My gardeners and outdoor grounds crew use their tools all year long, so it is important to keep them clean and in good working condition at all times.
If you're an avid gardener, you know sharp pruning tools not only make chores easier to complete, but they also make cleaner cuts, which allow plants to heal faster. Making clean cuts also exposes them to less damage from diseases, insects, fungi, and weather extremes. Everyone on the crew cleans, sharpens, and conditions their pruners, snips, and shears regularly. The process only takes a few minutes, and it keeps these gardening implements in proper working order.
Enjoy these photos.
Pruners are among the most essential tools here at my Bedford, New York farm. Pruners, or secateurs, are used for grooming all the garden specimens. Their primary purpose is to remove dead, diseased, or damaged stems, and branches from plants and bushes.
Here, Ryan uses the pruners to cut unwanted branches from this camperdown elm tree outside my main greenhouse.
Here’s Pasang using his pruners on the hedge around my pool. Around the outside fence, I have a growing hedge of two dark-colored burgundy-black leafed specimens – Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ shrubs.
Here is a cut done with the sharp pruners – it’s very smooth and clean.
Pasang uses pruners to also cut small dead branches on the bald cypress tree. Pruners can cut branches and twigs up to ¾ of an inch thick.
Each member has his own pair of pruners – labeled, so there is no confusion. These are Okatsune secateurs. Bypass garden pruners such as these make nice, clean cuts using two curved blades that bypass each other in the same manner as a pair of scissors. One blade is sharpened on the outside edge and slips by a thicker unsharpened blade.
Because they are used so often, every few days my gardeners take stock of their cutting tools, and clean and sharpen their hand pruners and snips. Here is Brian showing the blade that needs sharpening. For this task, Brian uses a coarse cleaning block, a whetstone, and oil.
This little scouring block is called a Creaning Mate by Niwaki. It has a slightly rough texture for removing grime from the blades.
First, Brian uses the block to remove any dirt, sap, or other debris. Brian goes over every part of both blades. One can also use a medium grit sandpaper.
It is important to also get all the dirt off the metal parts – anything left on tools can attract and hold moisture and cause rust. Once Brian cleans the pruners, he wipes it down with a cloth.
And then goes over it one more time to be sure everything is clean. This process only takes a few minutes, but makes all the difference when working in the gardens.
Sharpening stones, water stones, or whetstones are fine-grained stones used for sharpening the edges of steel tools and implements through grinding and honing.
The stone is soaked for about 10-minutes before using. A wet stone will help keep the pores of the stone clean, dissipate frictional heat, and ensures smooth sharpening.
Next, Brian uses the whetstone to sharpen the blade. Brian holds it firmly and places an even and gentle pressure drawing the stone along the blade from hilt to tip.
Here’s another view. Most secateurs are single bevelled – Brian sharpens the outside, and then smooths off the inside, going slightly over to remove the burr.
Brian holds the whetstone at an angle to sharpen the edges and maintain the bevel. The bevel is what makes a tool sharp, and blades are factory ground to a precise angle that’s just right for each tool.
These blades are now very sharp. And be sure to always watch what is being done – keep fingers away from the blades.
Finally, Brian uses some oil to lubricate the pruners. One can use multi-purpose oil from the hardware store. Brian uses oil from the seeds of Camellia oleifera. This oil is the traditional Japanese choice for protecting tools from rust. This oil leaves a deep, non-oily, and odorless finish. It is available online or at various gardening shops.
Brian lightly lubricates all the clean, sharpened metal parts. Oil will help the pruners perform more smoothly.
He also oils the joint where the two sides meet. After oiling, it is a good idea to open and close the pruners to hear how the parts move together – they should work smoothly and evenly.
There are all sorts of sharpening tools at the hardware store – many are hand held sharpeners like this one, which is handy to carry in a gardening bag. This has a single edge blade to sharpen each side of a pair of pruners or shears. It doesn’t need much to use – just about five or six strokes on each edge.
This sharpener is an all-in-one tool for sharpening pruners, loppers, or even household scissors. It allows for easy sharpening and is ergonomically designed for added control and accuracy.
Whatever kind of sharpener is used, it is crucial to keep these important tools sharp at all times. Sharp pruners and shears for working in the gardens… they’re a very “good thing.”
It's always nice to collect seeds of favorite flowers so they can grow again in next year's gardens.
Seed saving is the practice of keeping seeds or other reproductive material from flowers, vegetables, grains, and herbs, for use from year to year. It’s a rewarding pastime, a great way to save money, and the most economical way to produce new plants for the garden. It’s also a nice way to share well-loved plants and flowers with family and friends.
Here's a look at the seeds of some of my favorite garden blooms, enjoy.
Many types of plants produce seeds that can be saved from one year and sown the next. Once the seeds are removed from the pods, they can be kept in small envelopes in a cool, dark place until the next growing season. These are the seeds of the cosmos we grew in our meadow garden this year. Ryan collected a tray of them after the flowers faded.
This is the classic “sulphur” or “orange” cosmo – a vigorous, resilient, and colorful flower that attracts bees, birds, and butterflies.
And once they are done blooming, this is what is left. The seeds are not encased in a pod, but fall freely from the plant with a very slight touch.
Baptisia are flowering herbaceous perennial plants with pea-like flowers, followed by pods. They are native to woodland and grassland in eastern and southern North America. Here are some baptisia flowers blooming earlier this summer.
Baptisia seed pods follow the faded blooms, turn black and begin to open on their own. The seeds are round and relatively large, compared to many other seeds.
I adore peonies. Peonies are perennials that come back every year – some thriving for more than a century. I have both herbaceous peonies and tree peonies here at my farm.
Peonies form interesting clusters of wedge-like gray to brown seed pods, covered when young with a slight fuzz. As they mature, the seed pods turn dark brown and leathery, and as they ripen, the seed pods crack open, revealing dark purple to black shiny seeds.
The columbine plant, Aquilegia, is an easy-to-grow perennial that blooms in a variety of colors during spring. The bell-shaped flowers are a favorite to hummingbirds and may be used in cut-flower arrangements. The most striking feature of columbine flower is the collection of five backward-projecting spurs. Each spur is a petal that has developed into what appears to be a tall, slender, hollow hat. At the very top of each spur, inside, is a gland producing sweet nectar.
Here is what it looks like after the flower petals fade. The tube-shaped seed pod is now exposed. The seeds are can be shaken out of the pods. In nature, strong winds create a rattling sound from these pods. Inside each seed pod, there are a lot of small, shiny back seeds. The columbine seed “pod” is sturdy and keeps the seeds on the stem for a long time.
Named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow, irises bloom with gorgeous color in spring and summer. The vast majority are hybrids with the most popular being the bearded irises. Other varieties include Siberian and Japanese irises, Louisiana irises which are native to North America, and Dutch hybrids.
Once the flowers are done blooming, the seed pods ripen and turn fully brown. The pods are one to two inches long revealing the brown seeds inside.
The Morning Glory is a cheerful, old-fashioned type of bloom that adds color to any fence or trellis.
The blooms leave a small, round pods behind at the end of the stem. Inside are two to five small, black, hard seeds.
Here are some of the poppies we grew this year. Poppies are long flowering and easy to grow. Poppies are pretty in both annual and perennial varieties, and they come in nearly every color of the rainbow.
Here is a poppy seed pod, which is what’s left on the stem once the flower blooms and the petals fall off. As the seed heads turn brown with ripeness, it’s time to cut them and harvest the seeds.
Here, the top is cut off to show all the seeds. These seeds can be tossed randomly in the garden to self-sow. Each seedpod can hold more than 200 seeds, which, in nature, eventually shake out on their own as the winds blow.
This is larkspur, another flower I love growing. Larkspur is an annual flower that blooms in late spring and goes to seeds around the middle of July.
The seed pods begin as green tubes that look a lot like miniature pea pods. One pod forms at every point where there was a flower. When the top of the plant finally dries, the pods crack open. If left as is, the whole pod will eventually split, scattering the seeds.
These are Formosa lilies, which start blooming in August and continue through early October. They bear eight or more 10 inch long, pristine-white trumpets upon each stem.
After the flowers fade, the seed pods turn upward, forming a candelabra shape. Each capsule contains hundreds of papery seeds.
And remember the tall and regal sunflowers? This one bloomed right outside my greenhouse, looking down at the rest of the flowers and offering a source of food and nectar to any pollinators nearby.
Sunflower seeds are ready to harvest when their foliage turns yellow, the petals die down and the seeds look plump.
Some of the seeds have already been eaten by birds, but there are many that can also be harvested and saved for planting.
Here’s a look at my flower garden in early summer, when so many flowers are blooming. I hope you’re able to save some of your favorite flower seeds, so you can enjoy them again next year.
Recycling and repurposing as many natural resources as possible is a big priority here at my Bedford, New York farm.
We always save whatever materials we can in case they can be used at a later time - especially wood. Last year, Mauricio Guevara, a skilled lumberer, master woodworker, and owner of New England Antique Lumber Inc., in nearby Mount Kisco, set up his portable sawmill, and made some beautiful floor boards and planks out of felled trees here at the farm. Most of the wood can be used for future building projects, but some of it is used for making stakes to support all my young, developing trees.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
All the stakes are made right here in our shop from leftover unused scraps of wood. I try not to waste anything. I am fortunate to have the room to store these natural materials until they are put to good use.
This is our Powermatic table saw. It is a rugged cabinet saw that only requires 115V of power.
Here is the blade, which can be adjusted to various heights. One can also see the space between the blade and the straight edge that guides the wood through the cutter.
Pete measures the boards and cuts them down to a manageable stake size – This board will be used to make six foot stakes.
Next, Pete uses one of our STIHL chainsaws to cut the board to size. STIHL designed and built its first electric chain saw in 1926 and 94 years later, it is still one of its best pieces of equipment. This one is run on an AP 300 S Lithium-Ion Battery, which is powerful and compatible with a wide range of other STIHL tools.
Then, the cut piece of lumber is passed through the table saw.
Pete measures the wood again to determine exactly what size each stake should be. He cut it first to two inches and then decided that was too thick.
Pete passes the piece of wood through the machine again to make it smaller.
This wood is oak, which is a heavy, strong wood. 1.5 inches was still too heavy for our stakes, so Pete decides to cut the stakes down to one by one inch square.
Table saws are excellent for cutting straight lines with a high degree of precision. Once it is set up, the machine makes the same exact cut every time.
This bright yellow push stick allows one to safely feed material through the table saw. The push stick has a comfortable pistol grip handle with an anti-slip guard and a notched end to help maintain even pressure as the wood is moved.
Many stakes are made within a few minutes.
Each one is made perfectly square.
Pete made two different sizes – six foot and five foot stakes, allowing extra for the amount of wood that would be buried into the ground.
A lot of sawdust is generated during the process – thankfully, it was not a windy day.
These stakes were cut within a half-hour. They are the perfect size. Brian takes a load of stakes to the allee of London Plane and Cotinus trees in the middle field.
These growing London Planes were left leaning to one side after Hurricane Ida, so Brian needed to stabilize them using these new stakes. He uses a digging bar to to help clear dirt, rocks and other items out of the way. Digging bars are typically five to six feet long and weigh 15 to 23 pounds and usually made entirely of cylindrical or hexagonal forged steel.
Once the hole is made, Brian hammers in the newly made stake about a foot deep.
Brian positions the stakes about a foot away at a 15-degree angle, so that there is always a bit of tension once it is tied.
We use natural jute twine for many of our projects around the farm. Jute twine is a vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is 100-percent biodegradable and pollution-free. Here, Brian holds the tree perfectly straight and then secures the stake with twine.
The knots used should be very simple. I always teach every member of the crew to twist the twine before knotting, so the tree or vine or cane is not crushed or strangled.
Each piece is tied just tight enough to keep the tree secure, but not break it.
For these trees, Brian doubled the twine to secure them and then cut off the ends.
Because these trees are in the field, they are exposed to all the winds that blow through the area. Foe extra security, a third stake – here, a tall bamboo stake, is placed closer to each tree and behind it between the two wooden stakes.
These trees are now well secured. The London Plane tree grows at a medium to high rate, with an increase of 13 to 24 inches in height per year. I am pleased they will be well supported as they develop. In a few years, this allee will be so stunning, I can’t wait.
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