Submitted by Greta Van den Bossche, a member of the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society
Leek is a great vegetable to grow. Although it can be expensive in the store; it is easy to grow. It has a milder taste than onions and can be used in soups and stews.
Early March is a good time to start your leek seeds as they benefit from a long growing season. Seed them indoors in plugs or even a salad container. You can use the kind you get some veggies or salad in from the grocery store – clear plastic with a closable lid. Keep the lid on until sprouting as it keeps the moisture in.
Once the leek is growing, add diluted fertilizer every week or 2 with the watering. Leeks are heavy feeders.
When the soil is thawed out in April and your leek have grown pencil thick, it is time to transplant outdoors. Dig a trench about 6 inches deep and plant in a row 6 inches apart. As your leek grows, hill up the leek so it will have a nice white stalk growing (add soil from both sides about 1 inch at a time to give leek sunlight.) If you plant leek closer together, harvest them initially by thinning your rows.
Instead of seeding indoors you can also use the mini greenhouse method. Use a big plastic jug. Make enough draining holes in the bottom. Cut the jug horizontally in half, keeping the side with the handle attached. Fill with potting soil and seed your leek. Then tape the top half to the bottom with duct tape and remove the cap. This jug be placed outside in a sunny location. The leek will start growing when the weather is thawing. Then transplant in April or May as with the indoor grown leek.
