Hand gardening gives time for reflection

I spent last Sunday, Father's Day, working at the garden center. Since things were somewhat slow, I decided to do some weeding at the back of the property. Normally I would use a Weedeater, and then come back and spray with an all vegetation herbicide. That way I can get the job done quickly. I am not sure why, but for some reason I decided to hand pull all of the weeds.

Excuse me for a moment. I need to scratch my forearm. I think I got into some poison ivy. Aaaah! That feels better. Now back to the column.

As I was pulling the weeds, I noticed a few things that I normally don't notice when I am using a trimmer. The purple martins were singing. I heard a mockingbird chatter. I even heard a few Japanese beetles buzz around.

Another thing I noticed was how beautiful and intricate the flowers, leaves and seeds were on the weeds. Perhaps they are a blessing. We just don't look at them that way.

Boy, that weed had a deep root system. Gee, this feels like exercising.

My mind began to wander. I thought of my daughter, Nicole. What a blessing she is to me. She is a beautiful Mom with three children. She volunteers at Trinity Lutheran School, works two part-time jobs, and still has time to stop by and say hi to Dad quite often. I know that I can count on her no matter what.

Then I remembered all of the hand tools that I have in my garage that belonged to my grandpa Adolph. Many of them are over 100 years old and are just as good and useful as the day he bought them. I bet when he used them, he had time to think, just like I did on Father's Day 2012.

If you would like to prune your shrubs and exercise while listening to the birds and bees, do some old fashioned gardening using well-built hand tools. A pair of handheld bypass pruners will clip off those smaller branches. If you want to eliminate larger branches use a pair of loppers or a good pruning saw. When you get done, your shrubs won't look like a bowling ball or a sewer pipe cylinder. They will have a natural look.

My grandpa always weeded his vegetable garden with a sharp hoe. You can't beat a Rogue hoe for ease of hoeing in your garden. It is fast, effective and a breeze to handle.

If you want to "till" your garden, spade it up instead. Use a forged roundpoint spade that is sharp. Turning your garden soil with a spade doesn't destroy the soil structure like a tiller does, so you have a soil that holds more water, drains well, and releases nutrients better.

Using handheld gardening tools have a lot of advantages. They only fail to start when you do. They don't need gas or oil, although you might need a large glass of water or perhaps a beer. In addition, they will last more than a lifetime. I am still using grandpa's gardening tools, and I always think about him and my daughter when I do.

Send your gardening and landscape questions to Paul Schnare at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699 or by email to news@semissourian.com.