Cold Climate Gardening

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and many retailers who normally don’t feature gardening products have potted flowering plants and other quasi-gardening gifts prominently displayed. I thought I’d take the opposite tack and share with you my favorite non-gardening garden “thingies.” Most of them don’t qualify as tools. Some of them, quite frankly, would look like garbage to most people, and I am always a bit anxious that some of my favorites might be thrown out by mistake.

Popularity: 15% [?]

It all started with that forsythia bush. Collin had barely gotten started pruning out the thickest branches for me, when the blade of the lopper snapped off. I had purchased these loppers from Lee Valley a while ago, but I thought it was worth contacting them to see if the loppers had a lifetime warranty. Many of Lee Valley’s tools do, but not this one.

They did have a replacement blade, however. It had never even occurred to me that I could replace the blade on my lopper. (Frankly, it had never occurred to me to sharpen the blade, either, which was probably why it snapped in the first place–too dull to cut well.) It was only $3.50 plus shipping.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Have you ever walked 250 feet uphill to the asparagus patch with a bucket full of hand tools, only to realize after you get there that the weeds have gotten a lot worse than you imagined? So you trudge back down the hill and carry the garden fork back up the 250 feet, only to realize that that fork is too long, it will root up the asparagus as well as the weeds, and so you trudge back down with the big fork and trudge back up with the border fork, and then ten minutes later you realize there’s nettles in there, and you don’t have your gloves, so you trudge back down the 250 feet and get your gloves, and about halfway back up the hill you think it would really be smart to bring up the watering can, too, because after pulling all those weeds the asparagus would appreciate being watered. And then after the bed is all cleaned up, you realize if you had a leaf rake and a wheelbarrow it would be a lot easier to gather up all those weeds you just pulled and bring them to the compost pile, which means another trip back down the hill, in which you forget to bring down the tools you’re done with, which means another trip back up the hill to bring them down. Has that ever happened to you? Well, there have been many times when I’ve had to go back for another tool, but this particular instance drove me to muttering, “There has got to be a better way.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

The peonies from Reath’s came on Monday the 7th, but because of various commitments I couldn’t plant them until Thursday. They came wrapped in plastic with wood shavings to keep them damp, and then the whole shebang was packed in straw or hay–the first time I ever saw that used as a shipping material. I was anxious about leaving them go for so long, alternately fearing they would dry out or rot from too much moisture. I opened up the plastic bag and kept checking them to reassure myself. At night I would seal the bag back up.

I figured each plant would get a 3 ft. by 3 ft. space, which is what I gave all the other …

Popularity: 15% [?]