Bumblebee Blog

Bzzzz April 23rd, 2007

I found this little plant at Behnke’s last week when poking around after my yoga lesson. How sweet is this little beauty? And named after one of my favorite things–pocketbooks!

But as with many beautiful things, the beauty is only transitory.

Because I may be one of the last people left who has never heard of the pocketbook plant, I went online to find out more about my new treasure. Sadly, nearly all the websites say that the plant is usually kept until after the blooms have died and is then discarded. New plants can be started from seeds that have been allowed to dry on the plant, but propagation is, from what they say, difficult.

So let me get this straight. It’s very beautiful, so we are encouraged to enjoy the beauty for the here and now. But when the beauty fades, we are to just toss it away on the trash heap with not a backward glance or regret? Just go on with our lives, buying other beautiful plants that we will also toss away when they have passed their prime. We shouldn’t even TRY to keep the joy the plant has brought us alive by giving it the chance to live again as new little pocketbook plants?

That’s just wrong. And it’s also a symptom of our society’s unhealthy fascination with all things beautiful and easy. (Think Britney, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton…The list goes on.) We are too willing to just walk away from things once they become difficult or ugly.

I say we put a stop to this wanton waste of pocketbook plant potential. I say, “Save the Seeds!”

I, for one, intend to harvest those little pocketbook plant seeds, plant them and let that plant live again.

Posted In: House Plants

Bzzzz April 22nd, 2007

I haven’t seen a public opinion poll about gardening and the chore that people dislike the most, but I’m quite sure that weeding would top the list.

The problem with weeding isn’t so much the weeding itself, although that isn’t actually fun. It’s the fact that when you’re weeding, you’re not doing things such as planting, trimming, training and sipping iced tea in the shade.

But your weeding chores can be accomplished much more quickly and efficiently if you have the right tool for the job.

I am a BIG believer in the right tool for the job. I have a kitchen FULL of right tools that I use on a regular basis–small chopper, big Cuisinart, breadmaker, mandolin grater, rotary grater, chef’s knife, melon baller…You get the point. The same holds true in the garden. If you have the right tool for weeding, you can get the job done in a fraction of the time.

Now Harry is not so much a connoisseur of the “right tool” concept. He prefers to grab whatever is handy and to flail away, whether it’s the right thing to do or not. Just yesterday when I wasn’t looking he used my brand new, shiny red hand pruners that slip into a little leather pouch that I can clip onto my belt AS WIRE CUTTERS!!!!!! (Do you sense my incredulity and outrage here?) As you can imagine, the clippers no longer open and close smoothly. They close and…stay closed.

Anyway, back to the right tool concept…

In the case of weeding, the right tool for the job is a stirrup hoe. When I finish telling you about this hoe and you try it for yourself, you will want to send me flowers. There is a handy contact form on this website, so just email me and I’ll let you know where you can send flowers and when I’ll be home.

The RIGHT tool for the job is the stirrup hoe. As you can see, it’s called a stirrup hoe because the business end looks like, well, a stirrup. I first read about this handy dandy tool in the book The $64 Tomato, an excellent book about one rabid gardener’s adventures creating an impressively sized garden.

Traditional hoes, and most other weeding methods, for that matter, work by chopping into the ground to disturb the weeds. This causes soil disturbance, which can lead to water loss in the soil. The bigger problem with using this type of weeding method is that little weed seeds are then exposed to the warm sunlight, causing THEM to grow. It becomes a self-defeating action to weed in this method because the very act of getting rid of weeds causes more weeds.

The stirrup hoe is used by inserting the stirrup into the soil and sliding it gently UNDER the weeds, cutting the roots of the weeds. It’s then a simple matter of raking up the weeds for disposal. You can cover a great deal of territory using this tool, without ever bending down, knee walking or grunting.

It is also more back-friendly. So if you know someone who has successfully avoided the whole weeding experience because of the back pain excuse, you can smile when you hand them this $14.95 RIGHT TOOL.

The contact form is to the left if you want to send me flowers now.

Posted In: Gardening