The humble leek is one of the unsung heroes of the vegie patch, and is much more than a long onion. Some growing tips here for you.
Of all the edibles in the allium tribe – garlic, onion, shallots and the like – leeks have the mildest and sweetest flavour.
They are remarkably tough and easy to grow, and in many areas, it’s possible to have them growing all year, so you never run out. Here are a few growing tips to get you started:
- Leeks are easy to start from seed; sow them 0.5cm deep in a punnet filled with premium seed-raising mix, then place them in a sunny spot, keep them moist, and they’ll germinate in about 10 days.
- Plant out seedlings when they are about 10cm long.
- To prepare your soil, throw on a few buckets of compost or well-rotted manure per square metre, and a good handful of organic fertiliser.
- Leeks require good drainage, so it’s worth hilling the soil in rows if you have clay soil. Drag the edge of a hoe through the soil to create drills 5–10cm deep and 30cm apart.
- Lay seedlings on their sides 15cm apart along the drills. Backfill to cover the roots and a little of the stem, and water well. They’ll straighten up in a couple of days as they reach for the sun.
- Keep the plants moist as they grow, and once a month, sprinkle some more organic fertiliser along the rows.
- If snails and slugs become an issue, set up beer traps (shallow dishes of beers) to lure them away from your plants.
- Black aphids can do a lot of damage, so get onto them early with a few applications of a soap or natural pyrethrum spray.
- The aim with leeks is to have as much white, succulent flesh at the base of the shank as possible. You can increase this by ‘blanching’ them, which denies them of light so they don’t photosynthesise. Once the shanks are 3–4cm in diameter, hill up the soil or tie folded newspaper around them.
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