Too often I tend to wax poetic about plants and get lost in the dreamy world of describing nature, instead of teaching you how to do something! So with that...let me introduce my first Garden Tip of the Week. I'll try my best to post them on Fridays, right before everybody heads out to the yard on weekends.
Do you have one of those forked hand-tools called a hand cultivator? I know it's supposed to be for weeding or scratching the ground, but I find it too wimpy for that. But today I found a great use for it while I was trimming back my ornamental grasses before they get too far along.
I leave my grasses up for winter; for interest and wildlife. Come spring they are an unruly mess and need cutting back. My usual method is to bundle them in hand and whack with the grass shears. On smaller grasses I usually snip away, with it reminding me of giving the grasses a haircut. After this a lot of dead blades and debris usually remain caught within the leaves, looking unsightly until eventually being covered by new growth. It's too tedious and non-productive picking it out with your fingers.
Going with the haircut idea I started combing the trimmed tufts with the hand cultivator. It was amazing all the dead gunk I got out the grasses. It was kind of like a good de-thatching. The grasses looked so much better with their new styles. I then did the same thing with a lot of the chive-like alliums, same results. I bet it leads to better crown health without all that stuff collecting moisture where it can rot the plant.
Check out how much better the grass on the right looks after a little comb job.
There you go, some practical advice, but what I really love is that it all started while I was trimming the Deschampsia cespitosa, otherwise known as "Hair Grass"!
