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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?

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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?

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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 ???...... ::)  :)