Why I Oughta...

This past Winter, I identified that we were experiencing some 'sinking' in the gravel walkway on the side of our house .  I put it together using Bluestone Chips and some metal edging, but starting last year, I noticed that the 'level' of gravel seemed to be going DOWN with time.  Looking back, when I installed the path in 2021, I went pretty 'thin' with the Bluestone chips on the path - because I used MOST of them back by the firepit.   Last Summer, I made a couple of trips to the landscape supply yard and brought home 50 gallons of stone that I applied to the firepit area and the side path.  I thought that'd be enough to raise the level of the stone.  But, alas...it still felt like it was sinking. So, fixing this 'sinking' gravel on the path is something I want to take-on in 2024.  I even included it in my 'early look' at 2024 projects .    There are a number of (potential) methods that one could use to try to keep the gravel from sinking

After the mass boxwood planting under the Linden trees earlier this Summer , I ended up with two very small (1#) Green Mountain Boxwoods that were leftover from the project.  When I started with that mass planting, I was using a mix of Green Mountain and Green Velvet.  After some hemming-and-hawing, I ended up planting only Green Velvet - mostly due to their smaller mature size. So, these two Green Mountain boxwoods have been siting around and I was able to get to planting them in the border around the fire pit in back.  See below for their location. A few notes on these - in relation to my task list for the growing season: 1.  #1 on my 2023 to-do list was to focus on evergreens .  Add two more to the planting list.  I planted five new evergreens in front .   A columnar Scotch Pine in back .  And now 13 more ( 11 + 2) Boxwoods.  That's 18 evergreen shrubs and one tree - 19 in total.  Pretty good. 2.  #15 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'upgrade the fire pit area' .  These tw

It took close to ten years, but I finally am the owner of a pair of gloves that I've been wanting to use in the garden.  All the way back in September of 2013, Neil Steinberg posted a love-letter to a pair of Chicago-manufactured gloves and I have wanted them ever-since.  At that time, the gloves were made by a a company called J. Edwards who sold the gloves only to distributors.  But, at some point, they were either acquired or merged with the Kunz Glove Company who (as of 2022) ran an ecommerce storefront or sold them to folks who sell one pair at a time like here .  You're probably thinking:  dude...just go buy some gloves from the orange Big Box store.  I'm sure they'd be fine, but if you go back and read the post from Neil Steinberg , you might come to the same conclusion that I have:  these are special.   So, these gloves are now mine- my Christmas gift from Nat.  And, I can't wait to use them in the garden.  See below for the Buck Skin garden gloves that are

What an upgrade.  Or, at least it SEEMS like an upgrade vs my normal small spade.  This was a gift (birthday), but since COVID, the folks at Sneeboer were behind. I have just learned about their tools this season and have quickly become enamored with their garden tools.  Why?  Here's what Garden Tools Co has to say about Sneeboer : Sneeboer hand forged Dutch garden tools have been handcrafted in Holland since 1913 and are considered the finest quality garden tools available anywhere in the world. Sneeboer...the best garden tools you'll ever own! Where did I come across Sneeboer?  Consider me 'influenced' by the Impatient Gardener.  Erin, in this post, calls this shovel the "tool that changed everything about gardening for me."   Big boast, right?  You can go read her whole post to learn about how she noticed in British gardening shows use a tool that doesn't look like our traditional gardening spade that we have here in the US.   Here, below, is mine: The

Over the weekend, I started to organize some of my garden tools in preparation for the Spring garden season and began to turn to my hand tools.  Part of stimulating my organization this weekend was the whole 'social distancing' thing that we're doing, but it was also this video from Erin - the Impatient Gardener - where she talked about how she sharpens and treats her garden tools . I'll come back to that video in another post (mostly because....ummm...the whole Niwaki pruners are pretty sweet and warrant a post where I lust after them, right?) I have collected my tools and have begun to think about how to store them in an easy-to-use way for the season.  I also began to look at my gloves and inventory'd them.  Out of that exercise, I think I'm going to call it now:  I need to add something to my 2020 to-do list:  Upgrade my garden gloves.  Here's my full 2020 list .  For the past few years, I've been MOSTLY using disposable gloves in the gar