Most of my favourite crops have performed extremely well, with good yields of delicious, fat vegetables. But, I have to admit, the leeks have been very disappointing.
This has been a very productive year on my veg plot. Most of my favourite crops have performed extremely well, with good yields of delicious, fat vegetables. But, I have to admit, the leeks have been very disappointing. I’ve never known such a miserable, skinny crop. Is it just me that’s been unlucky this year? Eager to find out, I recently took to driving very slowly past the local allotments, to get a glimpse of the leeks there!
Without wishing to tempt fate, at least my crop hasn’t been affected by leek moth. More and more gardeners have been asking about this small but potentially devastating pest at recordings of Gardeners’ Question Time, and at talks I have given.
The caterpillars of the moth cause horrible, discoloured patches on the leek foliage, stunted growth and sometimes they tunnel into the stems. (They can also tunnel into onions bulbs.) A disaster for leek lovers such as myself.
This year, in an attempt to outwit the moth, I planted my leeks in a more out-of-the-way spot than usual. I also covered one plot with fleece: if the adult moths were about this would have prevented them from laying their eggs in the leeks in the first place.
I have a feeling it was the less-than-ideal, rather shady new spot and the fleece that led to such a pathetic, underwhelming yield. So it looks as if the leek moth got me in the end, albeit indirectly!
How have your leeks performed this year?
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