Talk to me about leeks

[Smithagain]

Last year was our second year of growing veg and our first attempt at growing leeks.

We bought baby plants and followed the instructions. They grew really, really tall and they taste great.

But they are very, very skinny. Some of them only pencil thickness, others maybe twice as thick.

I fancy having another go next year, because they do taste good straight out of the ground. Any tips on how to make them a bit fatter?!

When you say you followed the instructions, what exactly did you do? I have always been very successful with leeks .

Ah Bluestocking - you are obviously the person I need to know!

As far as I can recall - made narrow holes about 20cm deep, dropped the leeks in, watered them liberally and let the soil wash into the hole, but didn't press it in.

They were about 6 inches apart. Watered as much as the other veg, all of which grew fine. They grew very quickly upwards and looked great, but never got any fatter.

Soil was new (first year of that raised bed), with a decent amount of compost but not masses and masses because we also had parsnips in the same bed. Don't know if they should have had more?

Any insights gratefully received.

Maybe your holes weren't big enough (ahem). I have an old cricket stump which is a perfect leek dibber. I think 6 inches may be a tad too close together, I would normally go for about 20cms. You may well be right about the lack of nutrition in the soil - we always used a lot of manure on the allotment. I say "used" as I don't have one at the moment, hence my desire to interfere in your leeks.

Think the holes were OK - I used a broom handle, so probably wider than a cricket stump if anything.

Will try putting them in a bed with more manure this year. We're treating ourselves to a third raised bed, so will have a bit more flexibility where we put things.

Although DD doesn't actually like leeks, so she probably won't appreciate it if we achieve larger ones

I grew leeks for the first time this year & they, like yours, were very skinny but delicious. I put this down to several things:

1. Variety - they were part of a patio collection of mini vegetable suitable for containers, so probably not ever destined to be huge (that said the parsnips of the same collection grew fairly large).
2. I grew them very close together - thinned to about 1-2" apart. (limited space in garden).
3. I didn't move them - just grew in situ from seeds, so no puddling into holes.

I'm going to grow them again properly on my new allotment this year, so will be interested in any tips. I've been told that they like urine, but don't think I'll go quite that far - presumably they like high nitrogen though so I may spray with comfrey fertilizer if I remember.

Think 6 inches is probably a bit too close together.. mind you my growing strategically is typically haphazard.. they are planted down the edges of our raised beds around the other crops, but they seem to do well.

When did you plant them?

Like snorkle I don't bother with all the transplanting and holes and stuff. I just sow seeds in rows and thin when necessary, using the seedlings for stirfrys and things.

I think either a naturally thin variety or too close. I grew some too - am looking at the last of them now waiting to pour cheese sauce on them

I grew from seed then transplanted them, I had too many the the space so towards the end of the row I squeezed them in a bit, one of them looks like a spring onion

I will be doing more as well, I love the way you can leave them in the ground and just take one as you need it. Much better than the gluts of things I usually get.