[Ali]

I'm sure this has been answered before but I can't find it. Can I sow leeks in modules?/pots?/trays? indoors and then plant out later in the year? My seed packet says to sow in a seed bed but I don't have anything resembling one of those at the moment - it's so wet I'm struggling to get ground roughly prepared so the spuds can go in, and everywhere else is full of beans and chard and stuff. Meant to sow the leeks last year and failed, would really like to do it this year. Can anyone help?

[muntjac]

ok heres what i do matey , sow em in a 2 inch pot . then let em come on til they set roots around the pot edges . you can just tap em out to check . then stick em in 4 inch pots and let em grow on well till pencil thickness .then prepare ya deep bed with good rotted manure n plant em out a foot apart  . use a fork to make the hole as using a dibber compacts the sides i reckon. water em in and put the soil back ,  give em a watering each week with liquid manure .( put some cow muck in a bucket water n stir cover n let it ferment ) the earlier you get em out into the final position the better ,.but look to get em in by may
 when ya wana blanch em put a collar of stiff card round em about 4 inches from the ground

 i mean a thick pencil folks not one them fidly farty things  i use a index finger as a guide

[pwgun]

i have two pots full of them, stragley things about 10cm long at the moment.  when about pencil size i plan to make a hole about an inch or so across pop one in each and just pour water into the hole , no soil.  as long as the water has teased a little soil over the root, then the leak should grow to fill the hole,,,,, at least that is the plan :?

[Ali]

Thanks for that. Is now a good time to sow them? And how long does it take from sowing until planting out? (Don't want to do it too early)

[muntjac]

betwen now n the end may planting out if ya sow em in the morning

[Ali]

Cool - sounds good - may even have some space by end of May, if it stops raining all the time! Though last year it went straight from soggy mess to rock-hard baked clay!

[DD.]

Worth a look at this thread:

http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=2706&highlight=leeks

This is what I posted there as to how I bring my leeks on:

Now this might seem a bit painstaking, but I find it well worth the effort......

As I said I use cat litter trays, as they are nice & deep,be sure to make holes in the bottom though - a hot skewer will do the job. I use compost from grow bags, as it seems one of the cheaper ways to buy it.

Now here's the painstaking bit, I plant the seed individually 1" apart 1/2 deep. That way they don't crowd each other out. I get nearly 100% germination in the green house. One of these trays will produce 96 plants. Compost has to be kept moist. When a reasonable size they can be moved outside to grow on. I then transplant when they are the thickness of a pencil.

It's something I read somewhere, I didn't make it up my self, but when they go in they are real sturdy plants.

Once they've gone in like this, apart from watering, there's nothing to do until they're ready to go out!