The leek experiment

Leeks planted out

I've been trying to grow leeks for three years now, and so far with very little success. The first time I bought a tray of seedlings from the garden centre in the summer, they survived the winter under a cover of plastic, and well into the spring - when they hadn't even got to the "pencil stem" thickness stage I got bored and cleared them up. This year I sowed seeds in the spring (in a pot), got seedlings very similar (in appearance at least) to the ones from the garden centre, and this week I have planted them out in the ground, with some added garden compost. The brown stuff you see on the photo is ground coffee, which is supposed to keep the slugs away. I have a row of about 12 leeks at home, and a bed of about 20 at the allotment.

I don't know if this is going to work. They are still really small (smaller than the spring onions you buy from supermarkets), and I have doubts they'll grow through the autumn and winter to proper leek size. I always think that vegetables don't really grow much during the darkest and coldest months. But perhaps the leeks will prove me wrong! And in any case, I have all winter to do my research and reading on the optimum time to harvest leeks, perhaps I was too quick to clear the crop in spring the first year I tried growing them?

Por segunda vez voy a probar con los puerros. La primera vez compre una bandeja de plantitas y las plante en verano, pasaron el invierno protegidos con un plastico, y en primavera, como no habian engordado nada, me canse y los levante. Esta vez sembre yo las semillas en una maceta en primavera, y ahora estaban las plantitas mas o menos igual de grandes que las que compre el primer ano. Las he plantado mas espaciadas y con compost casero, a ver si esta vez se me dan mejor! Lo marron que veis en la foto es cafe molido, que dicen que espanta a las babosas y caracoles. En casa tengo una fila de 12 puerros, y 20 mas en la huerta municipal.

No tengo claro cuando se supone que tienen que estar listos, porque estos son tan pequenos que no les va a dar tiempo de engordar antes de que llegue el invierno. A lo mejor tengo que dejarlos mas tiempo en primavera para que les de tiempo de engordar? En fin, tengo todos los meses del invierno para leer mis libros e informarme, a ver si de una vez consigo puerros de verdad!