Monty was planting leek plants the other day saying this was the right time to do it, he had plug plants about the size of spring onions and said they could be bought from any garden centre ! Not round here !
When I looked on line all the main suppliers of seeds/plants had stopped selling them around May time as though that was the right season for them ?? I have found a few ebay suppliers who claim to still have them it would be nice to put some in my gaps for the winter where things have finished or failed..... I'm a bit confused is it the right time ?
Well..if you can get some yes, you can put more leeks in. They still have few months time to grow before winter set in and should make into decent size plants.
I've got few to plants to plant myself..but these later ones are to use later on too, if they don't manage to make much growth before winter they will be used as 'skinny' leeks ;D..or should they survive over winter they will bulk up bit more in early spring.
Thanks goodlife, I guess I should anyway they are cheap enough looking.
I always follow my early potatoes with a crop of leeks. As soon as I have dug a row of early tats up I fork it over give it plenty of blood fish and bone and growmore and in go my leeks. I had 6 rows of earlies 2 of the rows are now planted with leeks as will the following 4 rows when the tats come out .
The leeks have always grown well and made a good crop and last me through to next April/May. Cheers Jim.
P.S. I have just looked at the leek plants on Ebay and the silly prices. Send me a Pm
with your address, I will bob you a few in the post :)
We have a nursery, Kenyon's farm who have lovely leek plants, I bought some last week , so, nurseries nmay have some :)
Rachel buys her veg plants from Kenyons Mal. Great quality. They have asparagus crowns in the Spring too. Very tempted, perhaps if ever we get a full plot ;D. Wish there was flying pig smilie ;) ;D.
I only just put my self-sown leeks in on the WE. Some were quite a good size but I find that around the end of summer, they really get a growth spurt on. If I can get some plants here I will do some more, as I have some empty space at the moment.
Leek plants are on sale at our local market (Doncaster),£1.50 for 20,They are about 8 inch tall,very green and healthy,I put 40 of them in the garden last week and with all the rain and now a bit of sunshine they are thriving,so hopefully the weather is kind to us for a few more weeks to help them bulk up a bit.I will use them even if they dint grow to a massive size.
I got some recently in local market 12 for £1.70. Each pot had 3-6 plants in it so ended up with about 63 plants doing well, except the rain has washing the soil into the holes.
I bought fantastic leek plants from an e bay seller two years ago, very sturdy good plants
I think it is better when the rain washes the soil into the planting holes,it gives you more white on the stems,just hope they don't get rust.
Thanks all :)
Rust can be a problem if it's wet and warm (humid) but sometimes the plants can grow through it if you remove the worst.
Let's hope for continued warmth (and a bit of dry) - we'd all appreciate it plants as well I think. ;)
I've ordered so me now from the ebay seller.....will report back :)
I have grown leeks from seed each January or February by filling a very large seed-tray with compost and sprinkling the seed on top. Cover with a thin layer of compost and keep moist.
Simple as well as pretty reliable and, without a doubt, cheaper.
Does anyone else do this?
Not much help as an idea this time of year but maybe for next. ;)
I sow from seed but I do find they are one of the slowest growing things, take forever until they are big enough to go out, so if you're short of space inside maybe buying plants is a better idea, if more expensive.
More by luck than judgement, I have put my leek up at the top of a slightly slope. They did well in a similar area three years ago.
I also have 7 plants which survived all the rust and moth they were almost the only surviving leek plants around. We had almost total devastationg leekwise. They are now flowering, so I am hoping that for some reason they have some kind of nature defenses against the pests.
Quote from: Aden Roller on July 23, 2012, 23:13:34
I have grown leeks from seed each January or February by filling a very large seed-tray with compost and sprinkling the seed on top. Cover with a thin layer of compost and keep moist.
Simple as well as pretty reliable and, without a doubt, cheaper.
Does anyone else do this?
Not much help as an idea this time of year but maybe for next. ;)
This is the norm for leeks ...
Quote from: gavinjconway on July 24, 2012, 12:56:29
Quote from: Aden Roller on July 23, 2012, 23:13:34
I have grown leeks from seed each January or February by filling a very large seed-tray with compost and sprinkling the seed on top. Cover with a thin layer of compost and keep moist.
Simple as well as pretty reliable and, without a doubt, cheaper.
Does anyone else do this?
Not much help as an idea this time of year but maybe for next. ;)
This is the norm for leeks ...
I thought it probably was. :)
Well they came to day and they look the part and they are in the ground already I even checked up on youtube to make sure I did really know how to put them in.
If they fail it wont be the plants fault......what could possibly go wrong ???...... ::) :)
Quote from: Aden Roller on July 23, 2012, 23:13:34
I have grown leeks from seed each January or February by filling a very large seed-tray with compost and sprinkling the seed on top. Cover with a thin layer of compost and keep moist.
Simple as well as pretty reliable and, without a doubt, cheaper.
Does anyone else do this?
Yes - that's exactly what I do as well. I transplant the baby leeks to a large pot when they are around 3" tall, I just shove them into the compost in smallish clumps. Then when they are around 6-8" tall they go in the ground (a couple of weeks ago). The books say they are supposed to be as thick as a pencil at this point, but mine never are. However once in the ground they soon get going.
I've never seen leek seedlings on sale anywhere, but then again I haven't really looked for them. But if you can get them I should think they'd do just fine if you planted them out now.
The ones I got today were about as thick as a pencil.
Quote from: martin godliman on July 26, 2012, 16:59:52
Well they came to day and they look the part and they are in the ground already I even checked up on youtube to make sure I did really know how to put them in.
If they fail it wont be the plants fault......what could possibly go wrong ???...... ::) :)
er leek moth! mine are all under enviromesh
Apart from occasional rust I have found leeks more or less trouble free.
That moth is a real pain... we have all ours under debris netting this time.. :-X
Quote from: strawberry1 on July 26, 2012, 20:12:43
Quote from: martin godliman on July 26, 2012, 16:59:52
Well they came to day and they look the part and they are in the ground already I even checked up on youtube to make sure I did really know how to put them in.
If they fail it wont be the plants fault......what could possibly go wrong ???...... ::) :)
er leek moth! mine are all under enviromesh
There's always something :( I've not grown leeks before if there's something that can get them I'll get I bet.
It's amazing there are any veg in the shops at all considering how much discussion on this forum is about what can go wrong and what to do about it.
It's not surprising large scale farming is so dependent on science and industrial amounts of fertiliser, insecticides and fungicides. Otherwise it would be far too risky.
Quote from: grawrc on July 26, 2012, 20:22:05
Apart from occasional rust I have found leeks more or less trouble free.
For years I would have agreed with you - a brilliant, reliable and trouble free crop but then the weather and nature found out how well we were doing with it.
Recently, apart from a touch of rust, the leek moth has been a real nuisance. Nibbled leaves / stem and a poorly looking crop. Fortunately, if left, mine have managed to grow through the damage but not as healthily as before.
Try cutting them down if hit by the dreaded moth and they may well regrow.
We did this the last 2 years and managed to raise a half-decent crop
I used to drop the leeks into a hole and water in the hole and that was it!! I did nothing else and always got the most fantastic leeks. That was in s wales in the 80s and 90s. Now in somerset I learnt the hard way, moth is a flipping nuisance and I hate scrabbling under the mesh to weed etc Then last year I had rust as air flow under the mesh wasn`t brilliant
This year, new airy netted bed and well spaced out leeks, only one variety bleu de solaise. I have my fingers crossed
Quote from: strawberry1 on July 27, 2012, 09:26:04
I used to drop the leeks into a hole and water in the hole and that was it!! I did nothing else and always got the most fantastic leeks.
That's the method I've used for several years except that I take out a long drill flood it with water and let it drain away before dibbing planting holes. It makes it easier if the ground is hard or if the soil is dry & crumbly so falls back into the planting hole before you drop the leek in. I also find it a quick way of watering once they were growing....water along the drill.
The
difference for me is the spread of the leek moth. :(