[Goosegirl]

I was a little late in planting out my leeks in July and sprinkled BFB around the planting holes after watering them in. We have had sufficient rain to get them established but not enough to wash out the nutrients. Do I need to give them a boost feed and, if so, what with?

[JayG]

Are you wondering whether they may need feeding because they haven't grown as much as you expected?

As you say July is a bit late (especially if it was late July)  - as it's still quite mild you could try a relatively quick release balanced fertiliser like Growmore to give them a boost - don't use anything too high in nitrogen as you don't want to encourage soft growth which would suffer when the cold weather does come, when they will pretty much stop growing anyway.

[Totty]

Ideally, leeks and onions should not need feeding at all through the season, due to the ground being in good heart before planting. As already mentioned, too much feed causes soft growth.

Totty

[Growster...]

We find that a liquid feed helps tremendously, but probably not much from now onwards - maybe as Jay says, once more...

The leaf structure holds the feed for some time, and is absorbed to a certain extent, over a period of time. Mrs G feeds ours every week during the summer, and this year's 'Bandit' are surprisingly - er - stout..;0)

Yeah, go on then, one more feed, but don't expect treats like this all the time...;0)

[sunshineband]

I watering in of Sulphate of Potash will do them good, and set them up for the winter, as well as providing  a modicum of protection from leek rust

[Goosegirl]

Thanks for all your replies. I didn't add any compost or manure this year to the bed where they are and just applied BFB once on planting. Yeah - I know I should've but, due to circumstances, didn't. I wasn't sure if they needed a "little something" to put them in good heart over the winter. Methinks I will get some sulphate of potash and water it in before the weather deteriorates any more. Intersting feed, as I always associate it with flowering plants, so what's the reasoning behind it?