Last spring one of my community garden neighbors gave me her extra leek and shallot seedlings, and showed me how she grows leeks in a trench. To grow leeks with nice long white stalks, you need to keep covering the stalk with soil as it grows. Often leeks are planted level with the ground and soil is mounded up around them as they grow. My neighbor told me that she likes this trench method instead because she’s lazy, though you’d hardly think her lazy looking at her garden. She plants her leeks at the bottom of a trench, and then gradually fills it in as the leeks grow. The trench method is a bit more work at planting time, though I do think it makes things a little easier for the rest of the season. Continue reading →