Cleaning Rusty Tools by Carol King

An important gardening chore this time of year is cleaning rust off garden tools.  I am ashamed to admit (but will, dear gardener in the interest of being honest) that I don't care for my tools the way I should; as evidenced by the picture of my poor garden fork!

If you have found a pruner or other tool that was left out all winter, all is not lost.  E-how Home has a great article on how to recondition those tools.

And let's take an oath together:  "I will be kinder to my tools."

Garden Tasks to Prepare for Spring by Donna Duffy

Are these “warm” days giving you a case of early Spring Fever? Do you gaze out the window wishing you could get your hands in the soil? With the ground frozen, it’s still too early to get out and dig, but here are a handful of outdoor chores you can do to be prepared when Spring arrives.

1.    Add hardscape to your yard. Now is a great time to plan a walkway, add sculpture, or build garden structures. Design your own stepping stones; there are kits available to help you make them. Thumb through your old landscape and garden magazines for ideas.

2.    Clean your containers. Do you still have containers sitting around with dead plants and last year’s soil? If so, remove the soil and plants from each container, and toss it all in the compost pile. Disinfect your containers by scrubbing with a 10% solution of chlorine bleach to kill any organisms that might survive the winter. They’ll be ready to plant in the warm days of May.

3.    Add mulch to bare spots. If you added wood mulch to your gardens in the fall, chances are that some of that mulch has blown away and been relocated to other parts of your yard. Walk around and note the places where the mulch is thin. Add enough mulch to have a three to four inch layer. This will be especially helpful as we get into the frequent freeze and thaw cycles of early spring.

4.    Give your garden tools a tune-up. Get your hand tools out and clean them up. Sharpen your pruning tools and lawnmower blades. Hardware stores and garden shops are less busy now, and you won’t have to wait in line to get repairs done.

5.    Organize your shed. In the late days of fall, many of us toss everything into the shed, lock it up, and forget about it until Spring. Empty the shed and take a critical look at the pile of stuff. Throw away or recycle items that are broken, useless, or unwanted. Take a look at the inside of your shed, with efficiency and organization in mind. Add shelves, hooks, pegs, and compartments. Restock the shed, keeping like items in groups, and label everything possible. 

Favorite Gifts for Gardeners by Donna Duffy

Throughout the year, and especially during the winter holidays, I often want to buy a special gardening gift for a friend. So I polled twelve gardeners to see what gift they’d most like to receive. Here’s their list (in random order):

Items you can purchase: 

·   Hori hori knife

·    Shredder that turns “stuff” into mulch

·    Gardening tool tote bag

·    Slip-on rubber gardening shoes

·    Nitrile gardening gloves

·    Flower bulbs (Amaryllis, etc.)

·    Compost tumbler

·    Bluebird watering spike

·    Cool, useful watering can

·    Cold frames

·    Garden journal

·    Fun garden markers, mine says “plantus unknownus”

·    Lawn Buddy – small plastic “wagon” with tool and trash holders

·    Awl for electric drill that digs holes for bulbs

Things you can make:

·    Calendar of favorite photos from the garden

·    Pressed flower cards

·    Framed collage of favorite photos from the garden

·    Recipe cards using garden edibles, accompanied by samples

·    Handmade stepping stone 

·    Heart stone decorated by my grandkids with colored stones

Gifts from the heart – priceless (and free!)

·    Cuttings of rare or unusual plants

·    Prized seeds from a friend’s garden

·    Gift certificate for yard work provided by a friend (e.g., weeding, digging, planting)

·    A friend planted a section of her garden on the day my son was born, and named it after him

Hori-Hori – You Gotta' Have This! by Donna Duffy

The word “Hori” is a Japanese word for digging.


When I retired last year, a fellow gardener gave me a Hori Hori knife as a retirement gift. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. The Hori Hori was originally used for excavating bonsai in the mountains of Japan. Because the tool is small, it’s less destructive than a shovel and can be worked around fragile bonsai roots during excavation. I’ve heard that it’s also called a “diggy diggy.”

As I’ve been working with my fellow Master Gardeners, I’ve noticed that people who own a Hori Hori use it for almost everything. Need to remove sod, transplant or split perennials? No problem! Need to cut through woody roots? Just grab a Hori Hori. One gardener has even used it as a small axe. It’s especially great for those oh-so challenging tasks like opening a bag of soil.

The Hori Hori is available with a carbon steel blade or a stainless steel blade. The blade is razor sharp and serrated. Some blades are marked to serve as a ruler for measuring depth. It has a large smooth wooden handle and is easy to use with one hand. It comes with a sheath that can be attached to your belt.

But beware – the carbon steel blade and wooden handle are easily camouflaged in the earth. I’ve lost mine a couple of times and found it partially buried in soil. Try one! I’ll bet you love it.