I'm growing leeks from bulbils
The best way to get an exhibition crop is to grow from bulbils from a mother plant
I'm often asked at flower shows how I get my leeks to grow so big. The person who asks the question then goes on to say they sowed their seed in January. The fact, of course, is that we don’t grow our exhibition leeks from seed; they're grown from pips or bulbils that we remove from the seed head and then re-plant.
As soon as I can after I come home from the flower shows with my leeks, I remove the roots then reduce the length of the barrel to around 15cm (6in). I then take a sharp knife and cut down the length of the barrel at least 6mm (¼in) deep and remove those flags until the barrel is around the same diameter or less than the root plate.
Then I pot the barrel into a 5 litre pot using good quality multipurpose compost – I use either Levington M3 or Humax original.
If you require a few leek heads to develop, plant three in a 10 litre pot and keep these in the polytunnel or cold greenhouse. They don't need any heat as they might develop too early for you. The following spring these leeks will throw up a seed head and, if allowed, would flower and set seed. However, I remove all the flowers before the seed are set and the leek then pushes up some green shoots which are, of course, tiny leeks (called pips or bulbils) that are all identical to the mother plant and you remove these around October time and plant up.
My leeks for the Malvern late show are currently in 1 litre pots and grown in Canna Coco Professional Plus. This gave me some amazing results last year. The coco is an inert material and must be given nutrients through using Canna A and B liquid feed through the season. My onions and leeks for Chelsea are growing away very well indeed with onions in 15 litre AutoPots and the leeks in 25 litre AutoPots.
■ Why not follow me on Twitter throughout the season as I grow vegetables for my display at Malvern – @medwynsofangles.