When hobby gardeners plant leeks in their garden, they aim for long, pale shoots below the light green foliage. Find out here how you can effortlessly create premium-quality leeks.

Where do leeks grow?

Leeks are both sun worshipers and heavy eaters. These two attributes largely determine the choice of location:

  • sunny, well sheltered, warm position
  • nutrient-rich, humus-rich soil
  • fresh, moist and well-drained

When is planting time?

Thanks to a strategically clever combination of summer and winter leeks, the healthy vegetables in your garden are in season all year round. If you sow behind glass in January, plant in the heated cold frame in February/March. Optionally from 20 degrees Celsius outdoors.

Place hardy varieties as young plants in the bed from May to August in order to enjoy them throughout the winter. Direct sowing outdoors is not advisable due to the many risks of pest infestation.

How are leeks planted correctly?

When the hand-grown or ready-bought young plants are planted in the ground depends on their cultivar. You can choose between two different methods for the actual planting process:

Growing leeks in planting holes:

  • Thoroughly weed the bed soil, loosen it up and smooth it out with the rake
  • Prick 15 cm deep holes with the dibber and insert the leeks

Planting leeks in ditches

  • dig 20 cm deep trenches in the bed
  • the excavation remains between the rows
  • Place young plants in such a way that their green foliage is still clearly visible

Whatever planting method you choose; in the last step, the leek plants are carefully washed down. The earth must not be pressed down. Over the following weeks, pile the stalks repeatedly to develop nice, creamy white stalks.

The right planting distance

The following planting distances offer the best growth and sufficient freedom of movement for maintenance work:

  • Distance within the row: 10 cm to 15 cm
  • Row spacing: 20 cm (when cultivating in a ditch: 40 cm)

What should be considered when harvesting?

Summer leeks certainly have enough growth energy for a double harvest. Therefore, cut the mature spears just above the ground in the first pass. In good weather conditions, narrower sprouts thrive once again, which have not lost any of their taste.

Since winter leeks will not grow back given the time of year, dig up each sprout when harvesting. On a frost-free day, the soil is loosened with the digging fork in the morning hours in order to pull the leeks out of the ground in the afternoon.

tips and tricks

Even the particularly hardy leek varieties cannot tolerate a sudden change between frost and thaw. Under such stress, tissue cells rupture and vegetables become inedible. It is therefore advisable to protect winter leeks with foil or pile them up thickly with earth and leaves.

Category:

Vegetable garden