Finding Satisfaction in the Simple Things

Oh, Happy Day! Today’s high temp will be in the 70’s again. Ah, the simple things.

Gardeners can be so overtaken by things that many others just take for granted. Like being blessed with just one more crisp Fall day in order to whittle down the ever present, and growing, garden To Do list.

We also find pleasure in things like well-cared for garden tools. I didn’t realize how much until recently when, after my long absence from my garden, the simple act of picking up my garden hand tools felt like resurrecting an old friendship. The sense of knowing they are always there for you no matter how long you are away is immensely comforting.

Properly cared for wood-handled tools can be so much more, dare I use the term, sensual than plastic or rubber. Ergonomics aside, and getting dangerously close to sounding Old School, I prefer wood-handled garden tools. And the simple act of restoring the luster of the wood of these implements of mass satisfaction by applying linseed oil is a very satisfying experience. The chore of removing the burrs and nicks from the steel edges of shovels, hoes, and pruning shears and bringing them to a usable sharpness personalizes these tools in a way that no other gardening task can.

These simple and often over-looked maintenance procedures can so easily extend the life of last years’ tools, but all too often, still usable tools are thrown away because we see a shiny or more-colorful tool that doesn’t require any effort other than whipping out our credit card.

When I pick up and hold tools that I have personally put forth the effort to restore and thereby extend the life of, well that is just one more of the simple things that make life more satisfying. And I for one am not ready to throw that away.

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Phase four in preparing your Spring garden: Spring digging

Grab your shovel, your favorite gloves and garden clogs, we’re going to play in the dirt!

I love the image that brings to mind. Come spring time gardeners everywhere are itching to get out into the garden and start digging, cultivating, pruning, and planting again. We are ready to shrug off the long gardening dry-spell of winter that has tested our patience and are ready to unleash our pent up plans and dreams for this years edition of our dream gardens. Our tools, long hidden in the dark recesses of our sheds, yearn to be brought back out into the open and put to good use. Our playing-in-the-dirt toys have gotten more sophisticated since we were kids but the old urge never seems to die.

Dirt, actually if you use this word around a gardener you will likely be told in no uncertain terms that soil is the proper term because dirt can be found just anywhere, but after you have poured you heart and soul, not to mention an untold fortune in compost and soil amendments, into your garden plot, dirt graduates to the exalted designation of soil. Soil, that substance from which all life springs, is aching to be a part of your dream garden. And so, with memories of gardens past compelling us to return to our labor of love, we are eager to resume our pursuit of creating our own personal, peaceful oasis in a world that has become too hurried and too demanding. We welcome any opportunity to get out and begin digging.

Every ailment, every problem, every nutrient, every joy (as it pertains to gardening, that is) springs from the soil. It’s a heavy responsibility, but healthy soil is the single most important ingredient to raising healthy plants. Healthy soil allows nutrients to be taken up by your plants. Unhealthy soil sucks the life right out of anything you plant in it. You can throw all the high potency fertilizer you want into your garden and water it religiously but if the soil is not healthy you will have wasted all your time, energy and money.

Soil cannot be healthy without organic matter, which can be any combination of or all of the following:

leaf mold, aged manures, worm castings, household compost, certain kitchen waste, chopped up leaves, newspaper, cardboard, grass clippings, etc.

There is no set formula for mixing and preparing any of these ingredients because it all breaks down, and gives back what it has collected over its useful life, some faster than others. The purpose of adding organic matter to your clay garden, is to allow the movement of water and air to the roots and to allow roots to penetrate the soil more easily. The purpose of adding organic matter to your sandy garden, is to slow down the movement of water and air around the roots and to provide something for the roots to hold on to. If you have ever tried to garden in hard clay you will know the importance of loosening it up so plants can take root without drowning. If you have ever tried to garden in loose sand you will know the importance of providing some substance for the plants roots to take hold without drying out. Organic matter is this key substance to taming both of these extremes.

Organic matter also supports the microbial life that is the basic building blocks for all soil life. Just as in the sea, where tiny plankton support almost all sea-life, microbes support almost all soil life. Without either of these huge populations of tiny life forms, life as we know it would simply cease.

Of the organic material I listed, two stand out as being the gold standard for soil improvement. Compost and worm castings. Properly made, compost and worm castings provide natures most balanced form of nutrient rich amendments you could ever spread onto your garden.

Garden Compost
Creating garden compost is a symbiotic form of science and art and has become the holy grail of serious gardeners everywhere. The mythology and ceremony around creating it puts a lot of people off to the idea of making their own but it really isn’t as difficult as it first seems. Plus, a side benefit is you get to reuse what was once considered garbage, in the form of kitchen scraps, and yard waste. There are many great websites devoted to composting that will take you by the hand through the entire process. This is something that each of us should do if only from an environmental standpoint. You don’t have to buy precisely designed bins or tubs to make compost, and the formula does not have to be exact, it is a very ‘ballpark’ type of thing and you can soon learn the adjustments that need to be made to have your very own black gold. So, you can help the environment and cut your costs on soil amendments, what more can you ask for?

Worm castings
You can harvest your own worm castings, too. Of course, for this you must have an enclosure for your worms, and this can be anything from plastic tubs to wooden crates. Feeding your kitchen scraps to worms is the ultimate in recycling. Worm farming uses specialized worms, you cannot just pull any earthworm out of your yard and expect them do your bidding. One of the best blogs I have found that covers the whole worm farming thing, called vermicomposting, is at Redworm Composting. Bentley Christie, the posts author, is extremely knowledgeable concerning vermicomposting and will readily answer any question or concern you may have. Check out his site for some great info.

To get the most from your garden soil, you should have it tested for pH balance and nutrient deficiency.

Proper pH balance
An improper pH level, alkalinity and acidity, can cause your plants to literally starve to death. In a balanced pH environment, bacteria is better able to decompose organic matter and microorganisms can convert nitrogen in the air into a form that your plants can use. When the soil is too acidic or alkaline both of these processes are greatly impaired. Inorganic fertilizers will make your soil more acidic over time and adding amendments to the soil alters your soil's pH. Testing and adjusting your soil’s pH level accordingly will help maximize your plants' potential in size, health and quality of flowers, vegetables and fruits. You can buy pH test kits from your local nursery and they are very easy to use.

What fertilizer is needed?
Get a soil test to determine what other amendment is needed to bring your garden to optimum performance levels. A soil test can tell you such things as how much nitrogen, potassium or phosphorous is needed. This information can save you a lot of money by not adding unnecessary fertilizer and it will definitely help your success rate with growing more beautiful and bountiful plants. Your local agriculture extension office will test your soil sample (usually for a small fee) and will tell you how to collect the sample and what size sample they require. Expect to wait 3-5 days for results. You can also buy soil test kits from your local nursery, it won’t give the complete or more accurate analysis a lab would but it can give you a general idea of what is lacking as far as the three basics (NPK) for around $20.

Let’s dig in
You don’t want to dig in mud, good for mud pies but not for gardening. Digging in wet soil will leave clumps after the sun dries out the sogginess and we don’t want clumps in our garden! Test the soil down to about 10” to see if the soil is dry enough to work. Spread your soil amendments and fertilizer (a balanced slow-release is best, 10-10-10) and then dig it all in to about 8-10” deep. A note here, as tempting it is to use a roto-tiller, my advise is, don’t! Roto-tillers have a tendency to break up the soil too much (destroying much needed soil structure) and they can compact the soil just out of reach of the tines. The tried and true pitch fork and shovel are still the best way to go.

As of this posting it is late February and with weather patterns changing as they are, we’ll soon be able set our seedlings out to harden off. If frost threatens, you can always use cloches or simply throw a sheet over your tender seedlings, see Extending the Gardening Season. Personally, I’m counting the days with the excitement of an expectant father.

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Weeding/Cultivating the garden

Weeding can be a zen thing. If you have ever gotten lost in thought while weeding or doing other mechanical or menial tasks you know what I mean. It can take you to a peaceful place where only you and your garden exists, far away from the troubled, hectic, stressful world around you.

Focusing your energy on the task at hand can free our complex brain to consider other more pressing worries on a subconscious level where the brain can devote more creative time to them. Some of my best ideas have come about while doing something totally unrelated to what I was worrying about.

Have you ever tried to find something and just cannot remember where you put it no matter how hard you try? Or, you just can’t seem to remember something important no matter what you do to ‘jog’ your memory? Put it out of your mind, go off onto something else and suddenly the memory comes back to you clear as day. Weeding the garden is like that.

Not many people truly enjoy weeding. Some of us have developed routines whereas, if given enough time, we can relax while weeding to the point where your mind is completely relaxed and the built-up stress and tension that knotted up your muscles drains away. Of course, pulling, bending, digging, kneeling, etc, in the garden may still strain those muscles, it is a good kind of weariness. The kind you feel after doing something you know is completely worthwhile.

Any amount of time I spend in the garden is considered a welcome break from the ‘outside’ world and I enjoy doing almost all of my weeding by hand just to prolong my time there.

With the help of raised beds, the weeding chores are very minimal. The open garden, however, is another matter. Weeds will creep under the fence from the neighbors yard or their seeds will be brought in on the wind or by birds so I will never be completely free on them. And I am glad. I suppose I view the never ending struggle between weeds trying to gain a foothold in my garden and my determination to not let them as a sort of job security. For if garden weeds never came back I would surely miss getting my hands dirty and the closeness that mingling with the plants provides.

When spring arrives, and the earliest of weeds begin popping up I can feel their taunting challenge to resume our battle. Before this past year I had grown only vegetables, which being annuals, allowed me to quickly dispatch any new weeds early in the year with a hoe. And then after that initial battle I would have the occasional skirmish with the more persistent weeds trying to grow among my crop. I chose to pull weeds throughout the rest of the year by hand because I was afraid of using the traditional weeding tools. It just seems that with their long sharp points I could easily rip up plant roots that I don’t want to disturb. Now this may sound like an irrational fear to those of you who have used these tools for years, but I have several weeding tools that have never seen soil.

A common misconception of new gardeners is the difference between a weeding tool and a cultivating tool. Weeding is, of course, the act of removing weeds from your garden. Cultivating is roughing up the soil to break up compaction that can occur from walking on it or from simply watering it. After the soil has sat undisturbed over winter it can become compacted as the snow melt seeps through the surface. Cultivating fluffs up the soil to make it easier to use for you and for the plants.

How can I overcome my fear of using the proper weeding tools? What I have read about ‘getting the right weeding tool’ hasn’t convinced me enough to use them yet.

I have seen some pretty interesting shapes for weeding like the Swoe that, so I have heard, has an almost cult-like following. Although, I have read more than one testimonial that said the tool is worthless because it takes about ‘three times the force’ to get a weed up. Maybe the soil is too hard for the tool. It is held like a golf club, right up my alley, and is used to cut just under the soil. This is the best photo I can find, it comes from White Flower Farm. You need to use this one on new weeds and when the soil is loose. Maybe I can work on my chip shots at the same time. Can’t you just see it, weeds flying about twenty yards right into the wheelbarrow.

The scuffle hoe, also called a stirrup hoe or hula hoe, looks like it would be easy to use. This one is advertised in several places as the best hoe on the market. It cuts weeds on the push and pull strokes. It doesn’t chop up the weeds so much as cutting them just under the soil line. If you shop for one, be conscious of the welds and the quality of the blade. Most blades are replaceable which also makes this one a good choice.

Here’s a tool called the Cape Cod weeder that is very popular. The narrow design makes it ideal for getting into tight spots between plants and odd shaped garden spaces. It is listed as a three-way tool, pointed straight down to dig holes for small plants, turned diagonally for cultivating, and sideways to act as a scythe or cycle in cutting a bunch of weeds in one swoop. This one can be found with a long handle so I might look into adding this one to my collection soon.

Now this last weeder, the Warren hoe, looks promising too. This is like the standard hoe but has only one point instead of the traditional two. Its heart-shaped head offers a little more precision so that you can work around plants a little easier. It isn’t used for moving soil so the common hoe, pictured below, is not going to be replaced.

As for cultivating, the standard hoe is what I have always used in early spring. It is great for hacking up the soil to loosening it up, making trenches for seeds, moving soil around and making hills for my squash plants. It’s a bit too imprecise to use among growing plants because of its size, so it is not good as a weeding tool. This is why I have relied on mulch and hand picking of weeds.



The standard tool that many of us mistake for a weeder is actually a cultivator. No, not that kind of cultivator, I am referring to a hand cultivator. It’s true intention is to loosen the soil’s surface to allow water to penetrate under the top layer and for scattering seed.







This tool is one the few combination weeder/cultivators I might use for my hard soil. It is known as a Korean plow but is sometimes sold as an EZ digger. It looks very comfortable to hold and the backward pointed head seems like it would easily cut into the dry hard soil it is meant for. I can see why this tool would not be a practical candidate for a long handle because you would have to get down on the ground anyway for the curved head to be effective. It is best used on larger weeds and, as I mentioned, hard soil. You could turn it sideways too and hack away at a bunch of weeds at once, but you would still need to come back and dig at the roots, probably with the Swoe.

Lately, there has been a lot emphasis on ergonomics. The traditional straight handles are out and the smoothly curved almost sexy looking handles are designed to create less strain on your wrists and hands. I don’t have any of these yet but I also have not had any problem with the hoe and shovels I use. I imagine by the time I get around to replacing my tools ergonomic handles will be all that is available anyway.

After reviewing these tools, I might pick up a Warren hoe and the Cape Cod weeder but that is no guarantee I will actually use them. Right now, I’m still counting on mulching to help me save my plants. Even though I realize this method probably can’t last very long.

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End of one year, beginning of next

I can't believe it is time to start thinking of cleaning up the yard and garden for Winter in preparation for next Spring. Time flies when you are having fun? As I get older, time flies even if you aren't having fun.

I have to admit that overall, I did enjoy this year. I started four new perennial beds, which means 490 sq ft less yard to mow, yeah!. Two of them were started from scratch, i.e., grass into planted bed, and two from amended bare earth to planted bed. I added 20 new plants to four existing beds that were started last year. This brings the total new plants started this year to 124 and 67 bulbs. Wow! I did not realize I had started that many. I’m shocked and amazed.

Next Spring better look really good!

To satisfy my anal trait, I keep maps of each bed so I know where everything is planted. I also enter all pertinent information into a spreadsheet calendar linking each plant to a word document telling me everything I ever want to know about any given plant I have in my garden. I know, everything is online somewhere, but if I am ever without a connection to the internet, for whatever reason, at least I have what I need on my hard drive. Now I need to print it all out in case the computer breaks down.

The lawn mower needs to be maintained, i.e., gas treatment, wheels oiled, oil changed, air filter cleaned, blade sharpened. Tools need to be cleaned, sharpened and wood handles treated with linseed oil. Containers need to be emptied and cleaned with bleach solution. Weeds to be pulled, always! Perennials need to be divided, since this my first year I can put this chore off. Mulch needs to be added after ground freezes to prevent freeze/thaw cycle. Amendments need to be added and worked into soil. Annuals need to be pulled.

Still a lot left to do.

Well, the leaves are falling and just begging me to rake them onto the compost pile, so, as they say “Nature calls” and “Time waits for no man”.

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