Has anybody ever transplanted leeks?

[sinkingfeeling]

I bought a pot of leeks about 4 inches high this weekend. They look like chives, but a bit larger. How do you plant them into the garden? Just set them in little clumps until they start growing bigger and then thin them out?

[Denninmi]

1. Just plant them individually in the permanent spot.

Excessive transplanting will set them back.

If they're too small for you to feel comfortable at this point, let them grow on in this pot a while until they're bigger. Give them a couple of light doses of some kind of liquid fertilizer, good sunlight, and they'll size up pretty fast.

When you plant them out, I would say ideal spacing is about six to eight inches apart, if you have the luxury of that much room, but 4 inches will work in a pinch.

[Tsiyu]

2. That's what I did last year

(Denninmi's advice)

They actually grew through the winter and are now big clumps themselves which I will thin this week. They are pretty foolproof, it seems.
Good Luck!

[HopeHoops]

3. You need to plant them in a 6" trench and slowly add soil to cover them over time.

The white part (blanched) is what's underground. That's why you use a trench and fill in. It increases the useful part of the plant.

[wildeyed]

4. I leave a few at the end of the year to go to seed if I remember.

Mine self-sow and I get a whole new batch the next year!