Beside the Stream

Our last frost date is June 1, so in May we’re able to put out the leeks and onions, broccoli and cabbages (the Alliums and Brassicas, if you’re feeling latinate).  

Bob and Rick built raised beds the same day they bent the cattleguard for the chicken palace. 

The onions went in a few days ago–I had started about 100 sets in 6-packs–and the leeks are ready to be planted today.

The Musselburgh leeks are about 7 weeks old, and they’re very slender.

Since I had been thinking of Roy Roy eating these leeks, I followed British instructions to plant them. 

 

They called for a trenched and dibbled bed (6″ deep trenches dibbled an additional 4″ deep).   They helpfully explained that if you don’t have a dibble, you can use a hoe handle. 

 Dibble isn’t a word I see much, but it dates to Rob Roy’s time …[Origin: 1325–75; late Middle English]

dib·ble  /ˈdɪbəl/ [dib-uhl] noun, verb, -bled, -bling.

–noun

1. a small, hand-held, pointed implement for making holes in soil for planting seedlings, bulbs, etc.

–verb (used with object)

2. to make a hole (in the ground) with or as if with a dibble.

3. to set (plants) in holes made with a dibble.

–verb (used without object)

4. to work with a dibble.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

 

I used my hoe handle, since dibbles aren’t standard tools here, and the leeks look as happy in their bed as if it were laid by a Scotswoman using her grandmother’s own dibble.

As it turns out, leeks are  lot older than dibblers and Rob Roy.  They are from the Bronze Age–perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.  By the time of the Roman Empire, leeks were commonplace.

Nero, the Roman emperor, loved to eat leeks.  He ate them every day (some sources say he ate leeks cooked in oil, and others say he ate leek soup).  His nickname Porrophagus means “leek eater”, and it is said that he believed leeks improved the timbre of his voice. 

As a nickname, I think Porrophagus is right up there with Stinky.