If you are sick and tired of trowels that bend and break, that look better than they work, read on!! I can remember going to a nursery over fifty years ago with my Dad. I must have been about ten years old. On the counter was a display box of heavy duty trowels. As our order was being written up, my Dad grabbed two out of the box and added them to his order. He said one was to be his and one was to be mine. He said I had earned my own trowel. As soon as we got them home he painted them with cherry red enamel so they would get lost. Dad still has his, although at almost ninety-three he doesn't use it much anymore. I still use mine although the red paint is pretty much gone. These trowels are still made by the same company and are virtually the same, although the shape of the blade has changed slightly and the original factory color has changed from green to black. But they are absolutely as sturdy and heavy duty as they were fifty years ago. The blade is still a generous six inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide. It's made from one piece of drop forged heavy steel. The shank is still forged the same way and the wooden handle tip is still riveted into the drop forged steel socket. This is the trowel used by landscapers and nursery professionals - people with lots of work to do who want tools they can rely upon. $18.85 or buy 2 or more and save 15%. I have seen much lower quality trowels offered for a lot more money. |
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Garden Club Questions and Answers
Question: We planted two American Hollies last year and they are doing wonderful, question is keeping them under control in height and width. Both are six feet high, and we would like to keep them under eight feet, even if they have to be trimmed twice a year. So, how are they pruned? We love your show! Answer: American Hollies naturally mature to over thirty feet. Many other trees that mature at this height can be kept to eight feet without becoming ratty-looking after a few years. However, if pruned regularly, American Hollies can be kept trimmed to eight feet almost forever. I suggest hand pruning, rather than using a hedge cutter that would prune the hollies into a tight cone. Even so you will lose some of the berries. You probably will need to prune only once a year - in late spring as soon as the new growth has turned dark green. Question: Someone recently gave me seeds from various daylilies. Can you tell me exactly what to do to care for them if in fact you can grow them from seed, I have never tried this. Answer: I found daylilies to be relatively easy to grow from seed. It has been a while, but this is what I remember. I kept my seeds in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge ( the freezer) for about a month and then I soaked them over night in water, with a little bit of SeaMate added. I sowed them in January in Fafard professional potting mix; February sowing should be fine. I used a shallow plastic pot with drainage holes. I kept the soil mix about an inch from the rim. I pressed it firmly down; then I sowed the seeds about an inch apart and covered the pot with a clear window pane to help retain moisture.In a few weeks, as the first few seedlings appeared, I removed the window pane. Mine were started in a northeast window, but I could have used grow lights or a window that faced due North or due East. At the end of May I set the pot outside in a shady place, gradually moving it over a two week period to almost full sun. Then I transplanted the little seedlings directly into a sunny spot in the garden in a place that I prepared with Chesapeake Blue. I watered them with SeaMate and babied them all summer until they were well established. I set them about eighteen inches apart because I knew that eventually I would choose only a few of my top favorites to save. Almost all of them bloomed the following summer. Question: Here are some samples of the weeds in my lawn. Is there a way to kill them without killing the earthworms of which I have an excellent population? Without killing the grass I do have left? I live in Glen Rock, PA and I have to be careful what I use as my yard is sloped and runoff will travel to plants I want to live. Answer: With modern weed killers, especially liquids applied according to label directions, you need worry about the earthworms or runoff. These weed killers work through the leaves and you need only a tiny amount of active ingredient for them to be effective. Once the weed killer dries on the leaves, it essentially stays there and does wash into the soil. The weed that you have identified as the worst (the one with the very small light green leaves and tiny white flowers) is chickweed. It germinates from seed in the fall. Chickweed grows larger and blooms over the winter, especially during mild periods, drops its seeds and then dies in the summer heat. In this year's mild winter, chickweed has grown prolifically and seems to be smothering out everything in its path. Winter application of weed killers is usually effective because even winter weeds are growing actively enough in winter. If the weather stays unusually mild so that the winter weeds keep growing quite vigorously, Bonide's Weed Beater Ultra may be effective this winter. In any event, as soon as the weather warms in the spring, spray all of the weedy sections of your lawn with Weed Beater Ultra lawn weed killer - even if you sprayed this winter. To prevent winter lawn weeds next year (prevention is the most effective control), apply a weed preventer in mid-September. This will kill the weed seeds as they germinate. The best of these weed preventers is Portrait. Dimension Crabgrass Preventer also suppresses many winter weeds, although as effectively as Portrait. It can be used as an alternate and applied at the same time.Question: Hi Alan - I have two areas in my yard, one in full sun, one in half-shade, both where I would like to plant evergreens to screen some newly-built houses. I like the steeplechase arborvitae, but I want to avoid the "soldiers marching in a row" look, so I am looking for some other plants I can mix in. I like some of the cedars and cypresses, and am thinking of some smaller shrubs in front, maybe deciduous hollies, beauty berry, and some gold or variegated shrubs. Do you have any recommendations for one or two plants that would fit well in either of these areas, and do you have any varieties of cedars or cypresses that you recommend? Thank you so much, you are a great resource for the Maryland gardener! Answer: I have some suggestions: consider some Gold Thread Cypress for foreground in the sun. Also for sun, consider the Emerald Sentinel selected form of the "Eastern Red Cedar" - technically Juniper virginiana Emerald Sentinel. For the shade, consider Viburnum pragense. For sun to light shade, consider some of the taller growing hollies.Question: I have a deciduous woodland - winter and early spring sun, high shade in summer. (An ideal situation for Aucuba, according to your website. Will Barberry prosper (become dark red) in such a setting? Answer: In your situation, Barberry will survive; but it will have a good red color in the summer. I suggest you purchase one plant in the spring before the leaves come on, plant it in a typical spot in your woodland and make a determination in September as to whether the color is satisfactory. I recommend Barberry Royal Burgundy; this variety tends to hold its color best in the summer. Please be aware that Barberry is becoming a problem plant because of seedlings, spread by seed dropped by birds, invading our native woodlands. So, for several reasons red-leaved Japanese Barberry may be your best choice.
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