Cait's Garden

I’m a fan of plants doing what they do naturally. And no shrub grows by itself into a square shape. It drives me especially nuts to see people trimming spring-flowering shrubs into unattractive, generic squares.  It takes away all the draping beauty of their natural shape. Even worse, many people trim them at the wrong time and ensure there will be no flowers coming out of those shrubs any time soon. One of the first things I learned when I acquired my lilac bushes was when to trim them…right after they bloom. Any earlier or later and I won’t be enjoying any flowers the next season. My advice to anyone contemplating taking a hedge trimmer to a flowering shrub: read up on it before you touch it. Or better yet, don’t touch it at all!  The shrub shown in the photo above is called a Bridal Wreath or Bridal Veil Spirea, due to the draping branches and white flowers. Can you imagine trimming this into a square? Not on my watch!

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If you’re like me, you have a garage full of garden gadgets for pulling weeds. We’ve come a long way since the day of the 3-pronged metal claw. Three tools have become my go-to tools for weeding and cultivating: the soil knife, the “Cobrahead,” and the “Circle Hoe.” The soil knife is what it sounds like. A thick, serrated steel knife that looks like a Medieval weapon. Mine was made in Italy and has its own leather holster. It’s great for slicing out weeds in narrow places and for dividing small plants. I am also covered if assassins should try to sneak up on me while I’m gardening. I feel quite bad-ass when I use it. The Cobrahead is a long curved hook with a flat, knife-edged oval at the tip. It digs out deep-rooted weeds with ease and breaks up tough soil, too. It is scary sharp. And finally, the Circle Hoe (which is just fun to say) is a little open circle of steel with a knife-edge at the bottom. It is available with three choices of handle-length, depending on whether you want to use it as a hand tool or while standing up. I find the long handle is most useful. If you want to weed your entire garden quickly without having to get on your knees, this hoe cuts through them like butter and loosens up the soil, too. I ordered all these tools online and they are quite affordable. No doubt they have made weeding easier…and more amusing!

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Welcome to my blog! I decided to start this blog while hoeing my vegetable garden the other day. After three hours in the sun with a hoe, the mind starts to wander. And it wandered to a place where I have an outlet for all my hard-won knowledge and enthusiasm for backyard gardening. I am a flower addict. I have never met a perennial I didn’t like and want. When I moved in to my house from an apartment, there were no flowers in the backyard and I wasn’t even aware I liked gardening. Seven years later, there is no doubt I am a gardener.  I have more than 100 different kinds of perennials in my yard, as well as dozens of shrubs, and yes, the aforementioned tiny veggie patch. I have had many triumphs and more than a few failures. Perhaps some of you will nod knowingly as I relate these stories. Perhaps you might even get an idea or two from what I have learned. The growing season in Northwest Illinois is just beginning and I hope to keep blogging as the summer unfolds. Welcome and thanks for visiting!

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