[JohnB47]

Hi.

What do you think of this idea, for someone who has run out of space?

Dib-in leeks (now) along the valley between each row of main crop potatoes. Then, as the potatoes are harvested (sometime in September?), plant over-wintering garlic and onions in the spaces they leave.

Any problem with that, do you think?

[Yorkie]

I foresee a problem when you dig up the spuds - if yours are anything like mine, the spuds aren't in a neat straight line, so you'll end up disturbing the leek roots when you harvest the spuds.

[DD.]

Also :  I don't know at what distance you've planted your spuds, but if you've left the standard 2' between rows, the haulms, when full grown, will form an umbrella over your valley and block out the light.

Spuds are good for supressing weed growth, the same will apply to leeks.

[solway cropper]

You must have a spare corner somewhere that you can heel the leeks in till you're ready to plant them. Don't you have any early spuds you can lift then follow on with leeks. As others have said, if you plant leeks in the furrows you'll not get the tatties out without disturbing them. Potato foliage makes excellent ground cover, so much so that after a day of rain on Sunday the soil was still dry in patches underneath!

Back to the drawing board I think..

[Zippy]

Probably doesn't help you this year but how about growing your brassicas and onions in the same bed, alternating rows?

Avoid the larger brassicas - swedes and turnips do best. The brassicas form a canopy to shade out weeds and keep water needs down and the onions, garlic and leeks grow upward and above the swede/turnip canopy. Companion planting.

[JohnB47]

Thanks all.

Hmmm - I hadn't thought about the spuds keeping the light/rain off the leeks. Also, yes I do have some earlies that I'm gradually getting through but I've planted some winter squash in the spaces they left, so that space is allocated!

I might just heel them in somewhere in the meantime but I had hoped to avoid the hassle of replanting them. One other option is to plant them in spaces left when I lift my garlic and over-wintering onions but that's not really recommended is it?

Ho hum.

[Anton]

On the question of heeling in, I suppose you mean plant them all in a group in a kind of trench affair (which is what I do with leeks in Spring when space is required)! How long can I leave them "heeled in" before planting them in the space I free up by removing my new potatoes?

Anton