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hi

I am after leek suggestions I have grown mussleburgh for last 3yrs and wanted a change,

any suggestions?.

Gordon

We grow Lyon Prizetaker for the earlier ones, Jolant and Giant Winter for later..  :)

Quote from: saddad on December 27, 2009, 09:03:55
We grow Lyon Prizetaker for the earlier ones, Jolant and Giant Winter for later..  :)

I have always grown musselburgh and also looking to change to Jolant and Giant Winter to give a longer harvest. 

Jolant  -     Sow Jan-Apr for harvest Aug-Nov
G/Winter - Sow Mar-Apr for harvest Dec-Mar

Saddad - Do you find much of a difference to  the old favourite Musselburgh.

This year they have been more damaged by frost than I remember...  :-\
and many of the earlier ones bolted...

I've been growing

Einstein F1, harvest July to January
Flextan F1, harvest Feb to April

for the last 3 years and I have been very pleased with both.

I did have a little rust on he Einstein earlier on this year, but it was a very wet summer here. A couple have just started to bolt which is earlier than previous years. Have to say in my experience Flextan can be harvested from Nov onwards and keeps going well into April.

I'm more than happy with my mussleburgh crop - in fact they've done better this year than in the last 2 years, and better than the Toledo and Pandora I used to grow.
I harvested another half dozen this morning and still have 20 or so remaining. They don't seem to have been adversely affected by the weather.

Plumber!!!!...What! ....leak problem.....



Mussel burger always seem to do well.......


possibly another 200 still in the ground.....

that is.....

weather allowing!!;) ;) ;) ;) 

maybe not so jokey..... ly    said..... ;) :'( ;)...such is!!!

For a tasty early leek Jaune de Poitou but you have to have them out the ground before the frost as they are not hardy,and for a winter variety Bleu de Solaise allways do well no matter what the weather throws at them,both from the real seed catalogue. But i allways put a few Mussleburgh as a belt n braces crop.

I got some from lidl 'De Carenton 2'. over the last two years as grew some of each.

OH says they are sweeter than Musselburgh and the whites are a bit longer.

They are a bit crisper too and the small ones are very nice chopped finely on a cheese buttie.

Sorry I can't advise on varieties - I'm going to grow them for the first time this (next) year. 
I'm interested to read about everyone's favourite varieties though. 

I bought a packet of elefant - are they any good? Well, if you wait a year, I can tell you!  ;)

Sorry Gordon, I've not been disappointed by mussleburgh so I've not tried anything else.  They do get a little rust but it doesn't seem to affect them too badly, and of course the leek moth is troublesome, but I don't know that that's any different than any other variety.  But the seed is so cheap and they have good flavour and a long season.

Have grown Musselborough and Giant Winter, this is my first year growing leeks and my vote goes to Giant Winter.  They have survived the weather better, nice tall stems and no rust.  Got mine from Franchi got loads left in the packet.  Though Musselborough came a close second. 

Both did really well with very little effort, though Giant Winter did seem to spend ages looking like blades of grass.

I hate leeks myself so asked for my daughters opinion of the flavours and she stated that they both taste like (wait for it) leeks  ::), and were very nice with a cheese sauce. ???

I've grown Musselburgh - just down the road innit   ;) - but I really like bleu de solaise and Saddad's suggestions too. I love leeks and use them for that time when onions are either a bit soggy or not really big enough to pull as well as in their own right as class veg.

I've grown Musselburgh for the last few years, but put some Lyon Prizetaker in with them this year.

The Lyon Prizetaker all bolted, the Musselburgh are ok but on the small side this year, not sure what I did wrong.

The next door but one plotholder has grown Mammoth, they look fantastic. Much thicker and darker than mine. He is a very experienced grower though. I must remember to ask him how he grows them..... ::)

I will be interested to see how the different varieties survive the long cold spell that we are experiencing.  Several years ago, the only variety to survive on our allotments in Glasgow was Musselburgh. All the other so-called Winter hardy leeks were reduced to a mush.

As I think I mentioned earlier... the Musselburgh were fine... but the rest were a bit "mushy" on the outside...  :-X

I too grow musselburgh. BUT 2010. am growing  my normal musselburgh because
thats my banker. but am also growing Autumn mammoth 2 snowstar. And the free seeds i got from wyevale garden centre when you purchased 3 packets of suttons vegetable seeds. Which is Bulgarian giant. Anybody tried this variety.....?

No, but there's a blog post about it here: http://veggies-only.blogspot.com/2009/11/size-isnt-everything.html