Tools and Projects for Home and Garden

Tues June 7, 2011

2011-06-09T16:36:00.003-04:00

We started Tuesday with a visit to an innovative Italian nursery. Again a multi generation family firm, Groupa Zelari, have grown a farm nursery company to become a group of three companies offering total plant production, landscape design and construction of innovative and ecologically sound landscape projects. As Italy is a little behind Canada in ecological awareness in the landscape world, Groupa Zelari are leading the field in Italy with large national and international projects.

Our lunch was at a spectacular location on the peak on Monsummano Alto, the remains of a medieval village. It is home now to a modern restaurant and B&B, a few crumbling cottages and one elderly lady. Our lunch was wonderful with Tuscan cured meats, cheeses and fresh pasta. Following lunch Pauline, one of our tour members, broke the language barrier with the sometimes garrulous elderly lady and shared our admiration of her garden (and cats). As we came out from lunch many smiles were shared and photos taken. As she blew kisses to our parting bus, we knew that these few spontaneous moments would be one of the highlights.

For the afternoon we visited Pescia where a nursery of ornamental (and sometimes edible) citrus trees welcomes us. The sizes, shapes, colours and tastes of a wide variety of lemons far exceed the single variety we see in the store.

Our last stop was the village of Collodi, birthplace of Carlo Lorenzini Italian author best known for his wood to flesh creation, Pinocchio. First we toured the somewhat sad and decaying gardens of Villa Garzoni. We can picture the once grand spectacular of the sculptures, water features and plants of this garden now in need of much love and restoration. Nearby is the private villa visited once or twice a year by its wealthy owners.

pictures to follow

Just above the villa is the jewel of Collodi, in my mind, the village itself. We had only a short time to visit a few of the narrow picturesque streets tumbled one on top of each other as the narrow pedestrian lanes are more staircases climbing the steep hill connecting house upon house built up the hillside in a steep narrow reach.

Monday June 6 Pistoia:Roses and Religion

2011-06-09T12:39:00.002-04:00

We are off on our first day of touring to nearby Pistoia. The area in the fertile plain surrounded by hills is full of plant nurseries. Our first stop is the fifth generation of rose growers, the Vivaio Barni rose nursery. Roses are serious business here as we see the intense work and research involved in bringing new colours and scents of roses to our gardens.
One to the historic centre of Pistoria we meet our local tour guide for a walk around the town square

Visiting the cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo, we are amazed by the detailed silver alter, hand decorated with detailed images of the life of Christ. Following that the sixteenth century tapestry, Arazzo del 1000 Fiori. As the name suggests a tour full of gardeners were in awe of the many flowers, birds and animals so vividly portrayed on what once would have been used as a rug.
following lunch in Pistoia, we visited a topiary nursery and then back to our hotel in Montecatini Terme. Dinner was up the funicular at a restaurant in the piazza. coming back down at night the lights below were beautiul.

Tuscany Vacation

2011-06-05T14:33:00.004-04:00

We have been in Italy just over 24 hours and are getting settled.
After landing Sunday at 2pm we were picked up by an expensive driver to get to our hotel about a half hour drive away in Montecatini Terme. Once checked in, we went walking downtown for the rest of the day. We made it home to the hotel before the thunderstorm hit.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and I headed out at 6:30 am for a walk. This is the view out our window.
I came back for 7:30 with coffee from the dining room. After Kathy started with her coffee in bed, we went down to buffet breakfast before heading out for the day.
We walked through the park to the funicular for a vintage cable car train ride up the hill to the town on the hill, Montecatini Alta. Many pictures and walking later we had a picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the valley. We walked down the hiking trail which was better than walking up.
About 45 minutes later we were back at the hotel for a swim and nap poolside.
Sunday afternoon and evening two more thunderstorms rolled through.
Our tour starts tomorrow.
Arrivederci

2011-05-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

Boulevard Garden

2010-07-28T14:54:00.004-04:00

In May 2010, I enlisted some digging help and removed sod from 15 feet or so of grass boulevard and extended the garden there. Working by splitting some hosta and asters as the center backbone of the new garden, I was left with either side to grow as well.

I had a few bags of those wildflower garden mix which promise a full and colourful garden. I used two different packs and waited. For the first month it was hard to see much of anything and I couldn't tell which tiny green plant was future flower or weed. Looking for more and faster growth I added more seeds, some zinnia and something else that I forget.

In July the hosta are stated to fade with the heat but there are some small colourful flowers filling in as well as the zinnias that I sowed later. Progress continues and we will see if my wildflower seed mixes perform any better. So far I am not too impressed.

Dandy Lion Weeder

2010-07-19T19:52:00.002-04:00

Life would be a lot simpler if we learned to love the humble dandelion. To those garden scholars its fancy name is Taraxacum, a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. For the rest of us it is that pesky yellow weed that grows everywhere.

As the cost of fresh vegetables rise for the gasoline used to fuel the delivery trucks, we should be considering the many uses for this handy little plant. The leaves are chock full of vitamins and can be used in a salad. Try some hard boiled eggs as an accompaniment.

You have your own free trade coffee when you dry the roots for some home brew. If you need something with a little more fortitude, then try gathering the yellow flowers and become a dandy vintner of dandelion wine.

In spite of all its virtues the majority of gardeners are still opposed to dandelions of their back yard. We all have spent time on our hands and knees with some kind of pointed digger, doing more damage to our backs then the dandelion population.

Over the past few years we have used a Fiskars weeder that keeps the gardener standing up. Each time we have loaned them out, the neighbours try them once and go buy their own. The concept is simple. On the ground end of a three foot handle is a four tine dandelion grabber. Perpendicular to that is a small foot lever. Place the tines over the dandelion and push down. Step on the foot lever and pull the handle towards you. The level action closes the sharp tines and pulls out the dandelion with a good chunk of root. Best used after a rain when the ground is soft, the more root removed the better.

My neighbours think that this is the best invention since sliced bread. What is interesting to note is that this tool concept dates to 1913. Manufactured for a few decades, production was ceased during World War Two when metal foundries converted to making items for the war effort.

Fiskars has made a few versions, each one better than the previous, but all do a great job.

Gardeners of a century ago were just as obsessed with weeds as we are. The text, Agriculture for Beginners, published in 1914, admonished the home agriculturist to nip weeds in the bud as “the best time to kill any weed is when it is very small.” In Muskoka that means that we should try and kill our garden weeds at the beginning of garden season. The trick is to get it done before the black flies and mosquitoes kill us.

One street over is a home with a great lawn. Each spring the owner walks along with his stand up weeder and pulls out the little yellow flower. In addition to removing the weed, the lawn is aerated with the little holes made by the weed puller. Now as the years go on and your dandelion population decreases, you may need to find another way to aerate your lawn, but that would still be a good indication in your success in the dandelion wars.

There are a myriad of hand weeders that dig deep and cut the tap root of the offending Taraxacum. If you like spending hours time your hands and knees getting the close up view of your lawn then by all means give them a try. My neighbours will have some that they will likely be happy to give away now that they do their weeding standing up.

With the weeder in position, this dandelion’s time has come.

This dandelion is plucked and ready for the garbage bin.

Garden Bloggers Tour Buffalo

2010-07-12T00:47:00.005-04:00

Having just returned from a great weekend tour of Gardens in Buffalo sponsored by garden bloggers it seemed appropriate that I should get motivated and post a new blog.

Kathy and I had a great weekend in spite of a little rain. We have lots of raindrop enhanced flower pictures to show for it.

The group of people included a handful of friends from Garden Writers group who also blog, as well as many new wonderful people to met.

The gardens were varied from one street of tiny homes originally built for the workers of Buffalo's construction boom to another of stately three story homes. As both were built in the Victorian era we could enjoy both architecture and horticulture at the same time.

One friend we were able to meet again was Anneliese Valdes from Cobra Head tools. Her family run business makes a great weeding/cultivating tool called The Cobra Head. In addition to making a great tool the family are wonderful people, like so many we meet in the gardening world. They have donated Cobra head weeders in the past to us for our project in Kenya and the farmers in Wongonyi village love them (www.easysite.com/theronniefund)

I was fortunate enough to win their new long handled Cobra Head in the door prize draw. Here are the three of us posing for posterity on Friday night in Buffalo. Anneliese is wearign a necklace that we purchased in Nairobi, Kenya in March. We wanted to offer her a token of our aprreciation for Cobra Head's assistance in our work in Kenya

The Real Power Behind The Tools

2010-04-09T16:57:00.002-04:00

It is no secret that I love my power tools. I am one of those old fashioned tool guys who believes that he who has the most tools wins, whatever the contest may have been.

So what am I doing under the hot African sun with a playground to build and not a kilowatt or battery power amp in sight? The answer is getting a sunburn and letting the guys who realy know hand tools to do the work.

This is our second voluntourism vacation in the remote hill village on Wongonyi, in south eastern Kenya. If you climb high enough in the hills here you can see across the border into Tanzania and the famous peak of Mt Kilmanjaro. So far I will take their word for it.

I have work to supervise. The children of Ms Bush's class at Macauley Public School in Bracebridge have spent a winter collecting their spare change and are counting on me to build some play equipment in this barren playground.

On the worklist are three items. A simple balance beam, a see-saw and a large swing set were our goal. As this was my first time leading any type of building team, let alone one on foriegn soil, I arrived early to get my vision clear of our tasks ahead. As my father always said, cogitation is the most important part of any job. Once the crew arrived I have some semblance of a plan for the day.

With fresh cut lumber (read wet) on the ground, my team leader Eddie arrived with his bag of tools and his crew. While we would do the timber construction, the sand and aggregate would arrive for the concrete needed to secure the six legs of the swing unit.

Sand arrives one bag at a time on the backs of the guys who dug it from a stream bed likely some distance (vertical and horizontal) from the top of the hill where the primary school is. The stone arrives in a similar fashion and is crushed into smaller pieces one stone hammer stroke at a time. Once the two piles of sand and crushed stone are sufficient, (at about mid day), these two gentlemen called it a day and I sent them with a note back to my wife, the paymaster, to give them their hard earned wages.

Meanwhile the carpenters started work.

No Mow: No Blow:No H20

2009-09-13T21:03:00.004-04:00

Royal Botanical Gardens
Hamilton
No Mow! No Blow! No H20
Sept 10, 2009, the Royal Botanical Gardens opened a new exhibit called No Mow!, No Blow! No H2O.
In a cedar hedge enclosed setting at the Laking Garden location of the expansive RBG, they have created three different landscapes designed to teach and inspire all gardeners. Moving beyond a wide range of beautiful gardens, the RBG visitor can view the three vignettes representing three styles of environmentally prudent gardens, to inspire us to rethink some of our well entrenched but ecologically poor garden practices. While we gardeners may think about what a wonderful part of God’s creation our gardens may be, we may not be conscious of what harm we do to Mother nature to get where we are.
The RBG’s new gardens show us how to have beautiful gardens without resorting to carbon spewing lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Watering can be all but eliminated with native and drought tolerant planting. Why bother with chemical fertilizers when fallen leaves and grass clippings natural, healthy for the garden and free. Once you have finished admiring and photographing the gardens and clever home/cottage style facades, you can flip open the mailbox at the street front of each garden for info on the waste of some of our past gardening practices and ideas for more ecologically practices.
Visit http://www.rbg.ca/ for hours of operation. While there check out the extensive list of workshops, special events, music and speakers held throughout the year. I could only wish that Bracebridge were closer to the wide variety of activites at the Royal Botanical gardens in Hamilton.
Although their gardens are great, the RBG is not just for gardeners.

Kenyan Woodworking

2009-01-05T20:32:00.006-05:00

In August 2008 I had the opportunity to try woodworking with no power tools at all, certainly not my first choice. We were in Wongonyi village, Kenya. We had discovered that everybody walks everywhere and it is rarely more than a few dozen yards in any direction before you are going up or down. We had ordered sand and gravel for making concrete Biosand water filters. After the stone is crushed by hand hammers and sorted to the correct size, it would be carried in five gallon buckets on the strong backs of local workers.

This seemed like a good time to build some wheelbarrows. Wheels were ordered for the next shopping trip in town and the local wood supplier has some 3 by 4 lumber that was closes enough for our needs.

With Eddie doing the hard work and me doing the planning we set to work. The generosity of several stores in Bracebridge provieded many tools that we needed. A Fiskars pruning saw with Japanese style blade cut quickly and cleanly through the lumber. Chisels and hand plane from Muskoka Lumber came in handy when shaping the handles and cutting mortises. New spade drill bits from Home Depot were teamed with a yard sale brace for drilling holes.

Garden Writing

2009-01-01T15:33:00.003-05:00

I came into freelance writing in a casual sort of way. My wife, Kathy, had been writing for The Muskoka Sun and one article concerned a patio that I had made for our garden. She casually referred to its construction out of recycled materials and what a great margain it was.
When I challenged her on her offhand comments for the time and effort involved, she suggested that I write my version of its construction. What followed was my side of the story describing several round trips to Toronto to bring the stone back to Bracebridge, hours spent cutting and laying and the indiginity of being referred to as "Pigpen" in reference to the clouds of stone dust that followed me from workplace to jobsite.
With one successful article in print, I offered to do a series on garden tools. This eventually evolved into my weekly column of tools and projects combinig some useful tips with a little humour chronicalling many of our home and garden projects.

Remington Electric Chain Saw

2008-12-27T20:41:00.006-05:00

This past fall we had a boy’s work weekend at the cottage. I was in charge of the breakfast meal, material and tools to build a new shutter for the sleeping bunkie door and bringing the chain saw. I made sure that we had the food and I had already precut some of the plywood for the shutter so that they would fit in the van. Half way there my brain cells kicked in and I realized that I had forgotten the chain saw. It was too late to turn back so I hoped that we could borrow neighbour Dave’s when we got to the cottage. To make a long story short, the answer was no.
We were left with a small electric Remington chain saw with a 12 inch chain rather than the much bigger gas powered saw. We all worked on various tasks and as trimming some dead limbs was one, the small electric saw came into use.
It worked well on trimming some small limbs. Next on the list was a dead poplar. It took some time, but the dead tree was soon on the ground. The Remington saw worked remarkably well as we cut the various branches into woodstove sized pieces for next season. The main trunk required some perseverance however the little electric saw surprised us all and we only stopped at the biggest section of trunk with a large burl where the trunk split into two.
For the last job of the day we had to remove a dead limb from overhanging the beach. The job fell to the lightest one of us as climbing to teh top of the ladder was required. A trained professional would have ahd no trouble using a chain saw, but a prudent weekend warrior chose a hand saw for this job. A lot of sweat and elbow grease was required until the limb fell to the beach where the electric chain saw came back into use. It would have been ideal to have one of Remington's new chain saws in the shop. They make a cordless pole saw. With a battery operated chian saw on the end of a pole we could have trimmed the dead limb while keeping both feet firmly on the ground.

By the end of the weekend we had accomplished our chores, enjoyed a great outdoor day in the autumn sun and air. If it had not been for the faulty brain cells, we would never have pushed teh little Remington saw to its limits and learned not to dismiss a tool because of its size.

By days end we were all impressed with the work accomplished by this little electric saw. After spending some time getting the ladder secure before ascending to tree limb level, we decided that the Remmington Cordless Polesaw might well be on our wishlist. Although I have not tried one yet, have a cordless battery powered chain saw on the end of a telescoping pole would have kept all of us grounded. The pole extended to 14 feet and would easily have allowed all of us to take turns at cutting the dead limb down to size. Perhaps next year our tree pruning will be a little easier.