[loobs61]

Hi everyone,
Can someone give me some advise on growing leeks please. This is my first attempt and I want to get it right. I have started them off in doors and I know I cant plant them out until they are at least the thickness of a pencil, but I have heard that you can stop them from becoming gritty inside by planting them out in tubes, has anyone done this ? and how.  All advise greatly recieved 

[fatcat1955]

Plant as normal and when they are about 9ins high i cut a loo or kitchen towel tube lenghtways, place around leek and secre with a rubber band. Works for me.

[TerryB]

Make a hole, I use a bulb planter, and just drop the plant in. If required drop a little soil in so the plant is in the middle of the hole but don't fill the hole in. The hole will fill with soil as it rains. To extend the blanched part of the leek put a tube over the leek as it grows.
I don't earth up the leeks as they grow.
Mine don't tend to get gritty using this method.
For show leeks plant on the surface and keep adding tubes as the plant grows.
Black plastic drain pipes are great but I also use cardboard tubes.

[Robster]

I use a dibber to make a good size hole.  I then push a toilet roll into the hole until it is level with the soil and then drop a leek in and water.  Never had any gritty problems this way

[Aidy]

I dont mess, the grit adds texture and crunchyness. 

[JayG]

I dont mess, the grit adds texture and crunchyness. 

Thought you were an opthalmologist rather than a dentist!   

(My dentist tells me that vegetarians are his most regular customers as they are always breaking their teeth on hard seeds and the tiny stones which sometimes hide in rice, beans, pulses and the like!) 

[loobs61]

thanks for all the advise people.
Robster when you say push tube in until level with soil do you mean the bottom of the hole ? sorry to sound so dim 

[Salmo]

Just dib holes 6 inches deep and about 11/2 inches wide and drop the leeks in. Put a little water in the holes with a can and leave them to it.

Most poeple grow them that way without messing about with tubes and get no grit.

If you shorten the roots and tops a little it will make them easier to drop down the holes and the worms will not pull straggley tops into the ground.

[Aidy]

I dont mess, the grit adds texture and crunchyness. 

Thought you were an opthalmologist rather than a dentist!   

Heck, not that high and mighty JG 

[Robster]

Loobs.  Nothing too precise.  I put the tube in to ground level as it seems to keep the leek/soil  moist rather than wicking moisture out.  Also allows watering to wash a bit of soil in.  Its not a big science thing.  All the various techniques here work, its just the way people do it.  I bet mostly its the way we were shown or our Mums and Dads did it that way

[loobs61]

thanks robster