More on Leeks and Leek Grass

The other day I gave Dave Metcalfe a ring to reserve next years Pendle Improved Leek plants for collection mid December the same as last year.I also asked him about his thoughts on whether the ones that went to seed this year would produce plants that would not go to seed in the first year replicating the parent plants behavior His answer was that he has sometimes forced some plants to go to seed in their first year to increase stock with no adverse effects.I am still not sure as other people have given me conflicting information,with all this in mind and following Medwyns article in the GN. this week on the very same subject I have decided to root another batch of 70 plants from one of this years seeded Leeks to see what happens IE will they or won't they go to seed  in their first year. I will be growing them in parallel with Dave's plants to see what happens.

Head split in half

Grass planted to start rooting

These small leek grass will start to go upright in about a week I planted the bottom of the grass vertical so when the tops straighten as they grow towards the light i should have nice straight plants
You may remember that I had a go at rooting some grass about 6 weeks ago just to practice the technique,these plants are now doing very well but I will not be growing them on because they were too early I may grow them through the winter in the heated tunnel for kitchen use.

ones i rooted earlier

The head gardener has now moved back from Lancashire which is a blessing and we now see him every day as he is just across the road, he visited the garden the other day to check out the progress of the sprouts for Christmas only to find they have grown rather large.

I have also continued with the revamp to the large tunnel the long carrot and parsnip house has gone and the bed has been raised and filled with compost mix.This will be perfect for beetroot as the compost is nice and open texture which should allow the tap roots to grow nice and straight

Monday was the day that I bit the bullet  and sowed the giant onions for next year I was not going to bother but after being stood with Peter glazebrook when he officially beat the world record and just buying a packet of seeds from him I regained the bug to grow a giant, also I have promised Dan some plants for the spring to see if he can finally break 10 pounds, he will probably make a mess of it as usual but we will see.The packet of seeds had just over 50 in it for £6 I sowed 48 in modules and will now wait for some signs of germination we only need about 10 plants between us so some spares will be given away as I pot them on

    The over winter onion setts are doing nicely and I also have some plants from seed donated by Richard veg Patch which are also doing nicely