Planting Leeks

The leeks that were sown into a deep tray indoors were first hardened off in the cold frame for a couple of weeks. By now they just look like thin, weak and wispy green stalks. They will be planted out 9 per square in my polythene covered square foot garden. After a quick clean up of the square, I first add a top dressing of fresh compost to put nutrients back into the growing medium that was depleted by the last crop. I press this down by hand to make a firm surface then dib nine holes roughly equally spaced.

Carefully tease the leek seedlings apart and just drop them one by one into the holes. Don't try to fill in the holes nor try to push the seedlings into the holes.

Your square should look like this when all the nine seedlings have been dropped in.

Pour water into each hole, this not only waters the plant but in the process drags the seedling down into the hole and settles the roots. Again, do not fill in the holes! They should be left to fill naturally with successive waterings and the leeks will eventually grow to fill these voids.

I planted over a hundred of these, leeks have such fine flavour and is one of my favourite vegetables!