| The plants need to be thinned to about 150mm apart., unless you want to grow them closer together for young and tender mini-leeks. Or, transplant from punnets at the same spacings. Throw away any weak plants, as they never make a decent sized leek. Make a dibble hole to drop the young plants into, and use a hose to gently wash soil into the hole. Bury them so only about 50mm is above the soil surface. This forces the leek to produce a longer, whiter, stem.
Seed sown leeks need to have soil mounded up against the stem several times over their growing season in order to produce the same effect.Leeks can withstand hard frosts, but they will be a waste of space if they are made to endure dry conditions without water. Very fertile loamy soils produce the largest leeks. Gutless, sandy soils produce the smallest leeks. |
LEEK Allium ampelorasum. Leeks take a long time to mature-about 5 months from seed sowing, or about 4 months from punnets. Some newer varieties, such as 'King Richard', are much earlier, taking only about 3½ months from seed. Sow direct in spring for late summer to autumn harvest. (the soil temperature must have warmed to at least 7 degC).