by Stan Logan | Feb 17, 2022 | Garden tools
Yes, gardening friends, it’s time once again for another mystery tool contest. This tool comes courtesy again from Ruth Ostroff. (Do you remember her outstanding worm scraping tool?) This time you must guess the purpose of the round object attached to the painted post in the photo below. Once again, the person who emails me the correct guess first will be the winner. If no correct guess appears, I will reward the person who is most creative in her (or his) response. The winner will receive information as to how to buy this device.
The bonus challenge this month is to tell me the TV program that features a Mystery House in each episode.
And Beverly is disqualified for this contest since she clued us in to this series. Sorry Bev.
Ready. Set. Go!
Stan, The Mystery Man
Mystery Tool
GIVE UP? Click here to see this mystery tool in action.
by Stan Logan | Jan 26, 2022 | Container plants, Garden tools
Here is an addition to your potting shed that is not new, but one that is new to us. LaVille was complaining about a sore back after working for long periods of time repotting plants. She was having to bend down into the blue half barrel that you can see in the upper part of the photo to scoop up potting mix. I turned our wheelbarrow, which is seldom used, into a potting station by cutting an old piece of plywood into a work surface and adding cleats to keep it in place atop the wheel barrow handles. Now LaVille can sit on a medium height stool and do her potting without bending over.
Wood tops wheelbarrow handles to form surface for potting plants.
The potting soil is a mixture of RediGro potting soil, perlite, vermiculite, and worm castings. Note the trowel that I have painted yellow (I hope you know why.) and the bag of Sure Start (which I have yet to discuss). The white coffee filters are to block the holes in the bottoms of the pots. The plants coming out of the quart white pots are variegated abutilons—my favorites.
I was surprised to find that we only have about 20 empty gallon pots remining. I never thought we would come close to using up the supply that I gleaned from the returned stack at Redwood Barn Nursery. I counted up the number of potted gallon pots around the yard and came up with 145.
If you would like your own portable propagation potting station, email me the greatest width of your wheelbarrow and I will cut you a work surface that will make this garden chore even more enjoyable.
Stan, The Tool Man
by Stan Logan | Jan 15, 2022 | Container plants, Garden tools, Irrigation
You know, it’s not easy coming up with a new tool to write about, but I am really excited about this one. As soon as I saw LaVille use it, I just knew there must be at least two other gardeners out there who would appreciate this one. If you are like my wife, she uses a watering wand almost daily. You see, she has probably around 100 potted plants that are under cover outside that don’t get the benefit of rain showers. So even in the winter, a watering wand is used regularly. The last wand was good—until it wasn’t. A crack appeared in the side of the aluminum shaft that caused LaVille to get sprayed along with the plants. I found that applying J-B Weld epoxy to the area, and wrapping with electrician’s tape sealed the leak. LaVille was still unhappy because . . . well, the wand was too long, the control valve was sticking, and the spray was irregular.
So I went to Amazon and ordered what you see below. This, in her opinion, is the perfect watering wand. Adjustable sprays, adjustable head direction, full and fine spray, and a short handle which can still reach higher up hanging plants and water a potted plant held in the other hand. (The full spray is emitted from around 200 minute holes!)
If you cannot read the description from the photo, I am talking about “H2O heavy duty 21 inch Watering Wand” from Amazon.
Happy watering,
Stan, The Tool Man
by Stan Logan | Nov 23, 2021 | Container plants, Irrigation
Cindy Eastman has her own method of dealing with hot pots. She lines the inside of her gallon pots with bubble wrap. If you are like me (sorry), you have a number of bubble wrap delivery pouches laying around waiting to be stuffed into the recycle bin of your local store. Consider re-using the plastic by cutting the bags into strips that can be wound around the inside of your black plastic pots. If you would like to show your gardening friends how clever you are, cut the strips a little wider so that they show above the soil level. I’m sure their curiosity will lead to fascinating conversation.
Stan, The Re-user Man
Bubble wrap lining a garden pot
P.S. The pot pictured looks quite tapered, but it is just the angle of the camera. I appreciate those of you who have been responding to my blogs. It often gives me ideas for future articles.
by Stan Logan | Nov 12, 2021 | Container plants, Irrigation
I suspect that many of you are growing plants in black plastic pots. The reason, or course, is that they are free. Whether they are small 4 inch square pots or 3 gallon round ones, there is always a free source for these containers. My main source is the Redwood Barn nursery in Davis. Customers constantly return used pots to the nursery for re-use. My concern is that you remember that these black pots are easily heated by the sun, and root damage can result. Even though the sun’s rays are less intense in the Winter, the rays are coming in at a lower angle and strike the sides of your pots more directly. The air is cooler now, but the sun can still release a great deal of heat into the soil of your potted plants.
If you are growing plants that prefer full sun, you can still use various techniques to shade the pots. I’ve shown one of these below where I have clamped shade cloth in front of the black pots. Hopefully you have a more esthetic technique in practice. Notice that the white pots on the end have no sun shield because they naturally reflect the sunlight and don’t convert it into heat. So, if you wish to avoid the whole problem, use white pots. I noticed that Amazon has a great selection from 3 inch to 7 gallons. White pots show plants better anyway, don’t you think?
By the way, LaVille plants most of her “mother” plants for propagation in white pots—pots that will not go to sales by accident.
Stan, The Cool Man
White pots and shielded pots
