Fertiliser for Leeks

Should I give my leeks a feed at this time of the year and if so what should I use?

They really need to swell their bulbs now, Jazzbyrd, but actually, we just give them a little bit of liquid manure now and then, just to make them feel wanted!

The rain will make them get that much wider, but watch for them going to seed, and shooting skywards!

If that happens, you'll need to dig them up and heel them in a nice pleasant place so they can retire gracefully until you want to eat them.


We're contemplating the same scenario, so you're with friends!

I think that it depends on when you eventually planted them out Carollan. If they went in early this year, I'd reckon that they may well have been affected by all sorts of changing conditions over the last few months, and as a natural inclination to produce seeds in a crisis, then that may well be happening, in my opinion.

We planted ours out much later, (around early May), and that was after the first lot of seed even struggled to even germinate, which is a first! We've been feeding them with liquid manure, and that has really made a difference, but like you, there are some which are going to seed now. Last year, we planted over 300, and by Feb, most of them had bolted, but I'd planted them out far too early!

One way to slow all this, is to lift them, and heel them in somewhere safe, where they can keep fresh, but not grow too much more. It may be better to do this away from your damp soil if that's possible. But look them over first, because if they're not becoming elongated, then they're probably OK anyway!

I don't think you've done anything wrong at all; that seeded one can still go in the soup, but get rid of the flower stem first, it's just not worth eating!

I think next year, I'll pay more attention to the preferences of the three leek planting seasons, and buy the seeds with more care - that could also be a contributory factor, but who really knows after this years's awful weather!