by GardenLover | Apr 24, 2012 | Snapshots
By Michael Leach
Those who share my desire for an organized, orderly environment — some dismiss us as mere control freaks — should consider investing in an edging iron.
Edging is the landscape equivalent of tucking in a shirttail, pinning back stray hairs and putting scattered papers into a straight stack.
A landscape designer I spoke with recently said, “If you have crisp, clean edging, it makes everything else just pop.”
Indeed it does. I started popping my landscape decades ago, after being introduced to edginess by a friend even more concerned about neatness than I.
Not long after this encounter, I visited England and beheld the epitome of crisp and clean. The English apparently use lasers guided by celestial navigational devices to surgically slice edges. Then they trim the grass with manicuring scissors. On this side of the pond, our coarse grass precludes British perfection, unless one opts for putting turf as lawn — standard grass over there. But I digress.
Edging is serious work. But the reward is almost instant gratification. Where once the lawn and border mingled in unseemly disarray, a clear boundary is set.
This is important for me, because my desire for neatness doesn’t extend to most of the borders and beds. They are packed with a hodge-podge of plants for an exuberant effect that is lost on a few. “What a jungle!” gasped one first-time visitor, who has yet to receive a second invitation.
Regardless of your landscape style, an edge brings crispness only for a time. Unfortunately nature abhors an edge almost as much as a vacuum. Rain and freezing weather erode it. Grass, clover and other insurgents sneak down the edge to invade beds. Meanwhile, the ornamental plants toss seeds or send runners into the gutter where a base camp is established for the lawn invasion.
To thwart these schemes, my edges are more like trenches dug several inches deep. Semiannual digging suffices for all but the most-seen parts of the landscape. Maybe someday I shall budget for permanent metal edging. So far, my desire for neatness hasn’t overcome another trait — frugality.
by GardenLover | Apr 20, 2012 | Snapshots
By Debra Knapke
Teresa’s favorite tool is my second favorite. The tool that goes with me everywhere in the garden is my trusty, multi-purpose perennial knife. It plants bulbs, busts up soil, renews the edge on a garden and weeds with a vengeance. My first one had a wood handle, but I found that a brown tool in a garden equals a lost tool in the garden. All new perennial knives sport an orange plastic handle, and two of my three wood-handled knives now are wrapped with colored duct tape. In total, I have six perennial knives; three wood, three orange. You are probably wondering why? Our children had to have their own perennial knives. And, when I lost a knife in the garden, I ordered a replacement. Then the lost knives reappeared.
There are only five well-loved and well-used knives in the picture. Time to go hunting.
by GardenLover | Apr 18, 2012 | Snapshots
By Teresa Woodard
Spring gardening chores can be daunting, but the right tools help make the work more enjoyable. Today, I share my hedge shears by Okatsune as we start a mini blog series on our Favorite Tools. This Japanese-crafted set of blades is my go-to tool for trimming the boxwood hedge along the front of our house. While I’ve tried other shears, these deliver much smoother and more precise cuts not crushing or “chewed” cuts. Their sharpness and cutting power is attributed to the blades’ hot hammer-forged “Izumo Yasuki Steel”, which is supposedly used in the making of Japanese swords. Check back for Debra’s and Michael’s favorite tools or comment here with your own favorites.
by GardenLover | Mar 19, 2012 | Snapshots
Here on the last day of winter, Teresa and Michael are delighting in their latest garden harvests. Teresa dug winter carrots that she sowed last fall, and Michael’s been enjoying a covered row of collards through this mild winter. Now, they just need Debra to create a good recipe with the two ingredients. For next season, they’re making more plans for multiple crops. Michael has a cold frame ready to plant tomato seeds, and Teresa recently planted peas and lettuce seeds. What vegetables are you planting this spring?
by GardenLover | Feb 14, 2012 | Snapshots
If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever. — Alfred Lord Tennyson
by GardenLover | Feb 1, 2012 | Snapshots
By Michael Leach
Baby it’s cold outside — but not as cold as it used to be. At least that’s the impression from the just-released Plant Hardiness Zone Map from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. This map shows the lowest temperatures likely during the winter and helps gardeners determine which plants can survive in their area.
For instance, Madison, Wisc. is now considered Zone 5a where the lowest winter temps can fall between -20 to – 15 F. In the last version, produced in 1990, Madison was in Zone 4 (-30 to -20 F). The St. Louis metro area went from Zone 5 (-10 to -20 F) on the 1990 map to Zones 6a (-10 to -5 F) and 6b (-5 to 0) on the new. Cincinnati, however, remains in Zone 6. Gardeners in these areas should select plants rated as hardy in Zone 5 for Madison and Zone 6 for St. Louis and Cincinnati. (Gardeners also should select plants that need the soil, light and water conditions found in their yards but this is gist for another post.)
Maybe the coldest readings in some parts of the Midwest just aren’t as cold as they were when the last map was produced in 1990. But that doesn’t grant us license to succumb to zone envy and begin planting delicate things hardy only in much warmer climes.
No. Caution is advised. There’s one sure bet in the Midwest — extreme weather. Regardless of groundhog prognostications, Easter egg hunts can be snowy affairs in even the warmest parts of the Heartland.
By Michael Leach
