Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

Decided to try leeks this year ... any hints & tips for growing from seed?

Thanks

Annabelle

Hi annabelle, guess everone has their own method, bur I cannott be doing with faffing about pricking plants out. I fill a largish pot with compost and sow the seeds in this. I start them off in the greenhouse, and when the plants are a reasonable size, move them out side to a sheltered spot. keep them watered, you can use a weak solution of liquid plant food. When you are ready to plant out, tip the whole lot out and gently prise apart the plants, making sure that each plant has plenty of root on them. Plant them in to dibbed holes and water them in. You should be thinking of planting the seeds around now. I uually follow my first early spuds with leeks. This method was shown to me by an old hand, it has always worked for me!
Regards, Essexboy

I grow mine in deep trays until they're big enough to plant out, usually whenthey're about eight inches high but still looking quite delicate, when the danger of frost has passed. Like Essexboy I can't be bothered with individual pricking out. I plant them in manured soil, in individual holes made with a dibber, where the soil has been watered first to prevent the holes collapsing in on themselves. I don't trim the roots but just stick them in the individual holes (about 6 inches apart) and water them in. Generally they then look after themselves for the rest of the year apart from being watered in dry weather. Apart from one very dry summer when we had a hosepipe ban and they nearly all went to seed in Sepember, I find them one of the most trouble free crops to grow.

I sow in deep pots the first week in April in heated greenhouse. When then have straightened up I grow them on in a cold greenhouse until they are nice little plants. I then make a drill outside with a spade with one vertical face and roughly spread them along it less than 1" apart. When I have cleared the First Early Potatoes I prepare the soil and add a bit of Growmore. Make a 3" deep trench a spade wide with a ridge of soil on each side. Make dibbed holes with old spade handle about 6" deep 6" apart in a double row about 8" apart in the bottom of the trench. Go to your drilled out plants and thin out the biggest until you have enough for your main area, I do the traditional top and tail but I haven't experimented to check what difference it makes, and drop a plant in each hole. Puddle in by filling each hole with water. A couple more waterings over the next week are usually enough to get them away. Later in the season earth them up to level by using the ridges from the sides of the trench. The left over plants in your drilled row can be used as baby Leeks. I grow Blue Solaise.

Hi Essex Boy,
"tip the whole lot out and gently prise apart the plants,"
To me that is faffing about!
Everybody has their own way of doing things.
My leeks are grown in relatively small but deep modules and are allowed to get slightly module bound. I then carry on in a similar way to Geoff except that I fetch out a double width trench 6" deep and about 15" wide and then use a dibber to another 6" depth and drop the plants in the hole and individually water each hole. Using a rose, as in the KG Mag article last month, is entirely wrong. The individual watering is to settle the plant in the hole and some soil from the hole will blanket the exposed roots.
My double row is 9" wide and they are planted 6" down the row. As the plants progress the soil from the trench waste is put back normal soil level.
JB.

This is a minor point but has anyone else had problems separating leeks grown in modules/pots/trays?

When I've tried this, the roots always seem to be pretty tangled & intertwined together. Don't know if its recommended, but I found dunking the whole lot into a bowl of water allowed me to separate the plants with minimal loss & damage to the roots.

Hi Colin,
With Leeks grown in individual modules there is no tangling. Bang the module tray on the bench and most will eject themselves.
The point I am trying to make is that by growing in individual modules there is no tangling and by the time you have gone through the process of separating out your Leeks my Leeks will be planted out and I will have gone on to the next job in hand. To a gardener who is also gainfully employed time is very very precious so why waste it.
JB.

Johnboy wrote:by growing in individual modules there is no tangling

Just to confirm JB (because I couldn't see it mentioned above) do you just put an individual leek seed in each module?

I've only used pots or trays of compost before and multiple seeds, hence the extra step of separating.

Hi Colin,
Yes one seed per module. The modules I use are 15mm x 15mm x 30mm deep x 576. I only use a quarter of a tray now though. I also grow Lettuce in the same trays.
Because the module is only small in diameter but comparatively deep you got good long straight roots and as I have said that they get a little module bound. Because of the size they are easily popped into the dibbed holes. The planting out is very simple and very fast. You get no root or foliage damage and once planted out and the plant individually watered they rocket away.
I always add some Super Phosphate to the compost. One heaped teaspoon to 10 Litres of compost. This gives you a superior root structure which is what is needed for a strong plant.
If you have not got smallish modules you can make them by making divisions in the modules you have got.
I will PM you shortly.
JB.

Johnboy, I am going to bite the bullet and give the module method a try, no more faffing about!! Mind you, the module trays had been knocked down in price in wilkinsons, this helped colour my decision! By the way, do you have a preferred variety, I usually grow Musselborough, but have been a bit disappointed with them the last couple of years.
Regards, Essexboy.

Hi Essex Boy,
The main variety of leek that I grow is Tornado which is the variety that replaces Goliath. It has quite good resistance to rust.
I sow commercial pelleted seeds which are an absolute doddle when it comes to sowing. Make sure that the size of the module you use is not larger than the diameter of your dibber!
Tornado is ready for harvest from the first week in November until the last week in March. I also grow Lyon 2 Prizetaker and the old favourite Musselburgh. The Tornado are the last to be harvested and they make fine specimens with about 12" of white shank.
Best of luck with your endeavour.
JB.

Is there any reason why you cannot direct sow leeks therefore cutting out all the hard work of planting out ?

Dear GatehouseFarm, i sow leeks outside in a nursery bed, then transplant them.

I have never tried directly sowing them in their final rows, if thats what you mean.

Hi OH yes that is what I mean

Dear GatehouseFarm, i'm not sure how well this would work.

I think the way to go about the job is, to take a trench out about 6 inches deep, loosen the bottom of the trench, rake down to a fine tilth then sow the Leek seed thinly.
When they have emerged, thin out as required, then back fill the trench as they grow, the same as a lot of people used to do.

This might not be such a bad idea, especially if using one of the more common types of Leek where the seed is cheap.

An interesting idea GatehouseFarm.