Gardening Tools

By Maki Somosot Saturday Funky in drag The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret will play a pre-Halloween double bill with Johnny Showcase and the Lefty Lucy Cabaret at MilkBoy Philly. The show coincides with the release of Johnny Showcase's debut album, "Love Is the Message. " Once hailed as the "drag queen king," Martha Graham Cracker, aka Dito van Reigersberg, will let loose her pipes and break out her stilettos alongside the musical stylings of funky crooner Johnny Showcase.

One of Karen Angelucci's favorite gardening tools is the wood potting bench her father made for her. The big poplar bench has shelves for storing pots, nails on which to hang utensils, and a large work area, said Angelucci, an author of gardening books from Lexington, Ky. "I have to have room to work and create," she said. "Potting benches tell the character of a person. That's why mine's large and messy. " Gardeners use the benches primarily for potting flowers and small seedlings.

Colleagues say that, up until Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda went to his quarters and killed himself Thursday, he was in "good spirits. " They couldn't believe he'd take his life over whether he had earned the Vietnam combat decorations he wore. But rarely do precipitating events - when they can even be identified - truly explain such extreme action. It's nearly impossible for survivors - this time, the entire United States Navy - to understand what could drive this honored and honorable man to it. That's because suicide almost always is a result of depression, and depression is marked by an inability to see other ways out of problems.

Burpee, the mail-order horticultural company made famous in 124 years of selling seeds, is scheduled to open next month on Route 70 the largest of its new retail stores. "Burpee is known as a catalog company," said Anita M. Alvare, a company spokeswoman. "Then came our Web site and e-commerce. And now we're getting into retailing. " She said Medford was perfect because of its location and demographics. Its approximately 23,000 residents are among the wealthiest in South Jersey, and Medford is only 20 miles from Philadelphia.

It's spring, but before the gardeners among you run out to get dirt under your fingernails and mud on your shoes, you might want to consider the equipment you use. If your hoes, spades, forks and trowels are strictly garden variety, perhaps you're ready for tools that can come out of the shed in style. High-design tools. Top-quality tools. Expensive tools. "Gardening is going through the kind of renaissance that cooking went through 10 years ago," said Carol Malcolm, director and buyer at Gardener's Eden, a Northern California retail and mail-order operation.

If the Arden Theatre's production of Peter Pan has one goal, it is to reinforce the idea that imaginative play is not the sole domain of professionals. It's an important lesson for overscheduled children, whose video game consoles and computers see all the leisure time action. Douglas Irvine's 2008 adaptation hews closely to the high points of J.M. Barrie's original tale about the lad who won't grow up, his merry band of Lost Boys, Wendy, the fairy Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook, the angry pirate who wants a mommy of his own. But it's the Arden's design team that really soars, its unified vision of jury-rigged steampunkish detritus and Victoriana a playground for David O'Connor's athletic direction.

To those in the garment trade, Jack Marine comes from a family that peddles chic, recycled jeans to upscale shoppers. But to those in the 7-and-under set, he's not a businessman, or even Mr. Marine. He's Jack the Gardener. Marine, 40, took on this label a few years back doing what he loves best - raising vegetables in the backyard of his Main Line ranch house, teaching his children how to garden and sharing his knowledge and his produce with neighbors. What started as a hobby is evolving into a change of careers and lifestyle for him, his wife, Shelley, and their two young children.

MANY OF YOU know that I have a grass problem. But over the past few months, I'd stayed off the grass, and things had gone well. I was paying attention to my wife again. I was reading bedtime stories to my children. I was bathing. That changed a few days ago. I don't know how to fudge it. I don't know how to put it nicely. So I'm just going to say it. I relapsed, and I'm ashamed. If today were Sept. 23, I could deal with it. My grass supply would be drying up, improving my chances of straightening out quickly.

The children found the softening cucumber lying on the ground beneath a bean bush and took it to their leader for inspection. Dave Johnson, facilities coordinator at the Brandywine Valley Association on Route 842, took the vegetable in both hands and pulled it in two. "What we have here is a cucumber . . . that has rotted!" Little hands clapped over eyes, faces and mouths as yellow, pungent liquid poured out of the cucumber and streamed over Johnson's hands and onto the ground.

In the midst of rebuilding her bathroom, Jimmi Badger was ready to lay tile, but she needed more tools: a what-do-you-call-it, a thingamajig - you know, one of those doohickeys. She went to the West Philly Tool Library for help. "I need one of those . . . I don't know what it's called. Scrapers that have little teeth to put tile down," Badger told tool coordinator Eric Rivera. That was all Rivera needed. Within minutes, Badger left with a mastic spreader and an assortment of other items she needed for her project.

By Maki Somosot Saturday Funky in drag The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret will play a pre-Halloween double bill with Johnny Showcase and the Lefty Lucy Cabaret at MilkBoy Philly. The show coincides with the release of Johnny Showcase's debut album, "Love Is the Message. " Once hailed as the "drag queen king," Martha Graham Cracker, aka Dito van Reigersberg, will let loose her pipes and break out her stilettos alongside the musical stylings of funky crooner Johnny Showcase.

One of Karen Angelucci's favorite gardening tools is the wood potting bench her father made for her. The big poplar bench has shelves for storing pots, nails on which to hang utensils, and a large work area, said Angelucci, an author of gardening books from Lexington, Ky. "I have to have room to work and create," she said. "Potting benches tell the character of a person. That's why mine's large and messy. " Gardeners use the benches primarily for potting flowers and small seedlings.

If the Arden Theatre's production of Peter Pan has one goal, it is to reinforce the idea that imaginative play is not the sole domain of professionals. It's an important lesson for overscheduled children, whose video game consoles and computers see all the leisure time action. Douglas Irvine's 2008 adaptation hews closely to the high points of J.M. Barrie's original tale about the lad who won't grow up, his merry band of Lost Boys, Wendy, the fairy Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook, the angry pirate who wants a mommy of his own. But it's the Arden's design team that really soars, its unified vision of jury-rigged steampunkish detritus and Victoriana a playground for David O'Connor's athletic direction.

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.

In the midst of rebuilding her bathroom, Jimmi Badger was ready to lay tile, but she needed more tools: a what-do-you-call-it, a thingamajig - you know, one of those doohickeys. She went to the West Philly Tool Library for help. "I need one of those . . . I don't know what it's called. Scrapers that have little teeth to put tile down," Badger told tool coordinator Eric Rivera. That was all Rivera needed. Within minutes, Badger left with a mastic spreader and an assortment of other items she needed for her project.

MANY OF YOU know that I have a grass problem. But over the past few months, I'd stayed off the grass, and things had gone well. I was paying attention to my wife again. I was reading bedtime stories to my children. I was bathing. That changed a few days ago. I don't know how to fudge it. I don't know how to put it nicely. So I'm just going to say it. I relapsed, and I'm ashamed. If today were Sept. 23, I could deal with it. My grass supply would be drying up, improving my chances of straightening out quickly.

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.

The children found the softening cucumber lying on the ground beneath a bean bush and took it to their leader for inspection. Dave Johnson, facilities coordinator at the Brandywine Valley Association on Route 842, took the vegetable in both hands and pulled it in two. "What we have here is a cucumber . . . that has rotted!" Little hands clapped over eyes, faces and mouths as yellow, pungent liquid poured out of the cucumber and streamed over Johnson's hands and onto the ground.

Burpee, the mail-order horticultural company made famous in 124 years of selling seeds, is scheduled to open next month on Route 70 the largest of its new retail stores. "Burpee is known as a catalog company," said Anita M. Alvare, a company spokeswoman. "Then came our Web site and e-commerce. And now we're getting into retailing. " She said Medford was perfect because of its location and demographics. Its approximately 23,000 residents are among the wealthiest in South Jersey, and Medford is only 20 miles from Philadelphia.