This is so off topic....but Back story: I manage an apartment complex that is a block long, working for the same family that developed the area back in the 60's. They built 3 blocks of similar buildings, 2 sold off as condos. The same gardener worked on ours and one other. Because of my background and interest in gardening, I have directed our gardener for years. The builder has a pride of ownership and we spend a lot of time making sure the block looks good. The next block, they changed from a relative of the condo board president who pretended he was a gardener to a massive corporate service a couple of years ago. (Their complex looks run down and beat up) Friday I get a call from a person living in the next block. They ask if I would be interested in "beautifying" the street by replacing our "dead" trees with new ones from the local "City Beautiful" group. Caller said since our trees are all dead and since the city does not prefer them anymore, the condo owners did not want to replace them. I told the caller that I would be happy to look over their plans and submit to the owner if they look good. BUT, I will not agree with the use of trees similar to the ones they used down the street or a succulent that I have been dealing with the city about since they were put in (they block the view of oncoming traffic resulting in a very dangerous situation-the plants are 6-8 feet tall in the center divider) The caller comes unglued, starts yelling "I am not your whipping boy" and "Don't blame me for all your problems" Hello, these are street trees we are talking about....lol And the ones the city use will block our ocean view in a year or two, the ones they already installed look like crooked teeth and have not been maintained since planting-about half need to be removed and replaced already. And I already matched our lawn trees with trees like they used in the center divider a few years ago. And by the way, our dead trees are deciduous and not dead. And most are only 8 years old...and in bloom. People and gardens....passionate feelings (if she really wanted to beautify the street, she should remove the 20 feet of half dead cacti at their end and the 8 dead cars that belong to one of the owners of the condos in her section)

George, When I posted the link, I knew it might not be the exact same tool you were talking about, because Johnny's has so many terrific hand tools. But, I figured if I got the link started, everyone could go from page to page in Johnny's website and check out all his great handtools. Dorothy, I, too, have found that you get what you pay for with gardening tools. I normally will spend a lot of money for one very well-made, very heavy duty fork or spade or whatever. Then, of course, I expect it to last many years. One of my fave tool companies is Lee Valley Tools. Their prices are shocking, but their quality is outstanding. I also like to buy Sears Craftsman tools that have the lifetime guarantee. I have a shovel, a spade and a fork from Sears that have fiberglass handles and lifetime guarantees and they do replace them if they break. I have noticed, though, these last few years that Sears is also selling tools that are not Craftsman and don't have the guarantee, so you do have to be sure to get the right one. I also love my black, heavy-duty Craftsman water hoses. They, too, cost a lot but also have a lifetime guarantee. Sears cheerfully replaces them if anything happens to them. In the 10 years we've been here, we've only had to have a hose replaced once.....I think somebody's husband (and I am not pointing fingers) might have run over the hose with the lawnmower and sliced it almost in half. If that's not how it happened, then I don't even know how the hose was cut, but they replaced it. Irrigation is a killer and soaker hoses are a lifesaver. If you garden in containers, you can use a drip irrigation system with the drip line running from container to container. I even use a drip line with the hanging baskets on my wraparound porch and it eliminates the problem of having water stream from the baskets down onto the porch below since the drip is so slow that the water absorbs into the soil instead of running off. In a bad (dry) year like last summer, there generally comes a point where I have to stop watering everything except the foundation area around the house and barn/garage (to keep the soil and foundation from cracking). We've never had water rationing in the 10 years we've been here, but I have to ration it myself because it costs so much. Beth, It doesn't matter to me where garden tools come from. If your soil is soft and friable enough that you don't have to have heavy-duty tools that won't break, then the dollar store tools are fine. I always have several, because I am bad about leaving them lying around in the garden. And, that reminds me, if you spray all your garden tool handles a really bright color like fluorescent pink or orange, they'll be easier to find when you do leave them laying around. I always watch for "clearance" sales on gardening supplies, which usually start appearing in mid-summer so they can clear out the garden tools at big discount stores and start putting in school supplies in late June or early July. I also shop online for bargains. About a month ago, I found leather Wells-Lamont gloves online for less than $3.00 a pair, so I bought about 2 dozen pair. Because they were irregulars, they weren't stamped with the Wells-Lamont logo, but they are well-made and I was excited to find them. I put one pair in each firefighter's Christmas Stocking and kept the remaining pairs for myself. I love finding deals like that. Ilene, Garage sales are great and so are estate sells/auctions, and I think sometimes you find the best deals at sales like that because some of those old tools are from "back in the day" when tools were made to last. Y'all, I save all kinds of containers and this is only a partial listing.....yogurt cups, the tall white containers that premoistened kitchen wipes come in, milk jugs, coke bottles, the big jugs/buckets cat litter comes in, etc. I like to use the Fusion spray paint (especially made to paint plastic) to paint the cat litter buckets dark green and then, with holes drilled in the bottoms for drainage, I have containers in which to plant small Determinate tomato plants or pepper plants. I also use a lot of twine (purchased cheaply in the hardware area at Wal-Mart) and zip-ties to attach stakes to tomato cages, etc. There's no reason to spend more money for similar products packaged especially for gardeners. Those kinds of twist-ties or zip-ties or "garden twine" generally cost more than the regular stuff and isn't any better quality. I bet this thread is going to go on forever, and that's a good thing, because there's lots of good ideas here. Dawn

I post on the Fruit and Orchards forum and the people over there are forever taking about the best ways to net blueberries so the birds don't eat them all. I know that when I was first looking into bird attracting berries no one ever mentioned blueberries but the birds go nuts over them. Anyway, before I planted the 12 new blueberries I already had about 20 in my yard but many of those are not mature so only afew are giving fruit. I just kept planting more blueberries so that there might be enough for everyone. When these two newer batches of Blueberry shrubs mature, there surely should be enough. I like to go out in the morning and eat ripe blueberries straight off the shrubs. So far there has never been enough to actually pick some to bring inside. Good timing on my planting as it raining today so they should get a good soaking, along with the hardy and fragrant lily bulbs I planted this week and lots of rose shrubs because they are pretty.

Couple of quick things...don't make the bed right up against the fence - with a bed 3ft wide you will need room on the fence side to reach into the bed. Leave about 3ft between the bed and fence (4ft if you can), enuff room for your legs from the knee to an extended foot (and more) so you can kneel down. The peat has no nutrients so you can leave that out of the mix. I don't think Home Depot does this anymore but I made lots of beds when they sold 'cull wood'. It was bent, warped, chipped, or had some other defect but was fine for the garden. They always cut it to 4ft lengths and the price varied from $.51, $1.01, $2.01, etc. I got most for $.51 or $1.01 Some were treated some not - some 2x some 1 or 3/4". The 2x will last longer. I have some untreated 2x beds 10y/o. I just placed the 4x4 frame on the ground, no corner post needed - they haven't gone anywhere yet either. IMO the SqFt method is the way-to-go.