Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Firstyear on March 04, 2019, 12:08
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Hi, I wondered how you all grow your leeks? I have a small space for them -1m sq. I don’t want whopper leeks, I prefer them smaller and like the flavour of baby leeks, but all the information I can find is on growing traditional big leeks. I don’t need the space for anything else so is there a reason I can’t sow direct and just thin? What kind of spacing would I go for if I’m aiming for something say an inch or so wide- my theory being that as I pick the smaller ones some will grow bigger toward the end of the season? I’m just confused over spacing! Help!! 😫
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If you sow them direct, they won't get long white blanched stems - they'll just look like big spring onions. The method of sowing and growing on for a while in a pot, allows you to plant them deeper in a dibbed hole, which gives the length of white stem which most people are aiming for.
You can always plant them equidistant from each other, 7 ins in any direction, rather than in rows if you want to, though. This doesn't usually give big leeks....
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Like with a lot of veg if you plant them a bit closer than the recommended distance you will get smaller veg, so just reduce the spacings to fit them in your plot. Baby leeks are just ordinary leeks that are pulled out before they're fully grown. When they're harvested (late summer to Autumn) those that are left shouldn't grow too big at that time of year.
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Great, thank you. Think I might just sow in rows then as with baby leeks you eat the whole thing as the green hasn’t toughened.. will give it some thought....or as you say transplant closer together.
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Have a look at Charles Dowding's website (he's also got You Tube postings that are good). He sows his leeks in modules (40 hole trays) and puts three or four seeds per module. You then plant out the whole module. You can't dib them in this way so you will will get less white than single planting, but you can get an awful lot of leek in a small space. I tried it last year and we are still eating them now, and I'll be doing it again this year. Good luck.
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Thanks, funnily enough I was intending doing it his way, but then started thinking as I was looking to pick them young I may get more in by doing rows... the indecision lol!
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Have a look at Charles Dowding's website (he's also got You Tube postings that are good). He sows his leeks in modules (40 hole trays) and puts three or four seeds per module. You then plant out the whole module. You can't dib them in this way so you will will get less white than single planting, but you can get an awful lot of leek in a small space. I tried it last year and we are still eating them now, and I'll be doing it again this year. Good luck.
You can 'bury' them if you dig a hole, pop the module in and carefully back fill.
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Mr Dog, you don't normally back-fill the holes where you've just put your leek in as you just water them in and let the rain take the soil down into the hole, though I've often wondered why we're advised to do it this way.
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I've always thought that it's so they have room to expand easily widthwise - like having an elastic waistband :D
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Mr Dog, you don't normally back-fill the holes where you've just put your leek in as you just water them in and let the rain take the soil down into the hole, though I've often wondered why we're advised to do it this way.
With a single leek it's a fairly narrow hole whereas with a module of 3, 4 or even 5 leeks you have to make a fairly wide hole to get it in (and fairly deep to get a decent blanch). Back filling, at least some, helps stabilise things. I found leek size was pretty good (and you can get a far greater number in a given space) but I've stopped growing them this way and plant well spaced, singly to try and minimise the rust mine invariably suffer.
My understanding for the reason of just plonking into a hole is to help prevent soil getting into the layers of the leek.
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One tip i found last year is when you transplant into the ground, make sure the main leafs go in the same direction as the row.
Sounds trival but it makes weeding between the rows much easier and it stops you treading on the leafs when you walk down the row.
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One tip i found last year is when you transplant into the ground, make sure the main leafs go in the same direction as the row.
Sounds trival but it makes weeding between the rows much easier and it stops you treading on the leafs when you walk down the row.
What does that mean in.practice?
Like this?
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Rather than?
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Leeks just grow well with about 5" of blanched stems, and a couple of inches of pale green leaves!
I reckon that a leek grown to have a 10" blanched length isn't quite natural, and after all, if you look at all the magazine pics of meals showing leeks, they're aways a light green!
I'm considering doing just a couple of buckets of them this year (in the past we usually grew about 200), and we'll leave it at that!
They're a fabulous veg, and I loved the organisation of all the beds, but as space is now at a premium, needs must..;0)
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Rather than?
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That way the outside leaves would grow toward the next leek, rather than across the space between the rows - I think that's what the aim is...
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"I think that's what the aim is..."
Exactly that Mum, but it's a huge faff trying to get the thinner ones in the holes the right way round!
I never used to bother in the end, life's to short to stuff a mushroom..;0)
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I will just copy and paste what I said on here in January 2018, nothing has changed.
I sow my Leeks around April in an unheated greenhouse in 4 inch deep trays. They germinate in a few weeks.
My choice for many years has been Musselburgh.
At end May or first week of June I plant them out when they are about 6-8 inch tall.
Plant in rows, six inch between each row.
Use a dibber (well old cut down brush handle) to make a hole about 4 inches, as with the root the leek sits proud a good 2-4 inches above the soil. Make a hole every six inches.
Fill hole with water and drop the leek in (I do not trim my roots), then over the day keep topping the hole up with water, trying not to break the top edge so it does not become a muddy bath.
Grow them all around the plot but the majority in a raised bed. You can grow things between the leeks when they are growing like radish.
Nothing special compost wise, just a light dig over in the spring and work in lightly some of my homemade compost.
They prefer the soil to be firm or they flop over, so hence the light dig above.
My variety produces from late October through to March. They are tall plants and produce a good upright leek all of the same size.
Never get any problems at all with my leeks and nothing seems to want to bother it insect wise.
Here are some pics;
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I put them in singly in a dibbed hole then water. They start out all neat, then I lose patience if I have a lot and I am running out of time. The rows get more haphazard at that point! The leeks are usually fine though.
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Excellent lettice. Just the end to end advice/experience I was looking for. I usually buy plants from shop, but want to grow from seed this year. I will do what you say, but will also start a few off now as I seem to quite a few packets of seeds.
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One thing I forgot to mention, is that leeks love a liquid feed every now and then.
We used to give each row a big splosh of comfrey and nettle water, not worrying if it got in the folds of the plants, and usually we'd get leeks anything up to 2" diameter, with no 'forcing', or extra effort!
Saturday mornings were our chosen watering time, and the four beds of 60 plants all spent the weekend in smelly but comfortable conditions...