Tool Talk

~The following tools are used & recommended by Ashland Garden Club Members~

Hori Hori Knives Japanese Hori Hori Knife –Used for weeding, digging, cutting roots, dividing perennials, removing plants from pots. Unbelievably versatile!

 

Nejiri Gama Garden Hoe.jpg Nejiri Gama Garden Hoe (Japanese garden hand tool) Narrow end pushes deep into the soil helps with weeding, planting seedlings, aerating the soil, making seed trenches, and breaking up clods & soil.

 

Hand Plow Ho-Mi DiggerHand Plow Ho-Mi Digger (short-handled) A Korean tool that’s an all-around hand-digging tool, useful for planting, weeding, rock-removal and finding irrigation lines.

 

Sheep Shears – Large long blades are useful for clipping & trimming small shrubs .

Long Handle Gardening Fork Dividing perennials, digging out trees, shrubs & perennials, Easier on the back when using long handle as leverage.

Garden Bucket Caddy Slips into a plastic bucket and holds garden tools.

Flexible Buckets – Great for hauling weeds, plants, hand tools around the garden.

Felco 7Felco Pruners – Pruning, quality pruner, replaceable blades & parts, easy to sharpen. Right or Left handed offered.  Felco 7: Is a ergonomic heavy duty pruner with a spinning handle,  great for people with a arthritic thumb.

 

Florian Ratchet Pruner Ratchet-cut mechanism increases hand strength, prunes branches up to ¾ Inches in diameter, has a Lifetime Warranty. Right or Left handed offered.

 Kneelon Knee padsKneelon Knee Pads – Flexible, Waterproof, durable, machine washable.

 

 

circlehoe.jpg CircleHoe– For weeding & cultivating close to plants.

Hoop Hoe, Stirrup Hoe, Action Hoe – All Similar hoes for weeding around plants.

 

Winged Weeders – For weeding, cultivating, edging, aerating and making furrows.

Balling Spade – Ideal for cutting deep and slicing through roots.

potlifterPotlifter – Lifts 250 lb – Saves your back when lifting pots or rocks. Also sold: Pro Potlifter for lifting 350 lbs.

Yard Butler Rotary Cultivator or Garden Weasel Cultivator (collapsible handle available) – Weeds, aerates, detachable center tines work between plants & rows.

Leaf Luster Digital Soil Thermometer – For measuring soil temperature for germination and transplanting

 Leaf Luster Soil Tester – Contains tests for ph, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels.

Rapitest PH Meter – easily checks the pH level of your garden soil and potted plants.

Mico-tip Pruners – aka Floral Pruners- For deadheading & pruning smaller plants & flowers.

Fiskars Softough Mico-Tip.jpgFiskars Softough Mico-Tip Pruners- Awarded the Arthritis Foundation Ease-of-Use Commendation for a design that is easy-to-use for people with arthritis or limited hand strength.

Roto Digger Auger- Uses: Planting bulbs, bedding plants, seedlings, deep water aeration, fertilizing trees & shrubs.

Corona AC 8300 Sharpening Tool – 5-Inch super carbide file for sharpening straight edge tools.

 Fiskars Softouch Weeder (7060) – Ergonomic weeder with forked tip cuts deep to remove weeds by the root.

Corona Clipper Razor Tooth folding sawCorona Clipper Razor Tooth – 10″ Folding Pruning Saw – Sturdy, easy to use, easy to store. Lifetime warranty.

 

Tru Temper Miniature Shovel – For planting bulbs and weeding.

Tru Temper Narrow Garden Fork – D-handle – For digging and mulching.

Yard Butler RKT-1000 Rocket Weeder – Pull weeds from the roots, organic weed control, ergonomic handle, ejector button pops off the weed-keeping your hands clean.

Gardex or Garden Home  Leaf Scoops-  Multi-purpose hand-held leaf scoops.

 

Planting Poetry

Rhonda Nowak, Master Gardener, English Composition teacher at Rogue Community College and garden writer for the Mail Tribune, gave an informative talk Monday on how to plant your container gardens with poetic flare.

Read her Literary Gardener blog here…
http://blogs.esouthernoregon.com/theliterarygardener/

Nan Quick’s Diaries for Armchair Travelers

All-
My newest travel article,
A WELL-SPENT WEEK IN SOUTHERN DEVON, PART ONE
has just been published. Here’s the link:
Nan Quick 
Nan Quick’s Diaries for Armchair Travelers

Permaculture Lecture

Permaculture Gardening Strategies
Prepared for Siskiyou Permaculture, Permaculture Design Course January 2011

1) Plan for plant succession. Start gardens on your worst soils. Remember trees and shrubs fill in and are the natural successors of pioneer plants like vegetables. Ideally, start with veggies and end with forest garden. Be aware of arrested succession.

2) Rainwater harvest. Consider size of storage and amount needed, seedlings love rainwater, planting basins, swales, deep mulch, gravity feed from rain tanks, greywater, city water costs.

3) Frost drainage. Layout the garden to drain cold air from planting beds and down paths. Cold air flows like molasses and can be drained from garden under gates and fences.

4) Sheet mulch. Suppress weeds and increase soil fertility and moisture by mulching with newspaper and cardboard. Deep (1 ft.) straw mulch for late summer.

5) Attract Pollinators and Beneficial Insects. Plant a series of flowers that provide nectar flow and habitat year round to encourage insect diversity to your garden.

6) Small ponds. Create habitat for frogs, toads and birds by building small ponds in your yard.

7) Collect micro-climate information. Set up a mini-weather station in your garden with a rain gauge and a maximum/minimum thermometer. Weather information will help you determine where and when to plant your garden. Record on desk or large wall calendar.

8) No till. Plant perennials. Perforation, mulch, top dressing and plant roots build soil structure from the top down.

9) Benefits of home gardening: Psychological health, fresh medicinals, increased nutrition in your food, seed saving, developing soil for future needs, learning how to do it in case we need to know.

Garden Elements: Additional things to think about in planning your home landscape and garden.

    • Wind protection for both house and garden
    • Sun bowl
    • Shade your house in summer, preserve solar access in winter
    • Water drainage
    • Outdoor rooms
    • Wildlife to invite in and wildlife to keep out (distract)
    • Frequently visited areas near the house and main walkways
    • Height layers
    • Maximizing usable space
    • Dynamic accumulators
    • Plant guilds
    • Plan for the amount of time you can spend gardening
    • Field crops (corn, beans, squash) in community gardens and open spaces
    • Share specialties from home micro-climates

____________________________________________
A FEW FAVORITE GARDENING RESOURCES
Books:
Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally, by Robert Kourik, 1986
A permaculture based overview with extensive sections and charts on fruit trees, companion planting, cover crops, and more. Author based in northern California.

Garden Guide for the Rogue Valley, Year ‘Round & Month by Month, Jackson County Master Gardener Association. Not strictly organic, but it de-emphasizes nonorganic methods. Gives you important local recommendations for timing and success in our climate.

Gaia’s Garden; A guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway, updated 2009
The permaculture backyard classic explains how to get your garden to pop.

Sunset Western Garden Book
Still the landscapers essential guide. Organized as an encyclopedia, and addressing western climate issues, it includes lists of recommended plants for wind, deer resistance, sizes, etc.

Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, by Carol Deppe, 2000

The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe

Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman, 1999

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming, Fukuoka, Masanobu. Reprinted 2009. Edited by local permie Larry Korn!
New Roots For Agriculture, Jackson, Wes, 1981

Teaming with Microbes; the Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, Lowenfels, Jeff and Lewis, Wayne

The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, Stout, Ruth. 1979

On-line Resources:

The Future is Abundant, Species Index, by Shery Litwin. Available on the Siskiyou Permaculture website. http://www.siskiyoupermaculture.org

Plants for a Future, database for edible and useful plants. http://www.pfaf.org/user/plantsearch.aspx

OSU Extension Gardening Encyclopedia online: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/

Sowing Calendar, Hardiness Zones 7-8; Local chart for numerous vegetables prepared through research not experience, but likely still useful.

Click to access Sowing%20Calendar01-14-11.pdf

Pros and Cons of Deep Mulch Gardening, article, http://theprepperproject.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-deep-mulch-gardening/

Siskiyou Permaculture
Melanie Mindlin