Musselbrough?

Nice enough, fat and short but gone rusty this year already. Any ideas for clay soil?

Leek Yates Empire - will stand right up to May the following year if you let them! A doddle to grow

A bloke gave me some Autumn Giant and they were good uns BP

Autumn Mammoth Verina. Rarely bolts, resistant to loads of things (not rust, sadly!) ideal for organic growing and they're already big enough to pull and eat from sowing in late January. Grew them alongside Musselburgh in '03 (the awful summer for leeks) and the whole Musselburgh crop had bolted by October while the Verinas had lost perhaps 5-10%.

moonbells

I did Mussleburgh, looking good so far, but I should have thinned!!

The strimmed variety

I've grown lots of dead ones but I don't recommend it. They were Musselburgh, Carentan and Poristos. But they are all dead except three Carentans and about 20 Musslburghs.

I'm not too keen on fat leeks so this year have grown Jolant - often used as a mini veg but grow to thumb+ thickness

I've got some baby leeks from Fothergills to grow as well as big uns
They're called 'Armor'

I was scared about growing leeks cos thought it would be difficult They must be the easiest things to grow so I'm glad I had a go. they are fab aren't they

love them in quiche with ham

I roasted em with spuds and celeriac and parnsips round my beef joint last weekend. Wonderful flavours. You can't beat a leek

I've got yellow leaved ones (ready now) and bluey violety leaved ones (extra hardy for jan/feb harvesting, both from realseeds (can't remember the names though )

I like the blue ones for the foliage. They look gorgeous don't they and the way the leaves fan out up the stem. Don't taste bad either

'Bleu de Solaise' ? Just got some in my seed order

YUP, THAT'S EM

gosh, didn't mean to shout
I'll let you know how they taste after xmas

they sound lovely Dom - never heard of them. I put in Musselburgh and some off my lotty neighbour some Mammoth jobs

My strimmed ones are looking good. I have them earmarked for xmas left overs pasta. Gammon and leeks in a stilton bechemel sauce. Yummy

Creamed leeks are lovely anorl Bags Leeks go with everything don't they though

I have only ever grown Musselburgh with mixed success.

For clay soil I would go for one of the self blanching varieties because then you don't need to worry about planting them in holes or having to earth them up which I'd guess is an ideal solution for heavy soil. There's a chap on the plot who grows them and they are really really good. NO idea what varety though I'm afraid.

I'm quite smug about me leeks again cos I don't dig the soil before planting them. I used a full length bulb planter to make the holes cos the soil was like concrete. I used goodly sized plants though cos I let em grow on so then I could get em good and deep. The soil core I removed was solid so I composted them and filled the holes with water and then chucked some compost out me bins into the holes.

I've been pulling them for a few weeks now and am happy to say the leeks have managed to put out roots into the surrounding soil and they came out easily, with friable soil round them. Did the same with the celeriac but they don't seem to be bulbing up at the moment. Oh well you win some ...

this me (in a particularly elegant hat ) with one of me yellow leeks

Where did you get that hat
Where did you get that tile
Isn't it a nobby one
And just the proper style
I should like to have one
Just the same as that
Wherever I go they'd shout "Hello"
Where did you get that hat

Not a bad leek either

Looks like a seventies porn star - the leek, not Tara.