Tag Archives: leeks

How to grow great leeks

Leave a reply

If you want to grow really awesome leeks this is the way to do it. Because you typically won’t find them (or anything else if you’re a northern gardener) in nurseries it’s important to learn how to do it yourself. 

Start these inside in early summer. Mine were started on June 11th. You’ll want to plant them in a container that’s deep as the picture shows. If you start them in something that’s too short, you wont’ be able to do the next step. It’s now time to plant them outside. All you do is pull the entire soil block out of the metal container and begin to separate into individual leeks. Then, and this is the important part, drop them into a hole thats 6-8 inches deep. A small amount of leek will be above the soil. At this point, don’t fill the holes with soil. Water in immediately. After a weeks time your leeks will be fully covered naturally with soil. 

When it’s time to harvest you’ll pull your leeks out to discover a white shank that’s 6-8 inches long instead of the normal 2-3 inch leeks you buy at the grocery store. It makes a huge difference. 

Planting leeks in your square foot gardens

Leave a reply

Leeks are a winter and early spring favorite in our home. They aren’t particularly hard to grow, but it is difficult to buy them with the white stem portions any bigger than 2 inches. I’ve learned how to make that white section 8 inches tall to give you a lot more to use in those delicious soups. 

I like to start my leeks in a container where they will grow until the size of skinny pencils. I then use the end of a  cut off piece of push broom at about 12 inches. I’ll mark the end of the broom at 8 inches, push that into the SFG soil until the top of the soil is equal to the 8″ mark, and then I drop an individual transplant of leek into that hole. I don’e even worry about covering them with soil. I just let the water fill in the hole over the course of a few days. When these are harvested, you’ll have the biggest white portion of leeks you’ve ever seen. Give it a try. 

 

Thinking about the winter square foot garden

Leave a reply

Here it is-almost the second week into July and we’r already talking winter. Though lots of fun summer harvesting is still ahead, it’s time to think about what needs to go into the winter garden. In a few weeks it’ll be too late to think about crops such as leeks, and green onions. You certainly won’t be able to find them in the nurseries around here. And what ever happened to parsnips? Nobody grows them anymore! If you’ve not tried them you should. They are so good in the winter garden as the colder temperatures make them very sweet. I’ve always started these three crops this way. The reason? I’m not telling yet. But you’ll see when they are harvested. You can grow them better than anything you’ll find at the market.

I’ll have a few gardening classes coming up for those interested. The first couple will be the fall square foot gardening class. Immediately after that will be the square foot garden winter classes, complete with how to build protection, what crops do well here, and when to plant. These are both done at my home in a very comfortable setting where you learn how to do it. 

Come Labor day when most people start thinking it’s time to close the garden, yours will be up and producing a huge harvest. Stay tuned. 

Growing leeks

Leave a reply

leeks 070816I’ve already begun to think about the fall harvest season. That means starting a couple of things inside for transplants to go out in the garden soon. Lets talk leeks. If I were to wait until fall for planting them it wouldn’t allow enough time to harvest them this year.

There’s many different varieties of leeks, and I’ve tried lots of them. These are a variety that only take 75 days from seed to harvest. Many leeks take upwards of 110 days. My method of growing leeks is a little different. A chef would tell you that the most desirable part of the leek is the white stalk. The more white portion the better. I would encourage you to visit the produce section of your supermarket and check out the leeks. The white portion is usually pretty short: 3-4 inches. I try for 6-8 inches of white, and its very easy to do.

I start by placing leek seeds in a container as shown. The container itself isn’t very deep, and it’s got 4 holes on the underside for drainage. After a short time you’ll end up with skinny little transplants. I get mine to a certain size before transplanting. When I see leek roots beginning to come out of the drainage holes, its time for them to be transplanted. Hardening off is not necessary.

From here I will plant each individual leek start in a hole thats been made with a pencil. How deep do you plant them? I like to plant them so that about 2 inches of the leek remains above ground. I don’t even backfill the holes with dirt. As I water the holes fill up naturally and without even trying I can get a good 6 inches of white on my leeks-sometimes even more.

Now is the time to plan for things like leeks, green onions, kale, cabbage, and brussel sprouts[ois skin=”3″]

The Winter garden, part 3

Leave a reply

winter garden of goodies under the coversAnd that’s what underneath. Lots of snow with a lot still to come. Wish I would have planned a little better for the winter. I waited just a tad too long to plant because I was too busy growing for customers. I might have enough to take us through January but that might be about it. Since many of the seed catalogs have arrived I’ve begun to plan for the early spring. Nothing better than sitting inside in the dead of winter with a good seed catalog to look over.

This will be a very short post. I wanted to put something on before the big day got here. With that I wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I’ll be taking some time off until after the first of the year.[ois skin=”1″]