[Goosegirl]

Having just planted 50 leeks and using a trowel instead of a dibber as I fond it easier to get it out of the ground, I wondered why leeks aren't planted the same as other plants, i.e. in a hole then covered up.

[compostqueen]

I thought that you made a deep hole so the leek would have a blanched shank 

I make holes with a pit deputy's stick, which I plunge into the moist ground and wiggle around to form a goodly sized hole. A bulb planter works well too I found 

I once made a whole load of leek holes, duly planted the leeks only to return home and find said leeks still on the table   I'd planted ruddy spring onions!    I hurried back and did the whole lot again and hoped no-one was looking 

[JayG]

 

I think it's probably easier to make a deep hole with a dibber than a trowel (having said that I don't actually own a dibber!  )

[compostqueen]

Call yerself a gardener 

[theothermarg]

something to do with keeping the roots straight I think  If you pop them in a deep hole and water them in the water takes the root down. I think you are supposed to cut some off, maybe for the same reason
marg

[mumofstig]

Yes, it's so you get a long blanched stem to use

(having said that I don't actually own a dibber!  )

This year (this afternoon in fact!) I used the handle from a broken broom  and found it much easier than the bulb planter I used last year (the bulb planter never wanted to release the plug of earth, so it was a real pain!

[Aunt Sally]

And you don't fill the hole up with soil when you've popped the leek in, just fill it with water.

[JayG]

The first year I grew leeks they were the infamous 'Biro refill' thickness rather than pencil thick, so they would probably have disappeared forever if I'd used a dibber! 

Not difficult getting a deep hole in my sandy soil using a trowel - just have to water it a bit first to stop it falling in before I drop the leek in!

[dugless]

My ground gets too hard for a dibber I made a tool out of 1" Steam pipe I get a good clean hole 10" deep
Of cause I have to hit it with an Hammer

[LottyLouis]

I thought it was to give the plant space to thicken up - might be wrong. Usually am!   

[dugless]

I thought it was to give the plant space to thicken up - might be wrong. Usually am!   

It is to blanch the stem that is why the deeper you get them the longer the white bit.

[Growster...]

I adapted a useless lawn aerator, into a 'Growsterdib', by duct-taping a strong dibber to the bottom as shown.

This makes dibbling dead easy, as you can push the point down with a determined boot, and get an 8" planting hole as easy as getting - er - an 8" planting hole, and from a standing position to help the old back!

This year over two hundred went in, in a couple of hours or so!

[DD.]

Should have taped three fibbers to it!

[mumofstig]

Just a few more white lies then? 

[Growster...]

Ha ha ha - I really should cut off the other tines, as they sometimes shove soil back in the other holes, but I'm so used to using this now, it has to remain unique - i.e. an Aerating Growsterdib..;0)

(Patent Pending).