By hand or by tool
Marianne Willburn
(5/2019) Yesterday I cleared the pathway
and drive up to the front door with the aid of
a 56 Volt Lithion battery operated blower. I
have many tools in my proverbial back pocket,
but this one is probably my very favorite. In
the space of two minutes I completed a job
that would have taken me at least 30 minutes
with a humble broom, and I completed it to a
better standard.
This I believe is the measure of a tool:
Can I do a job more efficiently with it than
without it?
Over the course of my early adulthood, I
was ridiculously tool adverse. I can lay much
of this at the feet of extreme tightwaddery,
and perhaps some of it in watching the example
of my parents, who always made do with the
cheapest (and quietest) option – and took
pride in that making do.
My husband felt (and feels) differently.
Faced with a job that has the potential of
involving a power tool, he will take more time
to search for the tool than the job might have
taken him without it. If the blade is broken
on the chop saw and a shelf needs to be
trimmed, he will go out to the hardware store,
pick up a new blade and come home to find me
installing the shelf thanks to an
old-fashioned pull saw.
In recent years, I have become more open to
the idea of better tools = better work, but I
examine the application carefully. My time is
more valuable than ever and I have a large
property. If I can save myself time in a
repetitive job with a well-made tool suited to
that purpose – or even better, adaptable to
many purposes, I have more time for other
tasks or recreation.
I’m also getting older, and though I don’t
qualify for an AARP card quite yet, there is
no doubt that a tool that helps me conserve
energy and my joints is tremendous thing.
And this doesn’t apply only to power tools.
A well-made, quality broom is a tool – so is a
trowel or a soil knife. The key is matching
the right tool to the right job so that the
landscape isn’t damaged, the back isn’t aching
and the bank account isn’t wounded.
I like to take an approach much like that
of the horticulturists that use IPM
(Integrated Pest Management) in their gardens.
IPM would have us apply the least damaging
solution first when dealing with pests, and
slowly use other methods as the situation
calls for it.
This is exactly what I do with tool use,
though I think about it in reverse. I don’t
want to cause damage to my garden but
efficiency is important, so I look at the most
efficient solution first, assess the side
effects and work backwards until I’ve found a
happy medium.
I survey an area first. For example, a few
weeks ago I needed to pull a heavy deposit of
leaves off of a 10x10’ bed of epimedium, iris,
brunnera, dicentra and heuchera. Additionally,
the epimedium, iris and heuchera needed to be
trimmed before the new foliage emerged.
An undertrained landscape crew (or my
husband) wouldn’t think twice. Power blower,
power trimmer, done.
But blowing those leaves would leave the
soil completely bare, and the air volume
needed to shift wet, matted leaves would mean
that loosely rooted heuchera roots could be
dislodged. A power trimmer would create ragged
edges on the iris flags and possibly hit
emerging foliage of dicentra and epimedium
once the leaves were removed.
So, no power tools.
Yet the less damaging step (pulling out a
nice, efficient rake) wasn’t necessarily the
answer either. Raking could mean accidently
pulling out the same heuchera, and the iris
rhizomes (I. reticulata is notoriously shallow
rooted). Additionally, the tender, tiny
emerging foliage of the epimedium could be
broken and torn (dicentra is even more
tender).
You guessed it – this job called for a
gardener on hands and knees with a sharp pair
of pruners and a keen eye. My husband passed
me as I pulled out handfuls of leaves and
yelled "you’ve always got to do things the
hard way!"
Perhaps. But this task called for it. Later
in the day I cut my grasses back with a
battery operated hedge trimmer and blew the
walkway spotless in two minutes. If you’re
trying to do the right thing by yourself and
your garden, keeping an open mind and applying
the right tool (or pair of hands) to the task
is key.
Trying to figure out what that tool might
be? Talk to other gardeners and find out what
their go-to tools are and what they wouldn’t
be without.
Just make sure you look at their gardens
too. Big bare patches in the epimedium could
mean they’re being a little too efficient for
their own good.
Read past editions of The Small Town Gardener
Marianne is a Master Gardener and the author of Big Dreams, Small Garden.
You can read more at www.smalltowngardener.com