when we moved into this big ol' house on this big ol' piece a land, i was plunged into an immediate interest in gardenin'. in no time at all i was completely addicted and found myself wishin' i had been introduced to the benefits of runnin' my hands through dirt 'n greenery much earlier in my life.
growin' up in that small town in texas, the closest i ever came to gardenin' was usin' a paper towel to pry some o' the dust off the plastic flowers that had been sittin' on the table in the parlor long enough to be covered with dust. there was also the minor knowledge o' flowers i received by way o' the corsages presented to me for homecomin' (white mums on steroids) and the prom (a white orchid if you were really lucky, otherwise pink carnations). and i had taken a peek or two at the vegetable garden our next door neighbor p.t. patton planted each summer but since he only shared his plentiful crop of okra - which i find hairily horrible - it's existence didn't inspire me toward pursuin' plantin' as a pleasure.
over the years a bounty o' beaus would bear before me baskets full o' blooms but i never stopped to appreciate where they were before they were basketed. the only bit o' gardenin' i did before arrivin' at my current locale was when i lived at the beach and decided to decorate my deck with a dozen or so delightful dahlias. i propose declarin' it actual gardenin' is pushin' it 'cause i purchased the plants pre-potted...altho i did provide each pot plenty o' water before some passerby pilfered the plants from their perch. pity - they were really pretty.
so like i said - when we arrived on this acre 'n a half achin' for some able arms with green thumbs attached, i found myself powerless in a predicament that predicted horticulture becoming my primary pastime....whether i was prepared or not.
my first plantin' attempt was a complete failure. i worked all day with spade in hand, pushin' 'n pullin' piles o' dirt in preparation for ploppin' in platters o' pretty pink petunias. after standin' back with pride to admire my professional looking planting i picked up the protracted hose to project water on the plants propped so proudly in their new places. unfortunately it was apparent i needed more plantin' practice 'cause just the slightest bit o' water projected upon the pink plants picked 'em up 'n propelled 'em plum down the paved path. it was a pitiful performance in plantin' but i refused to be perplexed and was determined to persevere.
so practice i did 'n before long my plants not only stayed put but they began to prominently peak. in fact the peakin' became so prominent that in no time all my plantin' called for perpetual prunin'. my to my surprise i found as much pleasure prunin' as i did plantin'. i had no premonition though that prunin' - even done with pleasure - could be so painful. but painful it was....so painful in fact that one full day o' prunin' resulted in me practically paralyzed for the next full day.
the problem o' performining prunin' only part time perpetuated until our gardener - who is prohibited from so much as pinching' a petal - presented me with the best prunin' tools ever produced. and if you too are a pruner of anything from a piddly plot to a prominent property, i suggest you ponder over the oh so practical fiskar pruners.
if you visit the fiskar website you'll see there's plenty to pick from. but the three pictured in today's blog art are my preferred picks. for a hand tool my favorite is the powergear large bypass pruner which has won awards from the arthritis foundation for ease of use. if you are pained by arthritism, rheumatism or carpal tunnel syndrome, wanna try to prevent all of 'em or just wanna a tool that makes cutting plants as easy as cutting' paper - this tool's for you.
now - if your plantin' propels itself toward the sky you're gonna want one o' their prunin' stiks. for years i have only had the 2 pound regular stik and have not only pruned with pleasure 'n no pain but actually look forward to usin' it. it's so easy - you just grab what you wanna pluck 'n pull the strap or handle down and watch whatever you picked to pluck pummel to the ground. the newer telescopin' stik is pretty much just like the regular one but as it's name says, telescopes so you can reach just about as high as anyone could possibly wanna prune. and it's light enough that it won't make you tip over like all those other telescopin' tools you may have tried previously.
i love these three tools so much i keep 'em hidden so that no one else will poach 'em from me - not just cause i don't want 'em damaged but i don't want anyone else to get to the prunin' and leave none for me. only my cousin jo knows where i place 'em and that's cause she uses the smaller prunin' stik to grab things off the top o' the trailer the morning' after one o' her less than polite parties.
i only have two warnins' about these terrific tools....besides the tendency for makin' you wanna prune when maybe you should be doin' other things...first - don't try usin' the bypass pruners in the dark. i did just that pryin' hydrangea blooms loose to push into pretty pots for a plush party the next day and pruned right into my pinky. second warning is - even as light as the telescopin' stik is, if you try prunin' your rose vines away from the neighbors side by standin' on the top step o' your ladder with it telescoped all the way out, you might be overdoin' it all and just fall off the ladder like i did. luckily when this happened to me mini's daddy - who had insisted i didn't need both the stik AND the ladder - had predicted the predicament to come and was prepared to catch me mid-tumble, preventin' me from permanent damage.
all three o' these powerful performers can be located via the fiskar's website or amazon if you can't procure them at your local hardware store. if you place an order soon i suspect any one o' these tools would be just the ticket for a terrific father's day present.
