen. Leeks transplant with ease and space is always short in the spring.
You find this with the instructions on a lot of seed packets, because the soil might be just warm enough in, say, Cornwall in late February but won't be warm enough in the North until late April. ie it depends on where you live as to when you sow.
Personally I treat leeks as a winter vegatable (because there's not much else to eat then); I sow it in a pot in the greenhouse or coldframe in the middle of May and plant it out a the end of June. It then grows through the rest of the summer and will sit quite happily in the ground through the winter and into the next spring.
http://simonsallotment.blogspot.com/search/label/Leeks
I start my leeks in a seed bed, then transplant them into land that my early spuds were in, that way 2 crops per year!
;)
I sow mine in pots then transplant when they are about 5-6" tall into their final position. I don't pot them on.
Quote from: simon404 on March 10, 2009, 21:24:54
Personally I treat leeks as a winter vegatable (because there's not much else to eat then); I sow it in a pot in the greenhouse or coldframe in the middle of May and plant it out a the end of June. It then grows through the rest of the summer and will sit quite happily in the ground through the winter and into the next spring.
You can get a fast growing summer variety that if sown in March are ready from July-September. They don't grow as fat but taste just as good. "ALMERA" from Kings Seeds.
start leeks off in a tray or seed planting pots once they are big enough to handle soak them well so that they come apart easily without damagining the roots .
now here is the trick
get a big heavy rod and make a hole were you plan to grow them on about 8" deep and about 1"too 2" inches wide and just drop your leek into the hole , dont earth them in just water ... then leave alone but keep them most .
you will find that the leeks will grow in the deep hole and blanch creating a nice log white portion .
;D
and i typed that all myself 8)
I start most things off in seed trays simply because I get very much better results by giving them a bit of mollycoddling in the early stages.
Wow lots of good advice here! Think I'll leave mine til a bit later but might look out for some of the early ones.
The tip about growing them in a hole has made me remember something I was told once about growing them in pipes to make them stay white / grow longer.