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Gardening with Gael - It pays to be the sharpest tool in the shed

 
 
 

Dawn with leaf blower-590Tools are an important aspect of gardening. Even now I  discover new tools which make life easier. The battery operated ones in particular. Light, quiet and easy to start. My grandson Theo has been to stay these holidays and to be honest he is one of the best tools of all. He sweeps the battery operated hedge trimmer across the hedges with remarkable ease. 

Then there are the hand tools. Loppers, secateurs and spades which need, at this time of the year as the winter clean up begins, to be sharp and ready for action. Luckily for me I had just discovered that there is a place locally where tools can be sharpened. Secateurs in particular are absolutely no good at all if they are blunt. Picking flowers and cutting a nice sharp angle on the stem is essential if you wish to have the flowers last in the vase. All plants appreciate a clean cut when they are deadheaded and now is the time for a lot of deadheading.

Imagine my delight when I found that Andrew of Tudor Oaks in Mangawhai village enjoys sharpening tools for a very reasonable price. In I went armed with secateurs, long handled loppers, my niwashi, a hedge clipper and my very favourite spade. I was a bit embarrassed by the state of some of them but Andrew greeted them all happily and took them away. What a difference. With a range of superbly sharpened tools I was able to make good use of Theo’s long arms, particularly the long handled loppers which he used to get rid of some random branches. Now considerably taller than me, he pointed out that branches I walk under with no trouble at all flick him in the eye.

“Not everyone is your height Granny,” he pointed out to me as he happily chopped away overhanging branches. 

A very sharp spade makes digging and clearing half the battle. I have decided to move my paeonies this winter to an area at the bottom of my white wall/walk. I am hoping it will be as cool in the winter there as the original site. It will be a lot closer for me to cart ice to when the colder weeks need extending. I am a bit worried that our winter may be warmer than usual. The site needed clearing and my sharp spade made a great job, slicing through the paspalum which was well established there.
A tool that proves extremely useful this time of the year is a leaf blower. I had never had any experience with one until fellow gardener Dawn brought one with her up to the Block extolling the wonders and benefits the entire way. Battery operated, it was light and easy to use. 

“You just wait,” she said. “You’ll be amazed and you’ll want one. It is much easier than sweeping.”

She was quite right. Leaves and even small stones vanished like magic from the paths and into the gardens. Leaves from the liquidambers and maples now littering the pathways got blown away into the borders and disappeared under the rhododendrons providing ideal mulch. If left on the path and lawn they start to break down and become exceedingly slippery.

“You are right,” I said to Dawn. “They are great.”

“I’m off to buy a leaf blower,” I said to Box. “They are brilliant.”

“Wait,” said Box. “I think someone is offering them free with new chainsaws.” 

Still waiting.

Fellow gardener Dawn blew me away with her leaf blower.

 
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