Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi - I am a very lazy fellow and am looking for an easy way to grow leeks. I am currently germinating leeks in a seed tray. I intend to move them to modules and plant on later. If I transplant, say, 3 leeks into a 3inch pot, can I just plant them out as a group later and get 3 smaller leeks at harvest (as I do with onions)? I don't understand why I have to do all that placing the seedling in a hole and fill with water. Can I not just move the 3 leeks from the pot and transplant them into the soil, the same way I do with my onions?
Any thoughts - PS I have a spare DVD of "The Allotment" which I am happy to send for free (just send me a few stamps to cover P+P) - if interested, please post.

I'd love the DVD please and will happily cover your postage and more.

Re Leeks,

I have grown my leeks in modules and plant a group of 4 to 6 in the ground and leave about 9 to 12 inches in each direction to give the leeks a chance to spread out. The first year I planted a row of beetroot between the leeks as there seemed to be an awful lot of spare soil. I pulled the beets up as baby beets whenever I needed them and pulled the Leeks from September to March, so had leeks at various sizes through the winter.

I like the idea of interspersing the leeks with beetroot. I eat a huge amount of beetroot and it's a good use of space. Thanks

If you are lazy you would be better not going through the hassle of sowing in a seed tray first and transplanting. I sow a few into root trainers. They grow really good root systems, a few to a module FROM SEED - no transplanting. Then I just split them up at planting time. You could see what happens if you don't split them up. I would think you'd get spindly leeks. The whole point of watering them in is to give them room to expand.

jane E wrote:I sow a few into root trainers. They grow really good root systems, a few to a module FROM SEED - no transplanting. Then I just split them up at planting time.

I assume you then just plant in the "normal" way (eg. dib a hole around 6-8 inches deep and drop the baby leeks in)?

I like root trainers for many other plants, but usually transfer the plant plus whole root structure in its pellet of soil to its new place in the garden. I don't break up the pellet of soil around the roots.

If you're planting several seeds per module, it seems like you *are* breaking up the rootballs. It sounds like this isn't causing you any problems though!

Colin

DVD for me too please - at cost. Sed me a PM nd I'll reply.

Sorry tigger - DVD has gone - cheers Arwin

I don't even separate them when planting out from modules, I leave them in clumps of 2 or 3 and they still grow big.