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How to Plant Leeks, How to Grow Leeks, Growing Leeks
Easy tips on how to plant leeks in a home vegetable garden for best results. Learn how to plant, grow, and care for leeks when backyard vegetable gardening.
In the early spring, you only need a few pinches of seeds into a 6 inch pot filled with commercial potting soil or soilless mix to grow about a dozen plants.
In a few weeks, transplant the seedlings into a seed flat at 1-inch spacing.
Most of the seeds germinate, so the transplanting of these tiny individual blades is a tedious job if the seeds have been sown too close together.
The seedlings will grow rapidly in a sunny spot in the greenhouse or hotbed.
Since leeks do so well in the hotbed, it pays to plant an insurance crop directly in the hotbed soil in March.
Later in the month, thin the seedlings to 1-inch spaces and leave them in the hotbed until they are ready for transplanting into the open garden in April.
The leek is a member of the onion family and is sure to be one of your most successful crops after you learn how to plant leeks.
You are ensured success by giving the plants a very early start and providing a rich bed of compost in their garden site.
How to Plant Leeks in a Hotbed
First, make shallow rows in the hotbed soil and sprinkle the seeds in thinly.
When they are about 1 inch tall, thin them to 1 inch spaces.
At the beginning of April, turn the heat off in the hotbed, which in effect converts it to a cold frame.
In this cold frame atmosphere the plants harden off so they are sturdy enough to transplant outdoors by the middle of the month.
Vegetable Gardening Tips--How to Grow Leeks
Start seedlings in the greenhouse in March and if you have adequate vegetable gardening space, start a backup crop in the hotbed in February.
Both of these crops mature at about the same rate and are ready for open ground in April.
The longer the white portion of the leek, the greater the yield of edible vegetable.
The way to grow those long white stems is to transplant seedlings into a deep trench so that their initial growth occurs well below the normal garden surface.
The plants will even survive cold weather to provide you with half the fixings of leek and potato soup to warm up a blustery day.
Growing Leeks
Toward the middle of April, set out the leek seedlings that you started indoors in March.
Before setting the plants out, dig a 12" x 12" trench.
Don't plant the leeks at the 12 inch depth.
Instead, fill in the bottom of the trench with a 6 inch layer of old compost.
This is a special ingredient that makes all vegetables thrive, especially leeks.
Use a trowel to make holes in the bottom of the trench and set the seedlings about 6 inches apart.
Water the plants with a water and fertilizer mix.
As the transplants grow, pull extra soil from the sides to fill in the trench.
Keep the tip of the growing stem always above the soil line.
Each time, before pulling soil around the plants, scatter 5-10-5 fertilizer along the row at a rate of 5 ounces to a 10 foot row.
Leeks are unique in the onion family, rather than producing a bulb, they form a thick white stem that has a mild onion flavor.
We are sure that you will be impressed after discovering how to plant leeks.
They are a spectacular crop to grow being both impressive in size and superb in flavor.