Tool Hygiene

As its Valentine’s Day today, and the whole world is in the mood for love, I thought I would talk about one of the most enduring and productive relationships a gardener can have. Although plants (and even gardens) may come and go, if you invest in good tools and look after them properly they will be with you throughout your gardening life.

Indulge in new plants for the garden and discover recently launched tools, kit and botanically influenced home accessories.

You need at least one roof ventilator and one side ventilator to get good air changes. The roof ventilator is the most important for allowing hot air to escape. Windows at both sides of the greenhouse can be beneficial. Louvered windows are very useful as they are easy to operate and I find hinged windows less stable in wind. Automatic ventilators are available that open the window using a plunger system. Obviously the door is a great ventilator and should be left open when temperatures reach 80 degrees or humidity is 100%. I have never needed an extractor fan but for a large greenhouse a slow moving fan can help some crops.

A writer for a popular gardening magazine reached out to me recently and asked what my favorite garden tools for homeowners and small hobby farmers were. Of course, this is an impossible question to answer in just one blog post, so I have compiled my favorite weed management tools for you.

Winter can be a dreary time for a gardener. What better to do than look forward to sunshine and prepare for spring? During the growing season, our garden tools are typically an afterthought left haphazardly leaning where the work ended, thrown into the wheelbarrow, or if they make it back to the storage shed, they certainly never make it to the correct place. Over the next few weeks, take the time to put those garden tools away and spend a few extra minutes providing some TLC.

If you are anything like me, you are constantly adding to your gardening toolbox. Below are a few tools that I cannot live without in my gardening adventures. The best news is that for $40, you can enjoy these tools and the entertainment they provide for years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), masks, along with proper hand hygiene and social distancing, are recommended to help prevent and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). There are many different types of masks. Some masks are intended for single-use, and others, like cloth or fabric masks, can be reused. Proper mask hygiene is just as important as wearing a mask. Mask hygiene includes proper application and removal of your mask along with routine cleaning.

Have you ever been working in your garden and been interrupted? This has happened to me many times. I left my tools, thinking I would come back to finish the job but get sidetracked. Hours or days later, I start looking for the shovel, rake, or pruners and cannot find them. One way to alleviate the problem is as easy as purchasing a can of brightly colored spray paint.

Gardeners toss around the term deadheading when discussing flowering, but what does it mean? Deadheading is pruning to remove older, faded flowers from a plant. But why is this technique beneficial to the plant and useful to gardeners?

We all have our favorite shoes, pajamas, coffee cups, and other items, but my favorites are the gardening tools I use daily in my landscape.

The canning lid lifter/lid wand is a magnet attached to a short plastic stick and is a useful tool for lifting metal lids from hot water. Lid wand brands include Back to Basics, Ball, Harold, Norpro, Presto, RSVP, and Victorio. For several years lid wands have been available online and in-store from vendors that sell canning supplies (including kitchen supply stores, hardware stores, department stores, and big box stores).