Wednesday 20 May 2015

Pricking-out Leek seedlings

This year I am growing three different varieties of Leek - "Apollo", "Toledo" and "Winter Giant". The reason I have three types is firstly to extend the harvest season, but also because if one variety doesn't do very well perhaps another will.

 
At the weekend I pricked-out a little batch of "Winter Giant". Prior to this they were all growing in one pot - their "seed bed". Pricking-out means separating them and putting them into individual pots. As you can see, the pots I have used are the tried-and-tested Elmlea ones, which are tall and slender - ideal for Leeks which need some depth but not a lot of space.


There were, I think, 16 Leek seedlings, and I have potted-up the 10 best ones and put all the others into one further pot - just in case of casualties.


 I will now grow these on for a few weeks, until they are about the thickness of a pencil, at which point they will be planted-out into their final growing positions.


As with many other vegetable crops, you have to be patient with Leeks. I will not be harvesting any for a long time. These ones will hopefully mature in the late Autumn or early Winter.

On a different note, I just want to show you how the Salads bed is developing:


It looks a bit weird, seen through the netting, but you can see how the Lettuces (foreground) have grown, and how much foliage the Radishes (background) have produced. I have harvested more-or-less one complete row of Radishes, but there are five more to come. The little patch of "Cutting Salad" over at the left is growing rapidly, though disappointingly hardly any of the Lettuce seeds germinated. The patch therefore consists mostly of Rocket and Oriental Brassicas, with some Cress.

8 comments:

  1. I love the patchwork quilt salad bed. I have a spring salad bed (that will be melons in the summer) and a summer lettuce bed. The former will be removed on June 7th so I only have about 2.5 weeks left for that one.

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  2. I sow my leeks in a large plant pot and they stay there until they're separated and planted out, I don't pot them on at all. Their bed isn't ready for them yet but it won't be long until they need to go out so I'd better get on with it. Your salad bed it looking good.

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  3. My leeks are still in a seedling tray, I think I might copy you & transfer some into individual pots. The Rocket garden ones have been planted out into a trough.

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  4. That's too bad about the lettuce; at least you have the other greens to fall back on.

    I didn't realize that leeks took so long to grow and doubt mine will size up before this coming winter. I'll probably try to overwinter them, but we shall see. How many weeks would you say it takes for them to go from seed to the "pencil" size you were talking about?

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    1. Margaret, it takes quite a while to get to pencil size - maybe 2 to 3 months! I suppose it depends on the temperatures though.

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  5. Your garden is looking so healthy and tidy! I like the idea of growing different varieties so they mature at different rates. Sarah x

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  6. We usually grow several varieties of the same crop for the same reason. Your leeks get 5 star treatment ours go straight form a large pot all snuggling together to the plot. It's a bit like the difference between a private suite in the Ritz a youth hostel - not that I have ever experienced either.

    Netting companies must be making a fortune - do you think they breed and release the nasties to help sales?

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    Replies
    1. Haha, I like that last bit! Like the rumour that lawn-mower manufacturers vetoed the development of grass that stopped growing when it reached 3" tall...

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