[AndyRVTR]

I, too, have quite a lot of pencil thin leeks still out there. Should I just leave them or have they done as much as they going to? I've also had quite a number of decent leeks. All same make, if only I knew what.

I read an article the other day that basically said that "leeks are a 'Winter' vegetable and they should grow steadily throughout Autumn and Winter to produce a crop in 'the hungry gap' when all other veg are long gone".
There are different types of leeks, early, mid & late, so depending on what type you have they would mature at different times of the year, most leeks take anywhere between 80-120 days to fully grow.
On a side note, as an experiment, two weeks ago I popped a toilet roll tube over the leaves of one of my leeks and then pulled the soil up near to the top of the tube, the leaves have since grown and got taller, I'm presuming that the stem is blanching & growing more?

[mumofstig]

Yes, they do carry on growing unless the weather is really very cold.
They were always a winter crop, after all, before breeders started fiddling with them    so choose a variety that suits you, harvest date-wise. When I had room, I used to grow an early and a late variety.
 

[bobbyt]

Mine are Musselburgh also, biggest is probably about 1.25 inch, rest an inch maybe. started off in late Feb in deep tray as advised on here, planted out when they were less than pencil thickness as they didn't seem to be getting there. My plot neighbours leeks are huge, he said the ground was heavily manured previously, maybe thats it?

Just an update on my leeks this year, didn't turn out too bad, a lot better than in previous years. Although these are the bigger ones in the crop - see pics. The ground is very claggy, so I'm adding horse manure all over this year, to try and improve the soil, maybe be better next season hopefully!

[comfreykid]

For what it’s worth , l have grown Oarsman F1 for the last couple of years.
Mine were not quite as huge as Musselburgh , but the flavour , in my opinion was far superior. 

[AndyRVTR]

I pulled my remaining leeks last week and they had 'fattened' up since I first posted about them. The one that I put a loo roll around had grown considerably and was a good 2" across but I've opted for a different variety this year. Istead of musselburgh I've gone with blue de solais, apparently a vigorous great tasting Leek that also stands very well over winter. Seeds have already been sown, so fingers crossed I'll have a better crop this year.

[sunshineband]

For what it’s worth , l have grown Oarsman F1 for the last couple of years.
Mine were not quite as huge as Musselburgh , but the flavour , in my opinion was far superior. 

Oarsman here too, and I have been very happy with both size and flavour BUT

Looking this year through the wealth of seed catalogues pouring through my door, I am shocked at how much the price of seeds has risen.

With Oarsman, there are 50 seeds in a packet for £2.79
However, Elefant, which I also like  a lot ad has proved successful, is 500 seeds for £2.49, and as the seeds are still viable the following year (and sometime the third too), give, shale we say, food for thought alright!!