Last Sunday I potted on my leeks into 4" square pots, putting a piece of pipe insulation round the barrel and a plastic clip to support the foliage. The plants were then put into a partitioned section of the greenhouse with a growlamp over them 24hours a day. Dave Metcalfe is adamant the Pendle leek needs 'pulling' as soon as possible. The pipe insulation is passed through a stick and slid up as the leek pulls. It's not important to blanch the bottom at this stage, but to concentrate on getting the plant growing as straight as possible. I have a growlamp over the plants but no extra heat. Even with some severe frosts recently I find that the lamp throws enough heat out, although I do throw a few old compost bags over the partition overnight. My onions are also in this structure, the larger ones to the right of the leeks will need potting on also in a week or so.
In my conservatory I also have some healthy looking fuchsia cuttings on the go, the variety being Shelford. I'm hoping to grow a few small standard plants this season, and this variety responds well to pinching out and is very floriferous, the blooms sitting at a good angle for showing.
3 comments:
A serious question for once.
As I know absolutely 'nowt about growing show leeks,when you say "Pulling" do you mean that if you start to blanch the stems early then they grow taller ?
It might sound like a naive question,but I know shite aboot Leeks.
But I'm hoping to give 'em a go next year.
Dan.
Dan....serious.....there are two words you don't often see in the same sentence!
Yes indeedy....pulling is the art of drawing the leek up in good proportion with the girth by collaring in stages. In these early stages it's a case of covering the button, or growing point to encourage new leaves to emerge.
When planted out you may start on a 10" full length collar, gradually increasing until you reach the required length you wish. to blanch....usually 16-20".
In the past this has been a case of not pulling the leek up to soon, as you got a long spindly plant that struggled to fill out. But the Pendle leek seems to be able to pull quickly and fill out later apparently.
Time will tell.
I'm 'acquiring' some bits of downpipe in varying lengths tomorrow in readiness for my leeks. I'll follow the instructions on Robinson's site for this year, just to see whether I'm capable of producing anything of quality. Growing from seed won't help, mind you!
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