It's Autumn
Not long after I entered the landscape profession I met a Nisei gardener with years of experience. I thought him old at the time, but I doubt he was as old as I am now. Ed willingly shared much of his knowledge, teaching me most of what I know about pruning and lawn care. He began my education on plants, their identification, their growth habits, their needs, and their various strengths and weaknesses. He and I had a number of accounts side by side in an affluent retirement community outside Santa Rosa, California, so I would invariably meet up with him a few times a week.
One Autumn afternoon I pulled up just as Ed was finishing. His process was routine. First prune anything that needed it, then weed and rake all the beds out. Next the lawn was edged with a blade edger - never with a string trimmer - and mown. Finally, a quick sweep of all hard surfaces with the blower and he was done. Ed was loading his blower when I arrived. Finsihed with that, he walked back through the property and, one at a time, grasped each of the two Japanese Maples and the Dogwood and firmly shook each one. A small shower of leaves descended from each. Satisfied, he came over to chat. Seeing the rather dumbfounded look on my face, he tilted his head a little and looked at me with an expression that asked "what?" without saying anything.
"Ed," I asked,"the place was perfect. What did you do that for?" He glanced back over his shoulder at the garden briefly, turned back and said,
"it's Autumn."
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
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(post #11542, reply #1 of 29)
Ha!
I spent the day working on a new bed that I have small hellebores in. All the darn leaves that kept falling on me while I worked on clearing the winter weeds made the job harder and made it REALLY hard to keep track of my hand tools. Those leaves EAT hand tools.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #2 of 29)
Which is why hand tools need beepers in them.
(post #11542, reply #3 of 29)
I'm thinking of tying them to my bucket for the next few months. Once things green up, no problem finding my brightly colored tools. With all the yellow and orange and red leaves on the ground, not so easy.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #6 of 29)
Finding tools underwater is also difficult. On the boat I kept dropping stuff overboard, and finally decided that the way to go was to tie all the tools to my belt. That lasted about an hour.
The ropes get twisted around each other, and everytime you go to kneel down, you end up with something under your knee.
What we need is for Lee Valley to come up with a magnetic belt. You would just clip your tools to it, and they would stay put. Only the parts over your hips would need to be magnetic.
If it can die, I can kill it.
Certified Brown Thumb, 4th degree
If it can die, I can kill it.
Certified Brown Thumb, 4th degree
(post #11542, reply #7 of 29)
That would be a neat and handy belt, now get Lee Valley to make one for you! All it would take would be a couple of strong enough magnets in two pockets on a belt.
New Mexico home organic gardener
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson
Edited 11/5/2009 12:41 pm by Astrid
(post #11542, reply #8 of 29)
I can just see you with your tools tied to your belt, tripping on one, falling overboard and being dragged to the bottom by the weight of the tools.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #9 of 29)
... or affixed to some iron containing structure in the garden, like a rebar trellis ... or to the refrigerator when he went for a beer.
North Carolina - zone 7
North Carolina - zone 7
(post #11542, reply #10 of 29)
Hahaha! That would be less tragic, eh? Maybe not if he couldn't reach the beer.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #11 of 29)
I can't stop laughing! The image of a live gardener refrigerator magnet! hahaha!
(post #11542, reply #12 of 29)
My new tool cataloge offers a metal detector for 20 bucks. About the size of a trowel. Betcha that would find your tools among the leaves.
BJ
(post #11542, reply #13 of 29)
If it's the size of a trowel, Jeana would lose it in the leaves and need a trowel to find it,
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #11542, reply #15 of 29)
LOL!!!!!!!!
(post #11542, reply #14 of 29)
Trust me, I've thought about getting a metal detector. But Mary's right, if it was that small, I'd lose it. Maybe I need a tank of helium and to tie a ballon onto each tool.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #16 of 29)
"But Mary's right,..."
Oops. Freudian slip?
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #17 of 29)
That's okay, John, I don't mind :-P...
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #11542, reply #19 of 29)
That's Jean (French pronunciation) to you. I f*rt in your general direction!
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #18 of 29)
Could you be a little more specific than "my new tool catalog"?
(post #11542, reply #20 of 29)
Could you be a little more specific than "my new tool catalog"?
That's Klingspor's Woodworking Shop. "Little Wizard Metal Detector" cat. #W10000
www.woodworkingshop.com
Jeana could tie a bone to her metal detector and Sammy would find it for her.
BJ
(post #11542, reply #21 of 29)
or she could attach the metal detector to Sammy and he could find all the missing tools!
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #11542, reply #22 of 29)
Alright you two.
I was actually thinking about this today and came up with a million dollar idea - Just need a prototype. There are electric pet fences are wireless. When a pet (with the appropriate collar) wanders too far away from the radio unit, they get a beep and/or shock. What we need is a unit small enough to operate on batteries that attaches to a belt or can go in a pail. It can have receivers that attach to each tool. When a gardener (with transmitter) wanders too far away from tools that were left behind, they'll get a beep and/or shock when they get a "reasonable" distance from the tools, prompting them to go back and find the tools. I can learn to ignore beeps so the shock setting might come in handy for negative reinforcement.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #23 of 29)
i don't know, Jeana -- that might just be too much fun for masochistic gardeners everywhere. "don't bother me, dear, i'm hunting for my lost felcos. wheeee, this is great!" snork
(post #11542, reply #25 of 29)
A bigger problem might be a DH/W taking off with tools just for the show.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #11542, reply #26 of 29)
Thank you, that's an interesting catalog.
(post #11542, reply #4 of 29)
Great story; thanks Marty. Helps me get my autumn fix.
(post #11542, reply #5 of 29)
You're welcome! My pleasure.
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
(post #11542, reply #24 of 29)
The Nisei gardener was frosting the cake. There is an experienced gardener across my street that inspects his property daily and mows and such and it is immaculate. Then as if, just because it is autumn, there are maybe a dozen maple leaves on his very green lawn (no maple tree in his yard).
I haven't caught him in the act, but I swear he collects the very best most colorful ones and carefully places these dozen.
Hi everyone. I gues (post #11542, reply #27 of 29)
Hi everyone.
I gues painting your hand-tools Bright Blue would perhaps work better than Red& Yellows ?
I thought it was just me!! (post #11542, reply #28 of 29)
I thought it was just me!! Very irritating when you can't find the pruners. You get so engrossed in what you are doing, and I will see something else that needs attention before I forget, and so off I go to deal with that, and then something else needs to be pulled out or picked up and then - where did I leave the pruners?
I have a compost area at the back of my property where the 1 1/2 acres of leaves and debris are dumped year after year. I'm hoping that someday when I get to the bottom of the pile, all the pruners will reveal themselves!
I was thinking that since I try to fit everything in my pockets, a pair of pants with really deep large pockets, about four of them, then I would only have to search through the pockets. Although, since I am always moving I would probably get impatient with that too and put them down somewhere for just a minute and I won't forget where they are this time :(
Yellow STANDS OUT (post #11542, reply #29 of 29)
When I've a mind to do something on a wet day - I paint some crucial area on the suceptable-to-loose Garden Tools - with
Yellow Paint.
Now if I could get some yellow Fluorescent paint - it would be even better.........