You wouldn’t pour a can of motor oil on your garden, would you? Of course not. You wouldn’t even dribble motor oil on your garden, but that is what happens if you treat your metal garden tools with oil as part of your regular cleaning and storing process. When the oiled tool makes contact with the garden soil some oil is transferred into the ground. Now that you’ve made that mental connection, it’s easy to remember to use petroleum-oil-free alternatives when cleaning your…
Sharpening your pruning tools makes yard work easier for you and keeps your trees, shrubs and plants healthy. SHARP TOOLS HELP YOU How many times have you attempted a pruning cut and grumbled when your loppers did not slice quickly through a branch? It could be you were trying to cut a branch larger than the capacity of your loppers. The hang tag on your loppers tells you the maximum branch diameter the tool will cut; be sure to take that seriously or you could end up with a lopper blade jammed in…
Double digging revitalizes garden soil and gives it better tilth. It’s one of the basic practices of “French intensive” or “biointensive” organic gardening. French intensive…
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Ready to start your first vegetable garden? The three essentials for an easy vegetable garden are: Full sun Convenient water supply Good soil Add some basic supplies and you’ll be off and growing.…
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Walk through the process of pruning a bare root fruit tree in Tricia’s video, where she prunes her new peach tree. Are you ready to plant and prune some bare root trees? The video has all the basic…
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December 28, 2011 - Charlotte from Peaceful Valley
You wouldn’t pour a can of motor oil on your garden, would you? Of course not. You wouldn’t even dribble motor oil on your garden, but that is what happens if you treat your metal garden tools…
read more»
December 28, 2011 - Charlotte from Peaceful Valley
Sharpening your pruning tools makes yard work easier for you and keeps your trees, shrubs and plants healthy. SHARP TOOLS HELP YOU How many times have you attempted a pruning cut and grumbled when your…
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December 20, 2011 - Charlotte from Peaceful Valley
In our new video, Tricia gathers greenery and makes a holiday wreath in her garden. Whether you want a Christmas wreath, a solstice wreath, or a wreath for other seasons, watch and see how easy it is to…
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September 13, 2011 - Charlotte from Peaceful Valley
If you grow vegetables, you can also grow grain in your home garden. You don’t need to have acreage as far as the eye can see. Our latest video shows you how to prepare the soil and plant cereal…
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Pruning tomatoes? Aren’t gardeners busy enough during the year, pruning roses and grapevines? Pruning tomato suckers is not a big, hairy project—although it is fun to touch those hairy tomato…
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Just another day in the life of the Vegetable Doctor during tomato season. A tomato walked into the Vegetable Doctor’s office at 8 a.m. complaining, “Doc, I’ve got leathery patches on…
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The world would be a better place if every human had a grape vine. ~ Henry Mitchell Pruning your table grape vines in summer is a small price to pay for the timeless look and abundant production of healthy…
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When filing with a file, file on a Forward stoke.not pulling back. The file only cuts on a forward stroke. You’ll dull the file pulling towards you. You also won’t remove any metal unless you file in the correct direction.
Michael Bankston Says:
Dec 31st, 2011 at 9:50 am
Bob L. is correct. Also, file toward the cutting edge of the tool (wear gloves.) This way you won’t create a burr.
Melissa Says:
Jan 1st, 2012 at 8:45 am
Thank you for this. Quick, clear and precise. Perfect