Sunday 17 May 2009

Leek Planting.

Today I will show you how I planted my Leeks the other day. I sowed them in a deep pot back in February and kept them at first in the greenhouse and then later outside for a couple of weeks.

Before planting I tipped them all out of the pot and picked out the biggest.


I then snipped off the roots of my selected Leeks to about half their original length, some people do the same with the tops as well but I don’t bother. I feel bad enough about cutting off all their feet let alone their heads.


After working down the soil, adding some pelleted chicken manure and levelling it off I set out the rows with a board, you can use a line or even nothing as I don’t think they mind too much if they aren’t in a straight line. I then made holes six inches deep and eight inches apart with a dibber in to which I dropped one Leek plant and that’s it, don’t go filling in the holes or covering the roots, if the soil is dry you can water in a little.



All that remains is to take out your foot prints...

...this is something that’s always worth doing, especially if you have big feet like mine as it helps to keep the soil from getting compacted.
Bob

1 comment:

Matron said...

Mine are still in a pot and at about that stage. Don't they grow slowly? It just seems they are sitting there doing nothing. Still, I suppose when I get to plant them out they will take off. The spacing between each one is directly related to the size of the leek, so 8" will get you nice big ones!