Determined to grow leeks next year, Any help ? :)

[4390evans]

Anyone know any cultivar of leeks I can start off in jan or feb?

I think I sowed some late ones last year but they just stopped growing or I might have done something wrong...

Thanks guys
Jen

[bario1]

Hi Jen,

I sowed Carlton and Musselburgh at the start of Feb last year, the Carlton romped away and I had mature leeks in September, but I'd only eaten a few when they all started to bolt. The Musselburgh lasted a bit longer, but even they bolted eventually. This year I'll be waiting till the second half of March before sowing. I recommend Carlton though, they were lovely tall, tender leeks - if only they'd stuck around!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Musselburgh is probably the best kitchen leek. Last year was a difficult year for growing leeks. The weather was probably too good. A good deep bed filled with loads of compost/fym helps retain the moisture leeks need to grow. As a barometer of how hard it was too grow top class leeks last year, there wasn't a single entry in the pot leek class at Dorchester. Mind you, compare the thirty quid first prize there and the hundreds on offer at the National Pot Leek Society show and that may be an alternative explanation.

[alldigging]

I've got the following leek seeds
Musselburgh << has the longest season.
Winter giant
Below zero
Starozagorski kamus
Pot. (That's all it says)

Mine have been rubbish this year - some very tiny leeks - but no gallons of leek and potato soup last year.

[Kristen]

Here's my 2p-worth

Get a polystyrene Fish-box - 4" deep at least. make some drainage holes in the bottom, fill to just below brim with multi purpose compost.

Next, painstakingly sow seeds at 1/2" spacing in each direction. You'll get 90% germination, and I re-sow any that fail, so don't sow way more than you will actually plant - better to give each seed a bit more space than growing far too many.

Give them some warmth to start germination off, but after that give them good light and not much warmth. Keep them watered and feed with a dilute general liquid feed (as the feed in the compost will run out after a month or so)

There is no hurry to plant them out ... mine often don't go out until July, although earlier would be better.

Ideally they should be pencil-thickness when you plant them out.

I've grown Mussleburgh for years, but I now favour Carlton F1 - although the seed is more expensive, and you don't get many (50-ish?) in a packet as against several hundred in a packet of Mussleburgh

[Penellype]

Another vote for Musselburgh for longevity here. I sowed 3 varieties this year:

Albana in a seed tray indoors in late February and planted out in May - some had bolted by July. I like this variety though - less stringy in general and more white without earthing up than Musselburgh.

Oarsman F1 sown mid January - about 50% germination indoors, planted out into a trough of compost in April and grown on in almost complete shade - haven't done all that well (admittedly with fairly appalling treatment), a few have bolted.

Musselburgh sown in pinches at 4 inch spacing in each direction (as for square foot sowing) into open ground in March and left to their own devices. Even though they were not thinned, these have produced bigger, stronger leeks than either of the other varieties and not one has yet bolted.

[4390evans]

Brilliant, Musselburgh it is then gonna have a look on the seed swap thing see if there is any on there.
I really want some of my own leeks, Im told they are stronger than shop bought ones? Fingers crossed

Thanks guys

[Kirk]

Musselburgh was the best I have grown BUT over 4 or 5 years only 1 year (the first) was any good. Last year none ever got above "pencil" thickness and most never even made it to that. Honestly chives were thicker then half of them.

Perhaps plant/sow a couple of varieties in case one doesn't produce as expected.

[marcofez]

Here's my 2p-worth

Get a polystyrene Fish-box - 4" deep at least. make some drainage holes in the bottom, fill to just below brim with multi purpose compost.

Next, painstakingly sow seeds at 1/2" spacing in each direction. You'll get 90% germination, and I re-sow any that fail, so don't sow way more than you will actually plant - better to give each seed a bit more space than growing far too many.

Give them some warmth to start germination off, but after that give them good light and not much warmth. Keep them watered and feed with a dilute general liquid feed (as the feed in the compost will run out after a month or so)

There is no hurry to plant them out ... mine often don't go out until July, although earlier would be better.

Ideally they should be pencil-thickness when you plant them out.

I've grown Mussleburgh for years, but I now favour Carlton F1 - although the seed is more expensive, and you don't get many (50-ish?) in a packet as against several hundred in a packet of Mussleburgh

Thanks for this advice. I only seem to get small leeks, so I'm going to try this way and cover with micromesh. We get leek moth on our site!!

[Chippy Minton]

Very interesting discussion. Maybe it's because I start late, or maybe because I put the leeks in after the shallots come out in June, but Musselburgh have never done it for me (I guess they're quite a late variety). Almera have been the best so far for me.

For what it's worth I think trying a few varieties, some early ones, some later is definitely the way to go....

And I'm also going to try Kristen's advice. I've always started mine in half seed trays, then when they've germinated I half bury the tray in a bed, the roots come through the holes and when I lift them it "trims" the roots. Seems to work OK, but Kristen's method is definitely worthy of a comparison.

[Zelenina]

I have a few leeks in my garden that are looking ok. I grew them from a pot full of seedlings I bought at a plant fair, and I was told the variety is Elefant. That's a central European winter leek, which I think is also available in the UK. Starozagorski Kamus mentioned by alldigging is a summer leek that's also popular here.

[kathyd]

I grew Malabar this year because they're rust resistant and I have huge problems with rust here - have to admit they're not looking rusty, touch wood! Can't remember when I sowed them, but we've been eating for a while and I've still got some standing, with only one so far showing a flower bud.

I don't normally treat them with kid gloves to be honest - anything from a seed tray to a plant pot, and thinned out when I'm ready . I should fess up to the fact that I often re-sow 2 or even 3 times if the first lot don't appear though! In fact, one year the ONLY ones that grew in the end were the ones I'd given up as useless and put to one side, then they suddenly shot up overnight after weeks of lying dormant in the pot..

They never get to pencil thickness to plant out, some are so tiny they disappear down the planting holes, but they seem to grow OK in the end. I did fill in the planting holes this year rather than leaving them open, and I've not noticed any adverse effects - can anyone tell me why you're not supposed to fill them in please? Thx

[Penellype]

I think the idea is that if you don't fill the holes it allows space for the stem to expand more easily. I always find that as soon as you water them the soil all falls into the holes anyway.

[kathyd]

I think the idea is that if you don't fill the holes it allows space for the stem to expand more easily. I always find that as soon as you water them the soil all falls into the holes anyway.

Oh ok thanks . Must admit I don't normally have a problem with the stem expanding, and you;re right, the holes do fill with soil when you water them in. So I shall stop worrying and just get on with it in future .

[Kristen]

Here's what I do:

Dib a hole 6" - 8" deep, drop the Leek plant in. Scientific comparisons have been made between trimming the roots and leaves, and not, and no difference was found - so if anyone tells you that you must do one, or the other, tell them to Get Lost! - either method is just fine. I twist the plant into the hole to get the roots to go down to the bottom of the hole, but if you are struggling to get the roots into the hole (e.g. they are very long) then trim them. I think that if the foliage is drooped over and touches the ground it is worth trimming that too (less chance of transmitting disease from soil to leaf when rain splashes from the soil onto the leaves). I don't trim either unless I have to.

Water them in. This washes some soil down the hole and around the roots, and also makes the soil around and under the bottom of the plant wet, its a long way down so it won't evaporate, so the plant will grow away well. Don't fill the hole - when you water again, or it rains, the water will get straight to the roots rather than having to soak through 6" of soil to get there! The holes will fill up over the Summer.

If you like you can draw some soil up around each plant later in the season to blanch more stem. In practice I find this difficult as Leeks are planted close together, and the soil then gets in between the leaves making for a gritty meal! an alternative is to put a collar, such as a loo roll, around each one - although the books say to earth up gradually, 2" at a time, which is obviously not the case if you put a 6" collar around them all in one go

I have read that Mussleburgh has more cellulose than other varieties, and that makes it chewy. personally I don't want to eat Leeks until Winter has arrived, so I don't grown an early variety, and we tend to prefer thinner succulent leeks rather that monsters, but it may be worth also growing a Late variety - which are more stocky and fat stemmed.