How To Get A Rich Harvest Of Healthy Leeks
Content:
Leeks are not as popular as regular leeks. Nevertheless, it is increasingly found in vegetable gardens. Those who love this plant have understood that growing it yourself is much cheaper and easier than buying it.
Preparing leek seeds for planting
The leek is also called pearl. You can eat not only the stems of Leek, but also its leaves.
It is grown from seeds. You can buy them at any gardening store. Seeds can be sown at home, and then planted in the ground, or, depending on the weather, they can be planted immediately in the garden. Leek is a heat-loving plant, seedlings are planted closer to summer, that is, at the very end of May. If you plant it in a dark place, the leaves will be pale, and the onions themselves will not be as tasty. Before sowing, seeds should be kept in water no colder than 40 degrees for 30 minutes, and then sharply lowered into cold water. Then the seeds should be placed in a wet cloth and kept warm until they germinate. Then they are dried a little, and you can sow. You need to sow seeds for seedlings after February 15. To sow seeds for seedlings, you need to take a small container with earth, water, sow seeds to a depth of no more than one cm, cover with earth and spray from a spray bottle, and cover with foil. Put in a warm place and wait for shoots. In about a week, the seeds will sprout. Then we remove the container on the window, daylight hours should be at least 10 hours, or you need to put additional lighting, but the temperature should not be too high. You need to water the seedlings regularly so that the earth does not dry out.
Planting leek seedlings
Somewhere in a month, seedlings can be planted in open ground. But before that, in a couple of weeks, the seedlings need to be hardened, gradually lowering the temperature. And it is advisable to shorten the leaves in half, so that the onion takes root better. It is best that legumes or tomatoes were the predecessors. You make a bed, there are holes in it, and one seedling in one hole, at a distance of 3 cm from each other, and the row spacing is 10 cm. Water, loosen the aisles, so air will get to the roots, and the weeds will grow less. If you sow seeds directly into the ground, then you need to do this no earlier than May 15th. At an air temperature of 15 degrees, the seeds will germinate quickly. If there is not enough heat, then the onion will not have time to grow to a standard size and will not have time to ripen. If you sow Leek in a greenhouse, then you can do this already at the beginning of April, then the seeds will sprout quickly. If the heat at this time is still not enough, then the bed must be kept under the film, and periodically ventilated so that the seedlings do not grow.
Further care for leeks
When the seedlings have sprouted too densely, it must be thinned out by pulling out excess seedlings. Leek seeds do not have to be purchased, you can collect them yourself. Their germination capacity lasts up to three years. Plant Leek Ray in narrow beds for a couple of rows, and the length can be anything. In the aisles of Leek, you can plant dill or even carrots. Also Leek will grow well next to celery. It is necessary to loosen the soil no later than once every two weeks. And just as often it needs to be hilled. Leeks need a lot of moisture, but they should not stagnate.
It is better to plant leeks in the garden on the sunny side, on a narrow bed in two rows. Water well, occasionally fertilizing the ground. Loosen and weed regularly, then a good harvest of tasty and healthy onions will not be long in coming. And it will delight you all season.