Leeks

Unwatered spring-sown bulbing onions are impossible.  Leek is the only allium I know of that may grow steadily but slowly through severe drought; the water-short gardener can depend on leeks for a fall/winter onion supply.

Sowing date: Start a row or several short rows about 12 inches apart on a nursery bed in March or early April at the latest.  Grow thickly, irrigate during May/June, and fertilize well so the competing seedlings get leggy.

Spacing: By mid-to late June the seedlings should be slightly spindly, pencil-thick, and scallion size.  With a sharp shovel, dig out the nursery row, carefully retaining 5 or 6 inches of soil below the seedlings.  With a strong jet of water, blast away the soil and, while doing this, gently separate the tangled roots so that as little damage is done as possible.  Make sure the roots don’t dry out before transplanting.  After separation, I temporarily wrap bundled seedlings in wet newspaper.

Dig out a foot-deep trench the width of an ordinary shovel and carefully place this earth next to the trench.  Sprinkle in a heavy dose of organic fertilizer or strong compost, and spade that in so the soil is fluffy and fertile 2 feet down.  Do not immediately refill the trench with the soil that was dug out.  With a shovel handle, poke a row of 6-inch-deep holes along the bottom of the trench.  If the nursery bed has grown well there should be about 4 inches of stem on each seedling before the first leaf attaches.  If the weather is hot and sunny, snip off about one-third to one-half the leaf area to reduce transplanting shock.  Drop one leek seedling into each hole up to the point that the first leaf attaches to the stalk, and mud it in with a cup or two of liquid fertilizer.  As the leeks grow, gradually refill the trench and even hill up soil around the growing plants.  This makes the better-tasting white part of the stem get as long as possible.  Avoid getting soil into the center of the leek where new leaves emerge, or you’ll not get them clean after harvest.

Spacing of the seedlings depends on the amount of irrigation.  If absolutely none at all, set them 12 inches apart in the center of a row 4 feet wide.  If unlimited water is available, give them 2 inches of separation.  Or adjust spacing to the water available.  The plants grow slowly through summer, but in autumn growth will accelerate, especially if they are side-dressed at this time.

Varieties: For dry gardening use the hardier, more vigorous winter leeks.  Durabel (TSC) has an especially mild, sweet flavor.  Other useful varieties include Giant Carentian (ABL), Alaska (STK), and Winter Giant (PEA).

Lettuce

Spring-sown lettuce will go to large sizes, remaining sweet and tender without irrigation if spaced 1 foot apart in a single row with 2 feet of elbow room on each side.  Lettuce cut after mid-June usually gets bitter without regular, heavy irrigation.  I reserve my well-watered raised bed for this summer salad crop.  Those very short of water can start fall/winter lettuce in a shaded, irrigated nursery bed mid-August through mid-September and transplant it out after the fall rains return.  Here is one situation in which accelerating growth with cloches or cold frames would be very helpful.