Leeks .

[theonlyone]

is it true that you grow them in toilet
roll tubes , if so how do you do it ?

[paddywak]

Depends what type of leek you re growing. Some types of show leek are grown for volume, taking into account the diameter of the leek and the distance from the bottom of the plant to the bottom of the V the leaf makes, others are grown for length of the white these types can be grown in pipes or wrapped in card and earthed up to give a long blanched body in all cases the looks and symetry of the plant also counts. For eating leeeks I just used to make a deep, conical hole fill it with compost and plant the leek well down. If you google giant vegetables you'll get the idea some of these leeks can grow to. In the NE of England huge amounts of money could be won in leek shows and everybody had their own SECRET methods and feeds which were often passed on through the family

[paddywak]

your post has set me thinking and though I never bbothered much with blanch leeks I grew "Pots" for several years. The ideal pot had a white section of no more then 6in from the root plate to the unsplit "button" (or V) with as much girth as possible. Many a man has been been unable to show his best leeks because he button had split or gone above the permitted 6in

[theonlyone]

paddywak , thanks for the info ..i'm a new
allotment person , but have grown veg in the
garden , but all the old chaps on the plots had
the most amazing leeks growing in March ..
so fingers xed that mine will be as good later
in the year .

[Lonnie]

Previous to last year, i'd always used downpipes, cut to size of course, but last year I used toilet
roll tubes, good, but not as good as the pipes.

[theonlyone]

Thanks for the replies , think i will try the
loo tubes . What ever I grow will be better than shop
veg ..fresh and organic . It's amazing the mix of
people on the allotment site , young and old ,
but also the Dad is there with the children
passing on skills , and they enjoy it . Would
recommend any one to get an allotment ..
hard work but nice .