Medwyn Williams prepares leeks to get the perfect blanch
Fix collars around your leeks now to get the perfect blanch for showing
There’s so much to do at the moment, but one important job is to collar the blanch leeks to make sure I have a good blanch on them at show time. I’ve a very pleasant dilemma this year, having more leeks than I really need.
The reason for this is I’ve my usual Pendle leeks, but on top of that I’ve some very good Llanberis leeks, as well as five new crosses from grower Ivor Mace. These new crosses are going well, although it’s early days yet, and I’ll have to persevere with them to see which of the five is going to be the one to continue with.
One of the crosses, in particular, looks powerful, having a bigger girth and could be of the same style as the ‘Pendle Improved’.
I discovered many years ago that to have a good blanch coupled with a good girth, you need to blanch early. If you leave it too late you may well have a large girth early on, but you’ll find it a struggle to get the leek to give you the length of blanch you need. This year I collared 20 of the ‘Pendle Improved’ and 10 of Ivor’s crosses on January 27, using builders’ damp course. I cut this pliable plastic into
pieces 22x10cm ( 9x4in), which is sufficient for the initial 22cm (9in) of blanch. The leeks at the time were in 2 litre pots in a mixture of Levington M3 and some sieved soil that I removed from my celery bed and carried inside the polytunnel to dry. Since then they’ve made good growth and are ready for larger pots before eventually going into either final growing beds or pots. I’ve had some excellent results by growing them in large pots on the bench in both the glasshouse and the polytunnel. However, I find I get the best results in the polytunnel in 30 litre pots.