Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Leeks - a meagre harvest

OK, I'll admit it. My crop of Leeks this year was not a success! Foolishly, I tried to cram too many vegetables into a small space and planted my Leeks in beds that were already hosting other crops - Parsnips and PSB. The foliage of the Parsnips was particularly luxuriant last year. As a result, the Leeks were completely overshadowed and never grew beyond the "miniscule" stage.


However, it's not all bad news, since I did plant my spare Leeks in a big (35-litre) pot and they have done a lot better.


Leeks "Toledo"

Eight Leeks crammed into one pot were never going to be huge. Furthermore, the soil in the pot had already been used to grow a crop of potatoes, and had not been refreshed. I now need the pot for this year's potatoes, so I have pulled up the Leeks.



Actually, if I had been planning to grow these as "Baby Leeks", I would be well pleased. Other than their diminutive girth, there is little to complain about.



Here they are, cleaned up ready for using in the kitchen:




The moral of this tale is definitely "Less is More". The concept of under-cropping (growing one crop underneath another) sometimes works, but you have to choose the right crops! I was greedy, hoping to get two crops at once, but it didn't work this time.
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8 comments:

  1. becky30868 February 2017 at 12:46

    Well at least now you know it won't work. The leeks you did get really look great though.

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  2. Vesna Maric8 February 2017 at 13:05

    The problem is that they need to be planted really deep into ground, but your leeks look really good.

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  3. Darren @ Notes From the Allotment8 February 2017 at 13:15

    Nice-looking leeks there, Mark. On our RHS course they suggested that leeks and lettuce are good companions. The theory being that lettuce grows quickly and is harvested before the leeks need the room to develop.

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  4. Andy8 February 2017 at 19:17

    A leek is a leek no matter the size, they'll still taste good! I can't say mine were any better, I had loads but they were all planted a bit late and were stunted from being in modules too long, most were short and fat, still I managed to get a few kilos in the freezer. I'm always impressed when something grown is edible, anything more is a bonus.

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  5. Sue Garrett8 February 2017 at 23:36

    Our leeks had plenty of room and yet our leeks were a bit of a disappointment.

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  6. Caro9 February 2017 at 11:04

    I've never grown leeks but I absolutely love that you've managed to get baby leeks by growing in buckets - I'm inspired! (And will probably give this a go myself this year)

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  7. Mal9 February 2017 at 22:49

    Last year was a bad year for leeks for me too. The earlies got planted out but never came to much (even now) and the maincrop (Musselburgh) never got planted out and so ended up potbound - but don't tell anyone!!!

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  8. Sue13 February 2017 at 11:48

    Baby leeks ... you pay a lot for small leeks like those in the shops. So it's well worth having a few in pots methinks :-)

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