[mushroom]

Should the crops be fed? I have purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages, onions, garlic and leeks. Should, especially the leeks, be fed now? They are about the thickness of my little finger, and about 8 inches tall. Do they need to have earth piled on them, like earthing up potatoes?

[Aidy]

I give a general feed now and then, dont use high nitrogen feeds as the plants will grow to soft for the winter.

[mushroom]

I give a general feed now and then, dont use high nitrogen feeds as the plants will grow to soft for the winter.

cheers, Aidy. How often is now and then? weekly?

[gobs]

Out of these, I would not commonly feed any, if the soil was well prepared for them, sometimes they need a bit of a boost, but that's after the winter I do, nettle feed and seaweed foliar, pelleted chicken manure for onions good, as you did not manure.

And the sproutings can be well helped with earthing up and even staking as you said you are quite a windy spot, I think.

[mushroom]

Out of these, I would not commonly feed any, if the soil was well prepared for them, sometimes they need a bit of a boost, but that's after the winter I do, nettle feed and seaweed foliar,

well, soil was cleared of grass and dug over with a rotovator, and the onion bed had a sprinkling of potato fertilizer back in August, but that's about it.

There's a lot of chopped up dead grass in there that is probably consuming nitrogen as we speak.

pelleted chicken manure for onions good, as you did not manure.

And the sproutings can be well helped with earthing up and even staking as you said you are quite a windy spot, I think.

You've got a very good memory, Gobs! I'd not have expected you to remember that   Yes, my location can get windy if the wind is from a southwesterly aspect, because this follows local topography SW to NE. However, we get less of a SW wind than the rest of the country.

I've loosely tied the purple sprouting broccoli to bamboo stakes, apart from that, there's not much for the wind to affect. There's the onions but they flap about anyway.

I think I'll apply feed but only when it's mild - when the temps are as they have been, nothing much happens anyway. I'll pile some compost on the leeks when they've grown a bit more  

[WG.]

Out of these, I would not commonly feed any

Nor me.  Anything soluble is just going to wash out with winter rains.

[mushroom]

Out of these, I would not commonly feed any

Nor me.  Anything soluble is just going to wash out with winter rains.

hmm, yeah, on second thoughts ... prob wasting me time feeding, with the cool temps and this light. I don't want sappy growth when it's mild, and then a frost.  :idea:

[Aidy]

We have a very sandy soil so unlike most of you with clay based  I find a small dressing of bone meal helps maybe every 1 1/2 months. My Purple sprouting Brocolli and sprouts respond very well to it. Of course if your not organic ask Munty.

[mkhenry]

Should the crops be fed? I have purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages, onions, garlic and leeks. Should, especially the leeks, be fed now? They are about the thickness of my little finger, and about 8 inches tall. Do they need to have earth piled on them, like earthing up potatoes?

They are correct donot feed now.If you listen to WG you will never go far wrong.
But come march when the weather is a little better feed a liquid fillip just to green up and bulk out.
It will taste all the better for it.

[sweet nasturtium]

On the subject of leeks - I dug a few out the other day and they were starting to go yellowish inside (the innermost layers).  I guess it's bad news.  They tasted fine, but should I pull them up and freeze them?

Mushroom I earthed up my leeks around October, they got fatter after I'd done that but I'm not sure if the earthing up was the reason they did.

[mushroom]

On the subject of leeks - I dug a few out the other day and they were starting to go yellowish inside (the innermost layers).  I guess it's bad news.  They tasted fine, but should I pull them up and freeze them?

Aren't they meant to be yellowy sometimes? When I chop a leek, it's often not green and white all the way through. If they taste good then they are good, i'd have thought. But bear in mind that this is my first time growing the things

Mushroom I earthed up my leeks around October, they got fatter after I'd done that but I'm not sure if the earthing up was the reason they did.

Mine are still rather slim, but I planted in September. I think I'll earth them soon. Well not earth, because they're rather close together (8 inches apart, maybe they should have gone in further apart). I'll pile some bagged compost on them, hopefully they'll fatten up. it will give some protection against frost, too, if they need it.

[gobs]

On the subject of leeks - I dug a few out the other day and they were starting to go yellowish inside (the innermost layers).  I guess it's bad news.  They tasted fine, but should I pull them up and freeze them?

Aren't they meant to be yellowy sometimes? When I chop a leek, it's often not green and white all the way through. If they taste good then they are good, i'd have thought. But bear in mind that this is my first time growing the things
 

Yes, the new young shoots in the innermost layers are greenish-yellow.

[muntjac]

i dont feed anything unless i want to make some more leaf on the plant to be reeady to eat in a couple weeks time ,then i just put some sulphate of ammonia around the plant.1/2 teaspoon per .. this is a high nitrogen feed  and it will " soften the plant up " AS WIGGY SUGGESTS    

[Trillium]

The yellow green part of the leek can be either new growth inside, or, the green part starting to blanch from earthing up.
I don't feed my plants over winter either; they get what they need from the soil, otherwise they want to grow which isn't what I want at this time.

[sweet nasturtium]

So if the yellow growth is new, it will later go white and then green?
Sorry to quibble, if I'm quibbling.  It means that if I take them up now I could be wasting potential growth.

The munty last-minute-nitrogen-boost idea sounds impressive.

Mushroom I have heard about putting toilet tubes around the leeks to blanche them - but whether that fattens them up or not I don't know.  So much I don't know... :roll: