November Garden

Why clean tools??

If you clean after every use, you prevent diseases, fungi, insect larva, weed seeds from spreading around your garden.  You also extend the lifespan when you remove soil after every use- soil encourages rust (through moisture) and will eat the sharp edge off of your tools! The sharper the edge of your spade, trowel, hoe, edger, the easier they cut. The easier they cut, the less muscle you have to put into the project!

How do I clean them?

Hose off any tool that comes in contact with soil after every use. Use a garden hose set on maximum pressure or, with heavy clay soil, scrub with a bristle brush. DRY YOUR TOOLS- just like that nice sharp knife in your kitchen!

For cutting tools with sharpened edges that don’t come in contact with soil (like loppers, clippers, axes, pruning shears, knives), wipe them down with a rough cotton cloth. The idea is to remove sap and gum from the blades. Use a little paint thinner on a cloth to remove really sticky stuff…. Again, dry the tool after cleaning!

Prevent Future Damage

Steel tools are still susceptible to rust, even after cleaning and drying. Note: the higher the grade of steel, the more vulnerable to rust. Use oil to repel dirt, dust and erosion. Interestingly, motor oil is touted as a great inexpensive rust preventer! They say, mix motor oil and kerosene in a 2:1 ratio (two part oil to one part kerosene). Put it in a sprayer for easy use. [Please dispose of it as you would motor oil and store in a safe way, away from heat sources]
Sharpen Tools
Sharpening is a bit more complex, but shovels, axes, trowels and hoes are easily sharpened by hand. Get an 8" long mill file with a bastard cut (that's straight dudes, not curved).  Mine cost $8.99 at the hardware store. Get one with a handle- you'll need it.

OMG- it's ma file! With a handle!

 

RULE OF FILE: Only draw the teeth one direction over the edge being filed. Sawing back and forth? Never. Ever.

Hold the tool to be sharpened in a vise or some other bracing system, so you can use both hands. You must maintain the same angle to the edge as you push the file across it.

To sharpen shears and knives, you need a vise and an oil stone. Like sharpening the good kitchen knife, go one direction and follow the instructions that your oil stone comes with!

Hang Your Tools

Really, fancy systems to organize your tools aren’t necessary, unless you want them! Use a two-by-four with 10-penny nails as your holder. Put the business end of your tool down, so as not to hit yourself or something else when you take it down. With wooden handled tools, just drill a ¼” hole in the handle of your tools (axes, rakes, shovels, etc.). Put a piece of leather through the end and Voila!

Random questions about tree care in cold months:

Tree Bags? Try a tree bag ( brand name Treegator) to help water correctly. It provides deep, root zone watering with no run off or evaporation. So if you choose to ignore my directions about how to water, you can use this device! This is a good safety for newly planted trees and folks who have “brown thumbs”. Our opinion around here: they should be one on every tree in every median, City of Lawrence.

Frank Male, our lovely production manager also reminds me of this: water every holiday through the winter. Water on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick ’s Day. This cold weather watering can really minimize winter damage and help trees survive and thrive in the spring.

Bark Wrap? Trees and shrubs can be damaged by sudden fluctuations of temperature (hello, Kansas!), prolonged periods of low temperature with no insulating snow and unexpected early/ late season cold snaps. Sun scald happens on the south, southwest side of an immature tree. It can heat up on a cold winter day, initiating cambial activity. (This means it starts to grow) Suddenly, the temperature drops and it kills the tissue. This means a big old wound, dead place and scar on your delicate new tree.  Put commercial bark wrap on your tree to insulate and maintain a more even temperature. Paper or plastic work fine, as long as it’s put on in the early fall and removed in spring. Trees with thin bark who need this special attention: cherry, crabapple, honey locust, linden, maple, ash, plum.
Since bark is much like skin, the wound can also heal. Take a sharp knife and cut out the wound in the same shape. Wrap in future winters to prevent more damage. Do no dress the wound. 

Look at the picture at right-- This is a downtown Lawrence tree (awesome lights!). Notice the bark wrap? Yup. But also, look at the stakes. It is really important to stake young trees. Most nursery men agree that stakes are very important for the first year. If you are planting a tree on a windy, exposed site, leave the stakes on two or three years. Please note that trees in their 2nd or 3rd year in the ground can really grow exponentially. Watch that any cables or ties are not cutting into the bark (cambium). 








 
 Winter Kill of Evergreens

1. Winter sun and wind cause excessive transpiration (foliage water loss) while the roots are in frozen soil and unable to replace lost water. This results in desiccation and browning of the plant tissue.
2. Bright sunny days during the winter also cause warming of the tissue above ambient temperature which in turn initiates cellular activity. Then, when the sun is quickly shaded, foliage temperature drops to injurious levels and the foliage is injured or killed.
3. During bright, cold winter days, chlorophyll in the foliage is destroyed (photo-oxidized) and is not resynthesized when temperatures are below 28° F. This results in a bleaching of the foliage.
4. Cold temperatures early in the fall before plants have hardened off completely or late spring after new growth has occurred can result in injury or death of this nonacclimated tissue.

Foliar damage normally occurs on the south, southwest, and windward sides of the plant, but in severe cases the whole plant may be affected. Yew, arborvitae, and hemlock are most susceptible, but winter browning can affect all evergreens. New transplants or plants with succulent, late season growth are particularly sensitive.

There are several ways to minimize winter injury to evergreens. The first is proper placement of evergreens in the landscape. Yew, hemlock, and arborvitae should not be planted on south or southwest sides of buildings or in highly exposed (windy, sunny) places. A second way to reduce damage is to prop pine boughs or Christmas tree greens against or over evergreens to protect them from wind and sun and to catch more snow for natural protection.
(thanks university of minnesota extension for the great winter kill info)

Replacing a crumbling retaining wall...

I get so many questions from homeowners who have crumbling, native limestone retaining walls. Usually we call this "the crumbling, yellow crap rock" (sorry about the technical jargon)! Many of these walls are about 20 years old and were constructed by the contractors who built the house. The rock was probably the ledge rock that was dug up from the excavation of the house site. The walls vary in size and scale, but usually the worst ones are large block- approximately 3' H and 6-8' W, 3-4' D. The blocks tend to be very large and the stone has gotten crumbly over the years, endangering the yard, perhaps a patio or a slope that was retained.

Some examples of the walls I'm talking about:

Wall #1

Wall #2

Wall #3

As you can see, these are various sizes and conditions. But they all pose issues. Many homeowners want the walls removed completely. We've found that this actually takes more labor and isn't as efficient. In all these cases above, we opted to remove as much rock as we could (without dislodging the retained soil above it or that FENCE in #2) and simply build in front of the wall. It may surprise people to know that the existing wall is almost totally covered up and the new wall can have a dramatically more pleasing shape.  Here are some shots of these walls after they were "replaced" with wall block (Versa-lok in these cases):

Wall #1 replacement

Wall #2 replacement, view A

Wall #2 replacement, view b

Wall #3- see other walls in background

Let me say again: the crumbling limestone rock is still back there; pared down but still there!
Walls 2 and 3 are the same backyard/ homeowner. She had three deteriorating walls in her back yard and we replaced all of them. Derek, our supervisor on this job, does a great job of creating softly curving walls that are just beautiful to look at (as well as being very, very sturdy). Derek and his crew got under the porch with a power drill and chisel to chisel out some of the existing stone and get it down below grade so that the wall would totally cover up the old rock. On top of the lower two walls, we put soil and seeded. On the upper, with the fence, we added weed mat and river rock. This way she doesn't have to weed up there! She chose Versa-lok Flint Hills Tan as her color choice. The block is the most cost effective, sturdy, good looking type to use.

Now, this is a big investment for a homeowner. Here are some questions to ask your contractor: what type of block are your bidding out to use? Can I make changes to the block/ choose color and does that affect price? Are you putting in drain tile so that water can move through? (See the wall #2, view b)? What are you putting back on top (soil, grass seed, sod, rock, etc)? Is this figured in to the estimate? Have you included fixing the damage to the sod in the estimate/, and/or any changes to the sprinklers that might be needed? (This is so important to ask!) As with all walls, there is a fair amount of gravel that is put underneath and behind the wall to stabilize it and allow freeze/thaw and water to move through. You might double check that the contractor is including this! Any reputable company will. But you want to weed out the fly by night characters!! Call us if you have any questions.