Week 52+24 - Bed DD3

Week 52+21 - Bed DD3

Week 52+7 - Bed DD3

The remaining leeks continue to grow and some of them have started to produce central flower stalks - one is barely visible in the lower right.

Some of these leeks could have been planted deeper, extending the area of blanched stalk below the leaves.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD3

We have been harvesting leeks aver the past few weeks, especially from the north end of the bed (top of photo).

Week 47 - Bed DD3

We pulled out the overgrown borage plants a few weeks ago, and the overshadowing effect on bed is clearly visible. The leeks in the centre of the bed are significantly smaller and are a much lighter colour.

Week 40 - Bed DD3

It is difficult to pass the borage plant as it sprawls out over the paths.

Honey bees have started to come to the borage, there must be a hive somewhere in the area.

The leeks above were transplanted 14 weeks ago and although they were originally sown into the seedbed at the same time as the ones below they are considerably bigger. This Lancia Leek is a very early variety that can be harvested from January to October, though we did sow it later than suggested.

These leeks were transplanted 7 weeks ago and are meant to be harvested any time form October to January.

Week 38 - Bed DD3

The borage has grown larger than we expected and has dominated quite a number of leeks.

A native bumblebee with pollen sacks visible on its hind legs, is busy visiting the borage flowers.

The more recently transplanted leeks are finally starting to get going again after transplanting ...

... but the older Lancia leeks are quite a bit larger.

Week 36 - Bed DD3

The borage has grown considerably in the last week.

Week 35 - Bed DD3

The borage is growing quite quickly, starting to hide and overshadow the north end of the bed.

Two weeks after transplanting, these leeks in the foreground are still bent over, but are not as wilted as they had been.

The borage has started to flower, and will continue to flower for most of the season. The primary purpose for planting borage in a garden is to attract bees and other pollinating insects.

Week 33 - Bed DD3 Planting

We gave up on everything that was sown in this bed - except for the borage and leeks - we even pulled up the one lone carrot seedling, and transplanted the rest of the bed with some more leeks:

• Monstruoso di Carentan (52 transplants) - an early variety that can be harvested from Oct to Jan.

24 of the leeks were transplanted north of the borage beside the existing Lancia Leeks, but these will likely be heavily overshadowed as the borage continues to grow. We are transplanting these leeks quite late, hopefully they will get enough time to grow to a reasonable size by the end of the season.





The newly transplanted leeks started to wilt fairly quickly, even though they were watered in.

When transplanting the leeks were placed at the bottom of a 15cm deep hole. The soil will gradually fill in the hole, creating a longer blanched white section on each plant. Creating this forced base to the plants is one of the main reasons for transplanting leeks.

The holes that the Lancia leeks were planted into have filled in.

Week 31 - Bed DD3

The poor weather over the last month was not good to this bed, or at least that is one explanation for the fact that most of what we sowed 5 weeks ago has failed to grow.

Of the eight short rows that we sowed with carrot seeds, only one carrot plant is growing.

There is no sign of the fennel, basil and dill, but the borage (above) is doing well.

The leeks that we transplanted are growing well, probably helped by the cooler wet weather.

Week 26 - Bed DD3 Planting

This bed was double dug last week and into northern third of the bed we transplanted:

• Lancia Leek (24 plants) - a productive variety which can be harvested from mid July to Oct

The leeks were transplanted from bed EX6, and placed into the bottom of holes which will gradually fill with soil, extending the length of blanched white shaft.


The rest of the bed was raked into a fine seedbed and in short drills across the bed we sowed (listed from north to south):

• Romanesco Fennel (1 short row) - late cropping variety with large round bulbs
• Flat Leaf Parsley (1 short row) - a continental type of parsley with large green tasty flat leaves
• Tetra Dill (1 short row) - a pretty culinary herb with feathery foliage and aniseed flavour
• Borage (1 short row) - beautiful blue flowered bee plant with edible flowers, young leaves can also be used
• Sweet Genovese Basil (1 short row) - a very aromatic large leaf variety
• Saint Valery Carrot (4.5 short rows) - a French heirloom variety with smooth thick roots and sweet, tender flesh
• Danvers Half Long Carrot (3.5 short rows) - a broad shouldered, short, maincrop variety

We will need a warm summer for the basil to do well, and the borage was planted primarily to attract bees.