Fothergill's RHS Leek Oarsman F1 Seeds

Details:

• Botanical Name: Allium porrum 'Oarsman F1', a premium, highly uniform hybrid selection within the allium family.
• Plant Class: Hardy Biennial grown as an annual, possessing superior hybrid vigour for rapid seedling establishment and robust, straight growth.
• Early Maturing Shanks: Engineered to grow rapidly, producing heavy yields of uniform, solid, and snow-white shanks significantly earlier than traditional heritage varieties.
• Advanced Rust Tolerance: Bred with strong modern genetics to feature excellent natural resistance against leek rust, keeping the foliage clean, healthy, and highly productive.
• Slow-To-Bolt Genetics: Exceptionally resilient against temperature fluctuations, making it slow to run to seed and allowing the mature crop to stand firmly in the ground until you are ready to harvest.
• Gourmet Flavour Profile: Packed with a mild, sweet, and refined onion flavour, with a meltingly tender texture that makes it a versatile kitchen essential for comforting winter stews, classic potato soups, or simple butter braises.
• Hard-Wearing Resilience: Features a robust root system and tough frame, making it a great choice if you are growing in exposed allotments or varying British soil types.

Care Instructions:

• Sowing Position: Choose a position with deep, fertile, and well-drained soil in full sun, raking the ground to a fine, crumbly tilth before planting. For a reliable autumn crop, sow seeds thinly indoors in deep modules from January to February, or sow directly outdoors into a dedicated seedbed from March to April.
• Sowing Method: Direct sow seeds 1.5cm deep in shallow rows spaced 30cm apart. Keep the seedbed consistently moist until germination is complete, and keep the surrounding rows well-weeded to prevent competition for vital nutrients.
• Transplanting and Deep Blanching: When the young outdoor seedlings reach the thickness of a pencil, transplant them to their final positions by dropping them into holes 15cm deep spaced 15cm apart. Fill the holes with water rather than soil to allow the roots to anchor naturally, which encourages the development of long, beautifully blanched white stems.
• Harvesting Protocol: Lift the leeks carefully using a garden fork from September through to January as required, choosing alternative plants to allow the remaining crop extra space to swell cleanly in the winter ground.