Over the last few days I've been taking the 14" collars off my blanch leeks and turning them to make them into 18" collars. The collars are made from builders' damp proof course material and will blanch the barrel.
Checking back on my blog I didn't do this until early August last season so they would appear to be way ahead of schedule. Hopefully, they'll end up a lot meatier than last year's leeks as a result.....and they were the best I'd ever grown!
I stripped away any old or decaying foliage whilst I was at it. The top pic also shows me manipulating the barrel carefully to straighten it as some of them may be slightly curved. At this time of year they're quite supple and it's easy to bend them back into shape. The 2nd pic shows the same leek now in it's longer collar, supported against a cane to keep the whole lot growing upright. Horizontal canes support the foliage as they will now start to get quite heavy and would otherwise flop on the soil and even break.
The 3rd pic is a view of the raised bed they're growing in. You may also notice my shallots in pots growing on one side of the bed....these will be harvested during June and I may sow some beetroot in their place. At the side of the bed you can see some more canes with cherry tomatoes planted against them. As you can see I do try to make the most of every possible square foot of space that I can.
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