LEEKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 October 1939, Page 3

LEEKS

ARE EASY TO GROW. This is a plant which has been cultivated from the earliest days. It is a most important winter vegetable, and one which is easy to grow. To get long stems suitable for the exhibition stand it is necessary to sow the seed in heat in August, to prick out the seedlings into boxes, and then to pot or box them on again, and after hardening them off they are planted out in wellmanured trenches in October. The object is to get a long white stem, which after all is not a true stem, but a number of leaves rolled round one another by their stalks. For ordinary purposes, seed can be sown on a wellmanured border in October or November and the plants put out in their permanent quarters in January. Leeks will grow in any kind of soil, but it should be well manured. Planting is a very simple process. Drills are drawn with the hoe similar to those prepared for planting cabbage, and in the bottom of these drills holes about six inches deep are made with a dibber about six inches apart. The leeks are lifted from the seed bed, the leaves are trimmed a bit, and so also are the roots and a plant is placed in each hole. It is not necessary to push in soil, a good watering will wash down sufficient to cover the roots and in time the stem should practically fill the hole. In time the soil can be drawn up round the plants to produce a longer white stem. A good variety to sow is Improved Lyon.