Garden Tools

Maybe, says Harold Sweetman, there are no new ideas when it comes to garden tools. No good ones, anyway. Maybe the old standbys - spade, trowel, hoe, fork, pruner, saw - cannot be improved upon, though Lord knows, the marketplace keeps trying. "It's not the tool that makes the gardener. It's the craft, and you only need a minimum number of tools to be successful," says Sweetman, director of the 46-acre Jenkins Arboretum in Devon and a subscriber to the IBM - or It's Better Manually - school of garden chores.

The Philadelphia Flower Show, which runs through Sunday at the Convention Center, is an inspiration to some gardeners, a glimpse of things to come for others, and to mothers of sons everywhere, a depressing preview of yet another garden that will be trampled during the light of day. It's difficult to maintain a garden when you have seven children - seven boys, no less. Such was my mother's fate during all the springs of my youth. My brothers and I made certain that our yard never made the cover of Better Homes and Gardens.

Kevin Murphy took a peek inside the cool cubbyhole to check on the columbine that was starting to flower just a little too fast, as was the purple phlox in the 40-degree room next door. Shifting the plants from the humid greenhouse to a cooler spot "will slow them down," said Murphy, one of the horticulture students working on the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades exhibit for the Philadelphia Flower Show, which opens next Sunday. Keeping flowers from blooming too soon has been a challenge for novice and experienced exhibitors alike, thanks to the mild winter provided by El Nino.

Chris Miriam bought a small bunch that'll end up in her upstate New York bedroom. Tracey Curry-Leber bought a big bunch she plans to place in the picture window of her Manayunk home. And Andrew Raad, another Philadelphian, just wanted enough of the delicate pink flowers to throw into a vase. From the Pennsylvania Convention Center floor to the train platforms on Market Street, pussywillows were all the rage at the Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday. Waving cash and cruising with barely a second glance past picture-perfect roses, daffodils and tulips, visitors snatched up fuzzy pussywillows by the dozen.

"Would you like some lemonade?" the curly haired moppet inquired politely as we crossed into her yard. It was a little early for refreshment, but hard to resist such an appealing invitation, so my daughter and I said, "Sure. " To our lemonade purchase we added slightly melted chocolate chip cookies neatly packaged in plastic bags. "Did you make these?" I asked, ready to compliment as I licked my chocolaty fingers. "I helped," was the modest reply. So began our adventure at the Great Media Garage Sale, an event organized by the Media Business Association that offers borough residents a chance to empty their basements, closets, garages and storage sheds - all on the same day. Begun 17 years ago, it has developed into a delightful excuse for neighborhood barbecues, visits from out-of-town siblings, and chance encounters with people such as us, looking for something, or perhaps nothing, in particular.

Louise Cohen does not want to part with her garden shed. The New England saltbox-style shed is the subject of a court battle between the Bucks County resident and a township zoning board that said the shed, while nice-looking, was in violation of an ordinance and has to be removed. Last week, Cohen and her husband, Jeff, filed an appeal in Bucks County Court to overturn the decision. Tucked in near the front of the house, the custom-built shed has a large window, with thin cotton curtains, a Christmas wreath on the door, and a flag with a reindeer hanging from the side.

Michael Petrie, designer for J. Franklin Styer Nurseries in Concordville, has created gardens out of clay pots. He's captivated visitors to the Philadelphia Flower Show with visions of dancing tools. He's made tires look as if they belong in the garden. For the show that opens Sunday, Petrie is saying, "Picture This. " Drawing on the show's theme, "Design on Nature . . . the Art of Gardening," Petrie has created a unique framed garden. Styer is one of several exhibitors from Delaware and Chester Counties in the annual show at the Convention Center.

Six years ago, Dale Cooke was eating a BLT in the cafeteria of the Riverview Home when he asked for a flowerpot. He deposited the tomato seeds from his sandwich into the pot. Soon the pot was too small for all his plants, and the 66-year-old resident of the home for the elderly or disabled along the Delaware River in Northeast Philadelphia asked for a patch of land. Season after season, he asked for more land. What started as a sandwich's worth of tomato seeds is now a mile-long expanse of fruit trees, squash, pumpkins, beans, cucumbers, corn, carrots, okra, sunflowers, marigolds, roses and angel's trumpets.

The minute the weather warms up, gardeners are outside digging and planting. Next day, they're often aching and complaining. Gardening is great exercise, but you can overdo it, especially at the beginning of the season, says physical-medicine specialist Leonard Kamen. Kamen understands the problem. He is clinical director of the MossRehab Outpatient Center in Northeast Philadelphia and a backyard gardener at his home in Abington, where he gardens on a "typical suburban plot," growing tomatoes, herbs and other vegetables and flowers.

The folks at Jenkins Arboretum in Devon have been so "green" for so long, you wonder: Is it in the water? They use donated garden tools that they dutifully clean and sharpen. They print on both sides of their copy paper, something we've been meaning to do. They bundle errands to save gasoline, also on our to-do list, and in winter, without complaint, they layer up to curb heating costs. "We've always been frugal," says executive director Harold E. Sweetman, who speaks of this 46-acre woodland sanctuary in personal terms.

Maybe, says Harold Sweetman, there are no new ideas when it comes to garden tools. No good ones, anyway. Maybe the old standbys - spade, trowel, hoe, fork, pruner, saw - cannot be improved upon, though Lord knows, the marketplace keeps trying. "It's not the tool that makes the gardener. It's the craft, and you only need a minimum number of tools to be successful," says Sweetman, director of the 46-acre Jenkins Arboretum in Devon and a subscriber to the IBM - or It's Better Manually - school of garden chores.

The folks at Jenkins Arboretum in Devon have been so "green" for so long, you wonder: Is it in the water? They use donated garden tools that they dutifully clean and sharpen. They print on both sides of their copy paper, something we've been meaning to do. They bundle errands to save gasoline, also on our to-do list, and in winter, without complaint, they layer up to curb heating costs. "We've always been frugal," says executive director Harold E. Sweetman, who speaks of this 46-acre woodland sanctuary in personal terms.

It's not uncommon, when taking a New Year's stroll around the garden, to discover a forgotten tool lying in the dirt, turned by rain and dew into a barely recognizable rusting piece of metal. Can this tool be saved? Yes! With a bit of work and elbow grease, you can put it and any neglected garden tool back into sparkling, work-ready condition. Here's how: Clean up. Brush, scrape or wipe any dirt off all parts of the tool, including the handle. Caked-on dirt comes off with soapy water, but don't let tools soak for very long.

The Philadelphia Flower Show, which runs through Sunday at the Convention Center, is an inspiration to some gardeners, a glimpse of things to come for others, and to mothers of sons everywhere, a depressing preview of yet another garden that will be trampled during the light of day. It's difficult to maintain a garden when you have seven children - seven boys, no less. Such was my mother's fate during all the springs of my youth. My brothers and I made certain that our yard never made the cover of Better Homes and Gardens.

"Would you like some lemonade?" the curly haired moppet inquired politely as we crossed into her yard. It was a little early for refreshment, but hard to resist such an appealing invitation, so my daughter and I said, "Sure. " To our lemonade purchase we added slightly melted chocolate chip cookies neatly packaged in plastic bags. "Did you make these?" I asked, ready to compliment as I licked my chocolaty fingers. "I helped," was the modest reply. So began our adventure at the Great Media Garage Sale, an event organized by the Media Business Association that offers borough residents a chance to empty their basements, closets, garages and storage sheds - all on the same day. Begun 17 years ago, it has developed into a delightful excuse for neighborhood barbecues, visits from out-of-town siblings, and chance encounters with people such as us, looking for something, or perhaps nothing, in particular.

The minute the weather warms up, gardeners are outside digging and planting. Next day, they're often aching and complaining. Gardening is great exercise, but you can overdo it, especially at the beginning of the season, says physical-medicine specialist Leonard Kamen. Kamen understands the problem. He is clinical director of the MossRehab Outpatient Center in Northeast Philadelphia and a backyard gardener at his home in Abington, where he gardens on a "typical suburban plot," growing tomatoes, herbs and other vegetables and flowers.

Six years ago, Dale Cooke was eating a BLT in the cafeteria of the Riverview Home when he asked for a flowerpot. He deposited the tomato seeds from his sandwich into the pot. Soon the pot was too small for all his plants, and the 66-year-old resident of the home for the elderly or disabled along the Delaware River in Northeast Philadelphia asked for a patch of land. Season after season, he asked for more land. What started as a sandwich's worth of tomato seeds is now a mile-long expanse of fruit trees, squash, pumpkins, beans, cucumbers, corn, carrots, okra, sunflowers, marigolds, roses and angel's trumpets.

Michael Petrie, designer for J. Franklin Styer Nurseries in Concordville, has created gardens out of clay pots. He's captivated visitors to the Philadelphia Flower Show with visions of dancing tools. He's made tires look as if they belong in the garden. For the show that opens Sunday, Petrie is saying, "Picture This. " Drawing on the show's theme, "Design on Nature . . . the Art of Gardening," Petrie has created a unique framed garden. Styer is one of several exhibitors from Delaware and Chester Counties in the annual show at the Convention Center.

Chris Miriam bought a small bunch that'll end up in her upstate New York bedroom. Tracey Curry-Leber bought a big bunch she plans to place in the picture window of her Manayunk home. And Andrew Raad, another Philadelphian, just wanted enough of the delicate pink flowers to throw into a vase. From the Pennsylvania Convention Center floor to the train platforms on Market Street, pussywillows were all the rage at the Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday. Waving cash and cruising with barely a second glance past picture-perfect roses, daffodils and tulips, visitors snatched up fuzzy pussywillows by the dozen.

Kevin Murphy took a peek inside the cool cubbyhole to check on the columbine that was starting to flower just a little too fast, as was the purple phlox in the 40-degree room next door. Shifting the plants from the humid greenhouse to a cooler spot "will slow them down," said Murphy, one of the horticulture students working on the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades exhibit for the Philadelphia Flower Show, which opens next Sunday. Keeping flowers from blooming too soon has been a challenge for novice and experienced exhibitors alike, thanks to the mild winter provided by El Nino.