Hello my dear Gardening Friends

Can you believe that we have actually had a few days without rain, and hot sunshine? At last, the things in the garden are starting to grow – wonderful!

I have been asked about my "party". Yes, it is still on and I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible - it is to be a very relaxed informal "thing" so bring swimsuits and children - no dogs please: I own an attack cat that chases anything on four legs - a real terror.

My dear neighbour is at the lake with one of her daughters who is recovering from an attack of West Nile Virus; she was bitten in Markham of all places! Once the diagnosis was confirmed she received the appropriate treatment and is well on the way to recovery, though she is still very tired. Seemingly it will be at least 6 months before she is fully recovered.

I have been asked yet again about tools - so lets tackle this first:

Digging and Forking Tools

Garden spades come in several sizes, with all kinds of blades about 11 inches long and 17 inches wide, while border spades have blades 9 inches long and 5 inches wide. Some spades have treadlike ledges that help you to use more "foot" pressure, forcing the blade into the soil. My own personal favourite is called a rabbiting spade: the sides of the narrow blade curve inwards and the rounded end is good for almost all garden jobs. I use mine almost like a trowel. Most spades have handles around 38 inches long: this is the distance from the top of the blade to the top of the handle. If you find it too long, just cut a chunk off the top of the handle and put a piece of foam (the kind that is used for lagging pipes) onto the handle, making sure that it covers the cut end. The extra padding is very good for people with arthritis - put some on anyway so you will not get sore hands and blisters as easily.

Garden Forks are for heavy digging and breaking up large clods of soil in the spring. They are also good for the shallow digging that you will be doing between your shrubs and herbaceous plants. Again, there are several kinds of forks, so go to your trusted hardware store or garden centre to try the feel of them. By the by, potato forks have flat, sectioned tines.

Hoeing tools again. A draw hoe is 5-6 feet long and is attached through a swan-like neck to a sharp-edged cutting blade. They have several uses: They can be used to form shallow drills, for you to sow seeds, and for cutting weeds to the ground. Some weeding hoes have a forward pointing blade, which again is used to cut weeds. My father-in-law liked this kind for there are two here. I prefer the stirrup type. When you are using a weeding hoe, you walk backwards of course. Why? First of all, you can see where you have been and how many weeds you have removed, also if you flatten the round, you can scuff it up again. Onion hoes are only 12 to 15 inches long and are used to cut weeds around young plants - and you thought gardening simple and without complications!!!

You will also need a rake . Metal rakes are fine to use for used for levelling the soil. Landscape rakes are used for levelling large areas. They have wooden heads, 28 inches wide with 3 inch tines, spaced about 1½ inches, that is one and a half inches apart.

Planting tools, hand trowels , dibbles - you all know what that is: it is the "thing" that has a pointed end and makes holes to pop plants into. Bulb planters are just that - they are especially useful for planting bulbs in grass (naturalisation) for they remove a whole core of turf.

Cutting and sawing - Invest in a really good pair. Pruners are used for cutting stems, they have two cutting actions; the anvil has a blade that cuts against a firm, flat surface, whilst the by-pass pruner has two “parrot” shaped blades that cross each other, but once again I love the ratchet type because cuts through anything - ask my friend Bob; he cut through his finger with the pair that I gave him. Luckily it was re-attached. Always buy good ones, do not buy the cheap ones that are really part of a razor blade - you will have an accident with one of these for sure.

Lawn Tools: rakes that are used to rake debris. They range from spring-tined to rubber and plastic tines. Half-moon edging irons (I love mine) are used to cut lawn edges so they must be kept very sharp. Edging shears are used to cut long grass at the edges of lawns. They have strong handles and even telescoping handles. Hand shears are used to cut all those wonderful hedges you have created to keep out neighbouring dogs and raccoons.

Do not forget that without regular cleaning garden tools become unsightly and difficult to use. After using, always wash them off in clean water and wipe dry; do not overlook the handles. Give any metal parts a wipe over with light oil, even veggie oil if you have nothing else. Store in a dry, airy place; hang up if possible. Home Depot sells beautiful yellow hooks intended to hang up bicycles - they work for all kinds of things, from hoses to garden tools, even your bicycle!!! Throughout the summer keep sharpening your tools; it makes your work easier. Make sure that young children are kept away from saws, pruners, etc. Or, as I taught mine, to use tools correctly, and respect them; this way you will not have an accident waiting to happen.

I haven't given you any practical projects recently. How about a courtyard garden ?? It is a garden on a small scale, where everything is visible at close quarters. It has a degree of formality, and is an area where you will be sitting a lot of the time. Since a large part of the effect will come from the plants that you grow up the enclosure, anything that you build, or buy, will have to be strong enough to take the weight of the plants climbing up it.. If you use ready-made trellis panels, choose the strongest available and put them between strong posts. You can paint the trellis to match your house. French grey is a calming colour, and this is a place that should be calm, quiet, and delightful to be inside.

Trellis panels are easily erected, but it is worthwhile to put them up correctly. Panels are fixed to timber uprights fastened firmly in the ground, unless you use those special cement blocks that you slide the timbers into. Most fencing materials sold today have been pressure treated to make them waterproof, but check before you buy them.

1. Check the position of the uprights carefully, making sure that they are the correct distance from each other and that they are also square to each other. I discovered that this is very important.
2. Drive the posts into the ground using a "lump hammer" and a wooden block.
3. Knock the uprights into the metal shoes and bolt them firmly. Use a level to make sure that the post is upright.
4. Screw the panels to the uprights, using rust proof metal plates and nails.
5. Fix finials to the tops of the posts. Not only are these decorative as in their own right, but they will help to deflect snow and rain that would collect on the top of the post and cause the posts to rot.

• Do not try to create a tropical hotspot if the "courtyard" is exposed to cold winds and any kind of wind in the summer time.
• Do not choose a shady, dry area, for unless you keep it well watered the plants will die and you will be left with a brown dustbowl. If it is too cool, it may also be damp and that is not what you are trying to achieve (although it can be very good on hot summer days).
• Decide on a single theme for your quiet oasis - too many ideas and plants will make it "busy" and thus destroy what you are trying to achieve.
• The higher your trellis, the shadier it will make your "courtyard".
• Relax and enjoy - we all need a quiet haven to call our own space.

Where there is no room for a rock garden or scree bed, a stone sink on a deck or patio can be a great substitute. Ideally an old stone sink is best for planting, but how many of us have an old stone sink "just lying about”? So instead, take a white glazed sink, picked up at a garage sale, flea market, etc.; scratch the surface , coat it with PVA, and cover it with a slightly moist mixture of equal parts cement powder, horticultural sand and peat.

Next…

• Place the sink on four strong bricks, with a slight slope toward the drainage hole.
• Place a piece of fine mesh wire net over that hole in such a way that it will not get blocked, then layer broken clay pots or pebbles over the entire bottom to help with the draining.
• Spread an inch of sand over this and then half fill it with a mixture of potting soil, moist peat and grit. Think about the plants you are going to use: if they are lime-hating, do not add any lime.
• You can add a few rocks now; push them into the soil, inclined at a shallow angle.
• Keep adding more soil to within an inch of the rim. The soil will settle, so be prepared to “top it up " later on.
• Place the chosen plants and then add a 1/2inch layer of rock chippings or pea gravel.
• Have fun with the plants that you choose; if they appear not to like their new home, just remove them and place in the regular garden - but any rock plant should work well. For instance, spring flowering bulbs (dwarf of course), thymes, and of the miniatures that abound at the garden centres.

Have fun with your project!

Once again, hats, sunscreen, gloves, insect repellent and I am sorry to say rain gear - do let me know if there are any more topics that you are interested in and I have missed.

Lovingly, Beryl