Veg4Show

This year I'm growing two strains of leek "The Welsh seedling" and the current world record holder "Pendle". I bought both as young bulbils from medywns (11 of each) and they have come on really well from day one. The Pendle leeks especially have flown away and within the past week the welsh seedlings have caught up so it will be interesting to see which i will select for the shows.



I grow all my leeks in John Innes number 2 which does slow them down but gives you a much finer leek come show time. I normally start the bulbils off in some levington multi purpose compost to get them off to a good start but from there on John Innes number 2 is used until i plant out. Not everything has gone to plan and i lost 3 Pendle leeks to virus/fungus? which is a lot of leeks to lose considering i am only growing 22 for showing this year. The ones i lost all looked slightly weak but still reached the size of my pinky in girth, but then started to go orange at the bottom and once one leaf came off the barel just disapeared until i was left with this mess.



I grow my leeks and onions under a 600 watt powerplant pro mantis metal halide grow light which i have on a timer for 16 hours a day. This is reduced as the season progresses until i eventually put them on normal daylight. I also have a few solar powered fans to help keep the air circulating. Under this i have a soil warming cable covered in sand and my leeks are sat in large watering trays to avoid any direct heat.