What is the best way to blanch leeks?

[Piglet6]

They are in the flower-border in my garden. I'm considering sticking toilet roll tubes over them.

Can anyone give me any pointers how best to blanch them please?

I'm assuming I don't just earth them up. Any advice greatfully received.

Thanks.

[Primrose]

Piglet - I never bother to artifically blanch mine but I think covering them with toilet or kitchen roll tubes at this point might be a little late in the process, depending on how early you sowed them. . When I plant my seedings out, I dig a shallow trench two or three inches deep and then, using a leek hole dibber, dig out individual holes several inches deep within the trench. After I've dropped every leekseedling in a hole I water them in and gradually let the soil drift back into the holes. Before too long, this means that each seedling is earthed up and blanched naturally and during the season it grows up towards the light. By the time they're ready to pick I have a reasonable length of white vegetable, but not always the same length as the leeks you see in supermarkets.
Unless you're growing for Show purposes, I think blanching them artificially, especially if you have a fair number of plants, would be a very time-consuming affair.

[glallotments]

Same here as Primrose. As long as the seedlings are dropped into a deep enough hole at planting time there is plenty of white.

[Johnboy]

When planting my Leeks I start with a 4-6" V trench and then dib my hole at the bottom of the V at around 4-6" pop the new leek into the hole and then as they grow I push the soil back into the trench. I generally get 10-12" of blanched shank.
JB.

[Piglet6]

Thank you folks

Yes, I dibbed holes for them & dropped them in. Hubby said something about blanching them & I'd hate for him to know more than me on the subject!!

I shall leave them as they are. They're coming along really nicely.

Next year I may take your advice and dig a little trench first, then dib holes in THAT, just for that extra bit of depth. Thanks again, much appreciated.

[John]

Hello Piglet6
Although I plant leeks deeply as others have suggested, I do blanch some of them as well - mainly to put into the village show. The easiest way to do this is to put a bottomless pot, say 6 - 8" , over them when they are growing away well, sprinkle a few slug pellets inside and stuff the pot with old newspaper. I found using collars and filling with them with soil very fiddly.

To my mind its worth making the effort to get a good blanch as this is the most tender and tastiest part of the leek so the kitchen lady (aka DW) tells me.

John