Leek Question(s)

[DeneciePie]

Hi All,

I am hoping not to sound too foolish here, but I am growing leeks for the first time. Here in California we usually plant onions from seed in late Summer or early Fall and harvest early Summer the next year before it gets too hot. I didn't get them thinned out like I should have so they are very closely planted which may be my problem.. They are mostly about 1-2 cm across and several have attempted to bloom. I am trying to keep them nicely moist and I put on some fish emulsion from time to time. How do I tell when thy are as big as they are going to get? I am not expecting mammoth veg from this attempt but am hoping to learn to grow nice ones. What else should I be doing?

Thanks for any advice.

DeneciePie

[Odsox]

I'm not sure I can help too much as your growing season is just about opposite to northern European growing, but I can tell you what I do and perhaps you can translate it to your own situation.
I sow my seed in early spring in a seed bed and when they have grown to be about a quarter of an inch thick they are transplanted into their final growing plot. I make holes with a pointed stick a couple of inches wide and about six inches deep about nine inches apart in a block. I then dig up the seedling leeks and trim the roots so that they are about 2 inches long and then drop one in each hole, then I fill the holes with water and enough soil will wash down to cover the roots.
By early winter they should have grown to between one and two inches in diameter and about two feet tall, and will stay in good condition all winter.
If you leave them until the following spring they will start to flower, so it is best to eat them before that happens.
Hope that helps.

[Green Aura]

If they're a bit close together it might be worth pulling a few to thin them out - you'll probably get dinner out of them too, which is nice

They're probably trying to flower early because they're a bit stressed so thinning them out will relieve that to some extent.

[Millymollymandy]

I do the same as Odsox but when I have left a few of the leeks sown in situ they never really got much bigger than about 2cm diameter as they were too close together. We ate them as baby leeks but to be honest they were a bit tough.

I was wondering though, did you mean you sowed these leek seeds last year (you mentioned this is what you do with onions) in which case they would be trying to flower this year which is normal. So it is not worth trying to transplant them now.

[DeneciePie]

I see, so by planting in October I dwarfed the poor things. OK try try again.
Next time up, plant very early Spring and probably transplant into one of our less sunny beds. It was 93F today and only getting warmer. Hopefully shade and lots of mulch and water will get them thru our summer scorching to a Fall harvest.

Thanks for your help.

DeneciePie