Ramblings of Garden Tool Co.
Anne Schreck
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Posts by Anne Schreck
Growing Business vs Growing Seeds
03 weeks ago
by Anne Schreck
in Gardening
We live in a house that would never be considered spacious and as Garden Tool Company continues to grow and we make every effort to stock all that we sell and the stuff required to ship it, it seems to get smaller by the day. Last year we built a second shed but that was full before we knew it, so whenever we get something new lately it must go somewhere in our house. Just last month, we lost access to our fireplace when we added some more shelves for products. We pretty much have things in every room but our kitchen and our bathroom.
To add to my dilemma, today Blake reminded me that spring is coming and I have used the space that I started my seeds last year for our few remaining house plants. So now, I have the daunting task of figuring out where in the world I am going to start our seeds or move the houseplants this year. Maybe we can just strap them to the dogs backs – NOT.
2011 Seeds
A Garden for All of Us
03 weeks ago
Here in Fort Collins, we have a wonderful community botanic garden called The Gardens on Spring Creek. My favorite things about it are the high level of community involvement encouraged, the whimsical artwork featured and the focus on plants that thrive in the area.
Classes are offered in everything from growing vegetables and other area plants , to various types of landscaping, to painting, to cooking. They host children’s camps, birthday parties and charity events. You can rent a plot for the year and do your gardening there. You can volunteer to help maintain all the ornamental gardens and spend time with and learn from other gardeners. And of course, they take monetary contributions if you just want to offer your support without participating further.
Artwork ranges from a giant watering can that actually pumps water to a Dr. Seuss playhouse and children are not just allowed but encouraged to play. There is an entire area devoted to children that includes friendly scarecrows, a Fairy garden and a fish pond. They light the place up for a special holiday event in December, and they feature works by local artists at various times.
There is a three-quarter acre edible garden that shows you the best vegetables for the area, as well as, new and intriguing vegetables in the International section. A teaching kitchen is located adjacent to the edible garden and thousands of pounds of produce is donated to the local food bank.
Another interesting feature is the xeric strip located between the sidewalk and the street. Designed by Lauren Springer-Ogden, the hell strip features a colorful and interesting variety of plants that will grow with limited water.
There is much more to the garden than is typical of many botanic gardens and I continually discover new things about it. Check it out for yourself…
The Perfect Garden Hose
01 month ago
I absolutely hate it when I am out watering and suddenly the water pressure is gone. Inevitably it is the result of a kink in my hose that I have to go find and straighten out. Thank goodness we recently found the Tuff Guard hose that is designed to be virtually unkinkable. You can even tie it in a knot and the water still flows smoothly at full pressure. They call it the perfect garden hose and they aren’t lying.
We have bought so many hoses that claim to be better, only to find that they are just another problem hose that we spent more to buy. They kink, they crack, they crush, they are hard to roll up or the fitting goes bad, and there we are at the store again buying another one.
The Tuff Guard hose is extremely lightweight and easy to coil – even when full of water. We live in Northern Colorado where the temperature can drop into single digits or below and this hose stays flexible even on the cold days.
I also love the choice of colors. At Garden Tool Company we offer it in green, blue, red and pink and when you buy the pink hose, they make a donation to Breast Cancer. So if you are tired of buying hoses over and over, check out the Tuff Guard hose and see if you also find it to be the perfect garden hose.
Beauty and Brawn – the Dutch Tulip Trowel
03 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Garden Tools
Does your soil bend a cheap trowel? If you are planting in hard clay soil, you will love the new tulip trowel from DeWit Tools. It may be called a tulip trowel but it will be a go to tool for all your planting needs. You won’t believe how sturdy the hand forged boron steel blade is and it is designed with three sharpened points in the shape of a crown that will make digging so much easier. You can even chop a root.
Tulip Trowel by DeWit Tools
The blade is deep and curved to make nice round holes and provide excellent scooping capabilities. Whether you are planting, transplanting or potting, it will meet your needs.
This awesome garden trowel will make a great gift for your favorite gardener – which may just be you!
A Riot in the Garden
06 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Gardening
Blake and I love to garden, but we aren’t those people who worry a lot about all the names of the plants and the precise placement of them. Instead we enjoy finding a different color, look or texture and then just adding it in wherever there happens to be an empty spot. Because of this, our garden is in no way formal. We don’t always know what will return the next year or exactly where it will return and to me that is a big part of the fun of gardening. And the result is a free-form riot of color that blooms all through the season. Here are some photos and we would love to hear more about how you garden.
A Spot of Tea for Our Plants
48 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Gardening
In recent years Blake and I have been trying to become more green when we garden. Gone are the days of pouring all types of chemicals on the plants and weeds for fertilizing or controlling those pesky, prolific weeds. These days we pay close attention to what goes on the plants we grow, into our soil and on into the landfill and down the sewer system. This is especially important when it comes to vegetable gardening since we are also putting those plants, as well as the chemicals we used on them, into your bodies. So I was really intrigued when Blake told me that he wanted to add manure tea to our product line.
Brewing Manure Tea
When we lived in Dallas we had an aquarium and I used the dirty water on the plants when I cleaned the tank. My roses in Dallas were testimony to the benefits of poop water on plants. But the aquarium did not make the move and I no longer had access to all that “treated” water. I was really excited to learn that people actually made teabags for brewing manure tea. I mean, come on, we all know that the folks that raise the livestock have access to the best poop and now, you don’t have to buy it by the stinky bag-full. One tea bag makes a five gallon bucket of manure tea and it is so much easier than having to clean the aquarium.
We have used manure tea all over the yard, on our potted plants and we are anxiously awaiting the results in the vegetable garden. Annie Haven makes our tea and you can learn all about the wonderful properties at her website. I will be posting photos of the results in our garden when the time comes.
Annie Haven and her Tea
On a side note, our Aussie puppy Dixie, thinks the bags make a great chew toy, so we can’t leave the buckets where she can get to them and I saw on Facebook that some cats enjoy drinking the tea. We definitely preferred Dixie nabbing the tea bag to so many of the other things she has felt the need to munch on – like the arm of the leather chair.
Growing Potatoes in Cages
48 months ago
Last year we did not have a lot of luck growing potatoes in our raised beds, so this year we decided to give cages a try. We used some leftover wire fencing and made three cages. Then we mixed up some compost and straw in each cage and put our seed potatoes into them. As the plants grow, we can just continue to add either the same mixture or just more straw. As the season progresses, we shall see if we have any better luck with this method. Hopefully we will because we are a potato loving household.
Our potato cages
The Cadillac of Crack Weeders
08 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Garden Tools
It’s been quite some time since I wrote about weeders but with our recent month of rain, they are back on my mind because everything has been growing rampantly after all the moisture – especially the weeds. In addition to the weeds that seem to spring up everywhere, our front flowerbeds are full of Cosmos, a wonderful but prolific self-seeding flower, and they don’t limit themselves to our beds. Now both weeds and Cosmos can be found growing in every crack in the sidewalk, driveway and gutter, so I frequently find myself out front with a crack weeder.
Last year, I wrote about the bio v-groove, which is a great little hand weeder that works wonderfully on cracks, but this year I decided to try out a long handled weeder and boy is it heavenly to get to do the job standing up. What a relief to my aging knees and back to get to do this job without bending down or squatting, and the Cadillac of this type weeder has to be the Sneeboer Paver and Crack Weeder. Designed with both a healthy sized pick and a sharp straight side, I can use it both on large, tough weeds or a Cosmo and to get at that grass growing in the narrowest of cracks in our sidewalk and driveway. This baby grabs a spot high on my list of favorite weeders.
Sneeboer Paver and Crack Weeder
