The late Peter Clark, a dear friend of mine, was the most amazing man for selecting stock plants of any sorts, particularly long leeks and onions, he used to grow the Blanch Leek Pendle Improved he won many championships with that leek, he was a wizard at selecting the right stock, all his championship leeks were put back to seed, he used to cut off the leek flags to about 6 inches long and place the leek into a soil bed with a support cane. His tunnel was isolated and pretty cold in winter, he did not mollycoddle his stock. Every year I would go see him in Late October, he would have enormous blanch leek heads with great big strong seed heads full of grass.
He only ever chose leek grass that was large and matching in thickness, his stock was kept meticulously clean. He used to then place these leek grass in paper cups of good seed compost around early November in his cold conservatory, these would then be transferred under T5 Lights around Christmas for 12 hrs every day, these lights were left on right up to him planting in early May in his Polytunnel. We have the exact same stock to purchase here. We also have a How To Grow Big Leeks Booklet on growing these amazing leeks.
As with his leeks Peter also was amazing at selecting his Large Dressed Onions for seeding in the same beds as his leeks. The onion below were given to me by Peters wife Angela just after he died, these were still in his own soil beds in mid march 2019. I have took it upon myself to maintain his excellent stock of blanch leeks and onions.
Peter always mixed his own potting compost made from a medium peat, to make life easier, he mixed his in a cement mixer! I have included his formula below.
PETER CLARK MIX
4 PARTS PEAT
1 PART CLEAN SOIL
1 PART COURSE PERLITE
1 PART COURSE VERMICULITE
12 OZ DOLOMITE LIME
+ 16 OUNCES OF PG MIX TO A BUSHEL (8 Gallons)
PG MIX 12-14-24 is an all-in-one powdered compound fertiliser for potting soils which converts ordinary peat into high standard potting soil. PG Mix removes the burden of mixing straights and provides even distribution of nutrients in the potting medium. PG MIX removes the burden of mixing straights and provides even distribution of nutrients in the potting medium.