4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[iar fach goch]

Have been given some leek seedlings by a friendly freecycler and have planted according to instructions......now what do I do? Do they need any special care or do I just leave them to it? Thanks

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I shoved some that I was given in a spare bit of a raised bed. I've no idea what to do next either . I'll be interested in the replies .

[sjp]

Just leave them to it unless you live in an area affected by allium leaf miner then you need to cover them with enviromesh from now until November

I think its still confined to the midlands. we've got it bad in this area. we were one of the first places to get them

http://www.sandwellallotments.ik.com/p_Leaf_miner.ikml

[iar fach goch]

Thanks for the advice, I'll just leave them to it then although they might need life jackets after all the rain we've had!

[Happy chickens!]

If you like lots of white to your leeks plant them deeply - or earth them up a bit to blanche them. I think they're a very flexible veg - you can just keep digging them up as you want them, rather than end up with a glut.

 

A tip I was given was to grow them from seed in a pot, fairly crammed in, then when you dig up your new potatoes, bung them in and you've got a second crop that year of something with very little effort - my kind of growing!

[Lesley]

Just leave them to it unless you live in an area affected by allium leaf miner then you need to cover them with enviromesh from now until November

I think its still confined to the midlands. we've got it bad in this area. we were one of the first places to get them

http://www.sandwellallotments.ik.com/p_Leaf_miner.ikml

 

- I was going to say just leave them! - I'd better go and look at mine now

[Couperwife]

when planting leeks, dont cover them in soil (you probably know this , but as its something that I actually know about gardening, im gonna carry on )

 

use a dibber thingy and then drop the leek in the hole, then water in

 

if you cover them in soil they become very bulbous (apparently )

 

Kev has just said that you could cover the ground in newspaper (as a mulch) and plant through the newspaper - this slows the weeds down, so you dont have to weed as much (weeding fills the holes in )

 

they also last for ages in the ground, so you will be picking them in January/february (as long as you dont eat them before hand )

 

Have fun

 

cathy

x

[iar fach goch]

Thanks for the advice, I got to use my new dibber when planting them and have been out today weeding and earthing up in the wind and rain.

[Guest]

I am not always very successful with veg but one year my farrier gave me a plastic coffee cup with leek seedlings in and I put them in along a wall and they fed us all through the winter!

 

What an easy vegetable. I just would pull one up as I needed it. I then grew some the following year and gave a cup to one of our friends.

 

They never went mushy in the freezing weather..great for soups stock etc

indie

[Couperwife]

oh, what a lovely idea - giving someone a cup of leeks

 

I might do that next year

 

cathy

x

[Chucky Mama]

My elderly and wise music teacher grows them in plastic drainage tubes and he gets the most fantastic long whites. He just keep topping up the soil as they grow.

[chickencam]

My leeks are all looking a bit sad at the moment maybe they have leaf miner, must go and check them

 

I love leeks

[redhotchick]

I love leeks too!

 

I've spent an afternoon this week transplanting all my leeks (about 180!) from a site were there very cramped to a whole raised bed to themselves. They varied from pencil thick to shoe lace like. I trimmed their roots, and with some of them I trimmed the leaves. (These ones look better)

 

I know they will withstand cold, but will they grow anymore?

I hope so! It's still fairly mild here at the moment. I'll put a fleece over them if anyone thinks it will help?

[sjp]

I love leeks too!

 

I've spent an afternoon this week transplanting all my leeks (about 180!) from a site were there very cramped to a whole raised bed to themselves. They varied from pencil thick to shoe lace like. I trimmed their roots, and with some of them I trimmed the leaves. (These ones look better)

 

I know they will withstand cold, but will they grow anymore?

I hope so! It's still fairly mild here at the moment. I'll put a fleece over them if anyone thinks it will help?

they should kepp growing albeit slowly over winter but you might find they saulk until march then start growing give them a feed of chicken pellets something like roosterbooster the nitrogen will give them a boost