Leeks

Generally when I am planting leeks they are slightly shorter than the photo the Boss posted with three leaves, and I use a spade shaft as a dibber, leaving about an inch or so above ground, if you think that would be too wide for you, try using a brush shaft instead, and ofcourse you water in rather than manual filling

I've heard that leek seedlings should be the size of pencils before planting out. Also that you should trim the roots and leaves before planting.
Guess how much of that I do??

I gave up with leeks what with them never getting very big then allium leaf miner problems.
One tip I have though is after dropping them in their planting hole an old tea pot makes it easier to fill the holes with water without dragging soil in.

Mine are rarely bigger than a darning needle when they go out into the ground and are always fine, easily wrist size by Christmas (even though they often disappear from sight into the planting hole).

Hi PP

Is the planting hole massive in diameter compared to the leeks?

Yup!
I use a standard dibber,  30cm deep, 4-5cm diameter, and the leeklings drop out of sight (each one gets a little compost and some water dropped down the hole after it). The blackbirds leave them alone, but the young plants are also protected from the heat - often low 30s by June - while the roots get established. After about 10 to 14 days the plants appear above the edge of the hole and happily grow away.
By December most will have filled the hole

I gave up with leeks what with them never getting very big then allium leaf miner problems.
One tip I have though is after dropping them in their planting hole an old tea pot makes it easier to fill the holes with water without dragging soil in.

I have massive leaf miner issues but have found growing leeks and garlic under a fine mesh is pretty successful. (I don't grow any other alliums).

I have had leaf miner problems here too in the past, 1st year on the allotment I lost all shallots, onions and garlic so I net all alliums with insect mesh. I read that the fly is active laying between end of Feb to end of April and then again between end of Sept to end of Nov. I leave my nets on so haven't tested that theory yet.

I have had leaf miner problems here too in the past, 1st year on the allotment I lost all shallots, onions and garlic so I net all alliums with insect mesh. I read that the fly is active laying between end of Feb to end of April and then again between end of Sept to end of Nov. I leave my nets on so haven't tested that theory yet.

I net feb to June then August to November and understand that the later brood are much more damaging - certainly my leeks seem to cop it worse then the garlic!

One year I had leaf miner problems with a few of  my red torpedo onions. Only about 5% of the crop were affected and this was about five years ago with no more problems since!  (Phew)

It must be certain parts of the country that are the most badly affected and thank goodness our area isn't one of them. I am pushing my luck now and my alliums  will probably be devastated this year!  (eek)

Morning Folks

After starting off well my leeks don't seem to have gained any size in about a month, shall I transplant them into a RB and see how they get on?

And another way to grow the leeks (actually they do it all by themselves).

Mine tend to be crowded in a seed tray and are now a little bigger than darning needles.

   

As the frosts seem to be finishing now, these will be going out, 4 - 6" apart, as soon as I have the time.
A quick rake then I make a channel about 4" deep with a hoe and plant them in that using a pointed trowel or dandelion root getter-outer, whichever I can find. Makes watering easy if needed and fill in the channel as they grow, even earthing up a bit at the end.

Edit: These were sown 14/ March.

Didn't want to start a new thread but thought you may be interested in my latest experiment. I harvested a leek seedhead that I had shaved so it would produce leek 'grass'. I had it standing in a glass of water for a while before deciding to strip down the individual leeks. What a boring job that is. Normally this would be done in early October but life got in the way at that time so i'm doing it now.
Last year I planted each leeklet individually into seed trays but because of the very cold winter ast year, and even though the plans looked great when Iplanted them out, they all very soon sent up seed heads. I pulled them all up and immediatly planted leeks I had grown from seed and they flourished and are still growing now.
I digress, this year I decided to try and get the leeklets started on damp kitchen roll placed in the bottom of a plastic tray that had chicken thighs in it originally. I tried to stand them up around the edge but had far too many to do that so the rest are just lying in the centre of the tray waiting for me to find another tray and stand those up as well!  Once they get a few roots formed I will pot them up but don't know what to do with them after that as the cold greenhouse didn't work last year as the year before it did!