Leeks Getting Larger

Musselburgh Leek - 17th September 2012

The shanks of the leeks are now swelling well. They are probably about an inch in diameter. I could start using them but there is more than enough other produce in the garden which is ready and has to be cropped. It may well be November before I start pulling them and by then they should have thickened up considerably. 

The variety which I have grown is , "Musselburgh." I have found it to be very resilient to even  heavy frosts. The seed was sown indoors in late March and when the seedlings were about four inches high I transplanted them into trays where they were grown on, initially indoors and then outdoors, until the shanks of the plants were about the thickness of a pencil. I then tidied the roots of the young plants and trimmed the leaves back. You do not need to worry about keeping any soil around the roots. They were then dropped into narrow holes which I had prepared with an old poker in firm soil. Only the tips of the leaves protruded above the level of the soil. I planted the leeks in rows about twelve inches apart with a plant spacing of eight inches.