Leek, Bleu de Solaise (Blue Winter leek)

February 23, 2014 by Elaine 1 Comment

This is a record of how long this particular set of seeds took to germinate and how they looked at various stages from first appearance to the development of the first set of true leaves and beyond. I hope this will prove useful.

Variety: Bleu de Solaise (blue, winter leek)
Sown indoors: 13th February 2014
First Seedling: 19th February 2014
Germination: 6 days
Germination ratio: 22/28 seeds sown (by 28th February)

Two days after first appearance.

 

26th February: 7days old

28th February: 9 days old and what looks like the final seedling has appeared.

 

21st March: 1 month old

After a couple of weeks on the bathroom windowsill, I moved these leeks outside into one of the growhouses and they are thriving.

17th May: These leeks are now living under the insect netting in one of the raised beds and are growing slowly but surely. They have a much darker blue/green colouration than the other variety I am growing.

6th June: The leeklings are now not far off from being ready to plant out …. but not this weekend, as the weather is a little on the stormy side.

18th June: the leeks were ready for planting out and I planted alternate rows of this variety and the other one, Jaune de Poitou. The cardboard tubes will help blanch the leaves, to create a longer section of tender white leek.