[Goosegirl]

I have been given about 2 dozen old land drainage tiles to blanch my leeks with. Having never blanched them before, at what stage do I put them over the plants? They are Musselburgh and Robinson's Mammoth and are about 10-12" high. Do I wait until autumn?

[WirralWally]

In my opinion you are looking to make yourself some work that is unnecessary.

If you've popped your leeks into a 6" hole they'll grow and produce a nice long white section without any other help.

If you are looking to grow something extraordinary or produce leeks for show then maybe you should utilise your 'tiles' (pipes?), but I'll leave any advice on that to others.

[SUTTY1]

autmn is the time to start blanching but i'm with WW on this easier to just dibb them in and its not too late only put mine in this w'end

[solway cropper]

The great thing about leeks is that once you've stuck em in the ground you can forget about em...unless you're entering them in a show. Most of us here are growing for food and if you pop the leeks in a hole you'll get nice blanched stems so why make more work?

[Goosegirl]

Thanks for that. They were dibbed in a 6" hole as you thought, but in other years the white stem is not as long as my OH wants. He makes such brilliant meals (previously was a chef) so I can't complain. I'll put my land tiles (like a terracotta pipe and about 1ft long) over them in autumn and see where we go. To the kitchen I hope - so love leeks!!!!!

[hamstergbert]

Personally, tried the old bogroll inner trick last year on a much wider scale than I had tried before and concluded that I simply can't be bothered with all that faffing when as has been already said, extra-enthusiasm at the dib and plant out stage returns six or seven inches of white leek.  Not doing it therefore this year.

Mind you I have been accused of taking things too far in being tight anyhow given that when finished cutting off the white, partly white and slightest hint of vaguely whitish bits of my leeks I like to chop up the inescapably green tops (after removing the tattiest bits of course) and boiling them up with my tatties for mashing.  Adds a lovely je ne sais quoi and in particular adds a bit of extra interest to the top sof cottage pie and suchlike.

[Goosegirl]

Yummy - yum-yum hamstergbert!!! You're quite right and if it were me....but it ain't...maybe I can persuade him to add a bit of leek greenery to a cottage pie or several! Leeks with cheese? Leek with mash? Leek with double cream? As for my other fave parsnips - with honey glaze? Roasted in salted butter? With nutmeg? Mashed with creme fraiche? 

[hamstergbert]

Droooooooooooooooooooooooooool....

[Snap Dragon]

I did the toilet roll thing last year too but as soon as they got wet most of them started to unfurl.

My leeks are still so slender this year that if I put them in a 6" deep hole and cover them with a loo roll inner they wouldn't see the light of day for months!!!

[mumofstig]

Mind you I have been accused of taking things too far in being tight anyhow given that when finished cutting off the white, partly white and slightest hint of vaguely whitish bits of my leeks I like to chop up the inescapably green tops (after removing the tattiest bits of course) and boiling them up with my tatties for mashing.  Adds a lovely je ne sais quoi and in particular adds a bit of extra interest to the top sof cottage pie and suchlike.

All my tops get sliced, fried and frozen, ready to join left over (or fresh) mashed potatoes to make soup

[JayG]

Having helped to make sure my leek seedlings suffered every bit of mocking laughter and sympathy I could extract from them on this forum I just went "with the flow" and did as I was told (dib, dib dib!) and, well, I'm not exactly proud of them yet but they ain't half bad (at the moment!)