I love leek and potato soup so I grow lots of leeks! It’s very nearly time to start sowing leeks again!

I started them off in a polystyrene fish box this year and they did grow better in the depth of soil. I grew four varieties and then mixed them up when I was planting them out. Whoops!
I dib them in as deep as possible so you get more of the white part. This means it’s more effort digging them up, but the reward is worth it.
You can use the darker bits in leek soup but they make it a much darker colour! I cook leeks, potato and a chicken stock cube until they’re soft and then blend it! Delicious with fresh buttered bread.

Leek Seeds – Musselburgh£1.99An extremely winter hardy variety. Good length, tasty white stems. A milder flavour substitute for onions in many culinary dishes.Thick, white, tasty stemsExtremely winter hardyTraditionally popular varietyHeritage Seed Vareity, 1919 packet details – Greatly improved stock of Musselburgh leek, far superior to the ordinary strain. Highly Commended, Royal Horticultural Society, 1918.

This is a really hardy leek! We like this sort as they will stand through a bad winter until you want to eat them!

Leek Seeds – Blue Green Autumn Neptune £1.55

Leek Seeds – Lyon – Prizetaker £1.55

Leek Seeds – Musselburgh £1.99

Leek Seeds – Northern Lights F1 £2.49

Leek Seeds – Purple & Green Leafed £2.50

Leek Seeds – Atal £2.55

Leek Seeds – F1 Below Zero £2.99

Leek Seeds – F1 Sprintan £2.99

Leek Seeds – Autumn Giant 3 Albana £2.99

Leek Seeds – F1 Striker £2.99

Leek Seeds – Musselburgh £4.99

Suttons have these –

Leek Moth Trap £8.99
Leek Moths lay their eggs near the base of the plants and the resulting maggots quickly burrow into the foliage. This trap uses the scent of the female moth to attract and catch the male moths (set up in early April to trap the first generation, and in early July to trap the second generation). Pack contains: 1 trap and hanger, 2 sticky bases and 2 pheremone lures.

Leek Moth Trap Refill £4.99
Refill for the leek moth trap – Leek Moths lay their eggs near the base of the plants and the resulting maggots quickly burrow into the foliage. This trap uses the scent of the female moth to attract and catch the male moths (set up in early April to trap the first generation, and in early July to trap the second generation).

Leek Plants – Northern Lights £6.99
A real stunner in the winter veg garden. Leaves change from green to deep purple during winter months.Harvest from December Well into spring

Leek Plants – Continuity Winter Duo Pack £6.99
Winter Duo Pack (January-March) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety). Poulton F1 (a short-shafted variety which produces high quality leeks with high density and attractive dark colour) and Vitaton F1 (an ideal partner to Poulton, allowing a supply of leeks well into the late winter).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market.You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!

Leek Plants – Continuity Early Winter Duo Pack £6.99
Early Winter Duo Pack (November-December) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety): Belton F1 (a long-shafted variety which produces uniform and easy-to-clean stems that hold well) and Poulton F1 (a short-shafted variety which produces high quality leeks with high density and attractive dark colour).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market.You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!

Leek Plants – Continuity Autumn Duo Pack £6.99
Autumn Duo Pack (September-October) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety): Duration F1 (a quick-yielding late summer/early autumn variety) and Megaton F1 (a high-yielding hybrid that combines earliness with a long harvesting window thanks to its low risk of bolting).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market.You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!

Seed Tape – Leeks £2.99
Goodbye successional sowing! Just sow once and the mix of varieties mature successionally for a super-long harvest period! Harvest for up to 39 weeks! Excellent winter vegetable. Sow April-May. Harvest September-February. 6m seed tape.

Watch a video of leeks being sown in root trainers.

Might try this. Normally I do them in a tray and then pot them on. I imagine this allows them to have bigger roots.

Suttons have these leek varieties

Leek Seeds – Atal £2.55
A pale green summer-cropping salad leek. Great flavour and uniformity.

Leek Seeds – Autumn Giant 3 Albana £2.99
A top quality leek for a long season of production, giving high yields of flavoursome, medium-sized stems averaging 20-23cm (8-9) in length with little or no bulbing. It also stands extreme weather conditions remarkably well.

Leek Seeds – Autumn Mammoth 2 £0.99
A first class strain to eat and to exhibit. Thick, sturdy white stems. Superb autumn leek – harvest from September to January.

Leek Seeds – Lyon – Prizetaker £1.55
Recommended. Long, thick, pure white stems of mild flavour. Excellent for exhibition if sown in January under glass.

Leek Seeds – Musselburgh £4.99
Part of the Sutton’s Seeds Vegetable Heritage Range Good length, tasty white stems. A milder flavour substitute for onions in many culinary dishes. 4 PACKS Thick, white, tasty stems Extremely winter hardy Traditionally popular variety 1919 packet details – Greatly improved stock of Musselburgh leek, far superior to the ordinary strain. Highly Commended, Royal Horticultural Society, 1918.

Leek Seeds – Musselburgh £1.99
Part of the Sutton’s Seeds Vegetable Heritage RangeGood length, tasty white stems. A milder flavour substitute for onions in many culinary dishes.Thick, white, tasty stemsExtremely winter hardyTraditionally popular variety1919 packet details – Greatly improved stock of Musselburgh leek, far superior to the ordinary strain. Highly Commended, Royal Horticultural Society, 1918.

Leek Seeds – Neptune £1.55
An impressive leek producing flavoursome white stems that are ready to harvest from November to January. Shows good winter hardiness and resistance to rust.

Leek Seeds – Northern Lights £2.49
This British-bred leek is a real stunner in the winter veg garden, the leaves changing from blue-green to an eye-catching deep purple during the winter months. Stands well during cold weather – harvest from December until late spring.

Leek Swiss Giant Zermatt Seeds £1.89
A dual-purpose leek, for baby or full-size harvest. Pulled young it makes a good milder alternative to spring onions. Salad type.

When it’s as hot as it is today there’s a few jobs that definately need doing.

Watering newly planted seeds, and plants that are developing fruit need lots of regular water. Potatoes that are growing need plenty of water too – so don’t forget them!

Hoeing the weeds away when it’s this hot is really effective. The poor things shrivel up and die in the sun – so it’s well worth spending some time doing this where you can.

Chickweed seems to be especially active this year and is everywhere. Several plot holders are blaming it on it being in the compost from last year and are refusing to compost it this year. Old timer Percy is quite happy to accept all compost material donations though – the bigger the heap and the faster it’s put together the more heat it generates and should kill all the seeds.

We’ve filled one side of our double compost bin already. Partly through some old uncomposted stuff being put back in and all the new lovely weeds.

Watered the tomatoes today as usual and added some plant food to the watering can. They’re doing really well – the initial four plants and the extra ones are coming on pretty well too.
We planted out about half the leeks – they were as fat as pencils and getting far too tall so we decided to put them out now. We dibbed holes 5-6 inches deep and put the leeks in. They’d been in pots of compost so we rinsed most of this off to get them into the hole – the book I’d read said nothing about this – but seemed to think you’d just have roots (as did the man on gardeners world!). I’ve not trimmed the roots or tops of them – my book says this old way isn’t really needed.

I also planted out the cucumber plant – I’ve only got one as I know we don’t eat a lot of them. It’s pickling type which should be ok for salads peeled (they’re a bit spiney apparently) and good for pickling! I adore pickles so am looking forward to doing these.

The onions are coming on nicely. Weeded them again today and they’re nearly clear of chickweed. I have very much learnt the need to put them in very straight rows as it makes hoeing so much easier.

A word of advice – wear a hat in such hot weather! and you should put on sunscreen too!