Leeks and lights

I thought it about time to pot on my leeks again as they were looking like they were in needed a change. I decided I would try some different pots this year as I hope to encourage them to root a bit deeper, with the standard size pots it always seemed that the roots hit the base quite quickly then just went round in circles so with an extra 2"of pot to grow into I hope to see some extra benefit. I do find it a bit of a fidley job ( it took me from 11am to 2-30pm to get 21 done) staking and slipping on the collars which are at up to seven inch and with another inch underground they are a fair bit ahead of the ones I grew last year. The mix I used was 3 parts levington No 3, 2 parts peat saved from last years potato bags and 1 part vermiculite it looked nice and open so I thought I would give it a try. On tuesday I was at our NVS meeting and John Soulsby from the north east talked on growing leeks with artificial lighting some of it was fairly technical but still fascinating to hear the different requirements and options that are available, but I was pleased that he thought Envirolights like I have are a decent compromise for the hobby gardener like me, One thing that I picked up on was that onions need slightly different light spectrum than leeks seemingly if you use a 600 Watt sodium light with dual spectrum and a proper reflector hood is essential, it encourages longer plant cell development giving a more shapely and upright onion than if fluorescent type light is used, so now I know why I am hopeless at growing onions from seed. Last summer I grew some Kelsea onion seed into sets after reading about it on the NVS forum and I am going to try planting them this spring my main thought was that it would save a lot on heating and lighting from Christmas to March , I know it may be not for the purists but if it works I may stick with it so watch this space and see how I go on.