This was my first attempt at how to grow leeks in containers. They are 5 gallon self-watering buckets that were put together as shown in this post.
This was completely new to me but was essential because we were having severe water restrictions. I had to move away from the more traditional vegetable gardening.
I have been vegetable gardening for about 20 years. In the earlier days I had a large garden and grew just about every type of vegetable quite well.
I also had access to manure from a dairy farm and set up several large raised beds and introduced red worms bought from a worm farm.
This was my main fertiliser for my vegetables were easy to look after. Needless to say my vegetables were producing really well with this nutrient dense vermicompost.
The potting mix used here contains sufficient organic nutrients for a few weeks, but I used liquid seaweed as additional nutrients during the growing season.
Watering was easy and just topped up the sump to the overflow level and this lasted a few days depending on the size of the plants.
Planting The Leeks
I was a bit lazy here and went to the nursery supplies and bought a punnet of seedlings. These are well established and all I had to do was to plant them in the potting mix.
This was not as easy as first thought. When you have such a small area you tend to plant too many in a small area. I did that but they turned out pretty good for the first go.
They would have been a bit larger if they had been spaced out a bit more. But that is how you learn how to grow leeks in containers
Harvesting The Leeks
This was my first attempt to grow leeks in a 5 gallon self-watering bucket. These bucket were white plastic and appears to have let in some light.
I guess the roots grew towards the light and so does not show many roots in the middle
The following year I grew leeks in a much larger self-watering container. It was actually a black 60 litre converted garbage bin. As you can see not all the roots are against the bin.
This tells me that the roots are more evenly growing in the black bin.
The first leeks from the 20 litre/5 gallon buckets. They were a bit small but tasted great. I have a to not plant them too close next time.
Now that is a better size. They were spread out more and planted in a black 60 litre/13 gallon bin.
They were delicious and very nutritious.
The image on the left shows the roots of the leeks were all attracted to the light of the white buckets.
The image under harvesting the leeks on the left shows not many roots in the centre of the potting mix. I pulled the whole lot out of the bucket so that I could see how the roots were behaving.
I needed to know this so I could understand how to grow leeks in containers
I also saw that there was a bit of algae on the roots and in the bottom of the white bucket bucket.
What did I learn
I have learned a whole lot about growing vegetables in containers. I used the white buckets thinking that they would better suit our hot summers with many 40c degree days.
I thought that the white would reflect the heat and the veggies would not cook during the day.
The next year I bought some large black garbage bins and made them into self-watering containers. They were better suited to the larger plants such as zucchinis and melons and tomatoes.
Next year I will still use the white buckets, but will wrap them in a black plastic and see how the roots behave.
I really love growing my own vegetables and hope you enjoy reading about my adventure into container gardening.
To block the light and keep the roots cool you may think about using Mylar foil. I bought IIRC 6 “emergency blankets” for less than $10USD, then cut them up to fit around my containers. Mirror reflective but fragile.
OldCrow
Thank you for your suggestion, I will definitely give it a try
So happy I found your site! Chipmunks are giving me a difficult time, so I am going to try tomatoes and leeks in buckets.
I live in CT and grow beefsteak tomatoes. Last year, the chips climbed up the tomato stalks and bit into every tomatoe just as it was pickable.
I have 5 gal buckets. Do I need to drill holes in the bottom for drainage?
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Hi Kathleen, Please check out this post – https://containergardenbeds.com/diy-self-watering-bucket-vegetable-garden/ . It will show you where to drill a hole for the overflow needed to prevent drowning your plants. You need at least 1 inch gap between the water level and the potting mix for air. Good luck.