I've done a few different ways- planted leek sets in the spring and harvested in the summer/fall. Let the rest over winter and harvested those the next spring/summer. I let one of those go to seed and planted the seeds last fall:

- Those leeks are tiny little leeks out there right now that are maybe .75 inch each. Tons of them.

Shocking to me how frost tolerant leeks are! We had a HORRIBLE winter last year and they survived and then the ones I planted last fall seemed to do well in the snow...

Thanks for the info. How did you plant your plants? Some steps have read suggested planting them in 6 inch holes and watering carefully so the dirt doesn't fill in the hole.

Here is how I do it:

take a screw driver and stick it down in the dirt, move it in a little circle so that it makes a hole just wide enough for me to lower the leek seedling down into it. Lower the seedling down in (you have to either buy seedlings or start them in January or early february). Do not press the soil around the leek. Just water them a bit and leave them alone. Rain will help the soil to gently fill in.

Some people hill their leeks later in the season but I have never done that. Harvest any time they are a size you like, but must be harvested before they bolt, which would be the *next* year.

You can always let a couple go to seed -- the flowers are beautiful and attract lots of bees. They'll self seed in place, and then you can transplant the tiny seedlings in the spring (using the screw driver method above).

I grew them once, dug a trench, planted them, as they grew, I filled in the trench, ending up with a mound around the stalk. I knew someone who grew them by just planting like an onion, when they started growing, he wrapped brown wrapping paper around the stalk, cut a rubber band, then tied that around the stem. By being tied, the rubber band tension could be adjusted to keep the paper against the stem, but not too tight.

Agree. it just depends on if you want them blanched or not. Some growers don't care. Personally I plant them just like onion plants and then hill up around them as they grow. Just depends on if you have the soil to hill them or not. Using a trench insures you'll have that dirt to fill in as they grow. otherwise you may have to get it from another part of the garden.

Dave

I plant Leeks using the trench method starting at about 5" deep with 6" spacing in the row and filling in the trench an inch or so every couple of weeks thru the spring trying not to get any soil trapped between the leaves.

I did my potatoes in a trench, the leeks in a trench sounds like a good idea.

I stick them in the ground up to where the first leaf starts, then pack hay around them as they grow. Get lots of white section and no dirt in them.

last year I bought leek seedlings which I interplanted with red cabbage, lemon gem marigolds and bush beans. I think the shading they got from the other plants blanched them and I didn't have any dirt to clean out.

Charlie, here are my leeks (in the front/left)

Peter - Looking good! What variety did you plant? I planted Mussledough (sp).

They are Megaton from Johnny's. Good luck to us!

Anybody grow Lincoln leeks? Last year I grew Lancelot leeks from seed (started the seeds indoors) and the crop was great and of very good size. This year my seed supplier is out of Lancelot so I ended up purchasing Lincoln. Hope it grows for me as well as Lancelot did. The other option was a variety called 'London'. I am in SE WI if that is of help.

I am growing Musslebrough (sp).

Anyone have seeds or plants that would be willing to share for postage. Newbie just getting started. :)