Working in the garden industry has a great many perks – in addition to meeting interesting people from coast to coast and beyond, I get a steady stream of cool garden reading crossing my desk. What a gem I found while catching up on my reading over our holiday break: the latest issue of The Heirloom Gardener.

Not only is it a treat to flip through the magazine and take in page after page of beautiful images, but the content is valuable and  unique. The articles in this latest issue cover: Seed Starting 101, a showcase on Kohlrabi with some delicious looking recipes, a fascinating look at the medicinal and culinary uses for rhododendron, a great guide to storing your harvest, and the history of the organic farming movement. And that's just a taste - there's lots more! 

You can sneak a peek at some of the magazine content on their web site www.heirloomgardener.com, or treat yourself to a subscription!

While I will continue to dream about spring flowers and the smell of fresh dirt, here in reality we are working hard to get everything ready for the busy planting season ahead. We have some great new items sailing the high seas from England, ready for a lifetime of hard work in gardens across the U.S. I can’t spill the beans on what these new items are quite yet, but we are making room in our warehouse by offering a 25% clearance on a handful of Clarington items. The discount is valid through January 15th, or while supplies last:

Wizard Rake : Sale $39.75

Perfect for raking on stone, wood, concrete, brick, and more. A great way of cleaning up pine needles and other stubborn garden debris. Regular $53

http://www.claringtonforge.com/rakes-hoes/wizard-rubber-rake

Springbok Rake : Sale $36.75

Handmade rake ideal for removing moss, thatch, and dead grass from lawns. Regular $49

http://www.claringtonforge.com/rakes-hoes/springbok-lawn-rake

Weeding Trowel: Sale $15

A narrow trowel for weeding and garden tasks in confined spaces. Regular $20

http://www.claringtonforge.com/trowels-hand-forks/tanged-weeding-hand-trowel

Mini Pruning Shears : Sale $20.25

A set of handy cutting tools- a small bypass pruner and handy flower cutters. Regular $27

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/pink-mini-pruning-set

Snow Shovel: Sale $22.50

A sturdy shovel for moving large amounts of snow – or dirt. Regular $30

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/utility-snow-shovel

Leaf Rake: Sale $22.50

A handy rake for general garden and leaf cleanup Regular $30

http://www.claringtonforge.com/rakes-hoes/plastic-leaf-rake

Clarington Garden Tool Showroom

3450 Third Street, 3B San Francisco, CA 94124

Phone: 800-356-2196

Open: Monday through Friday: 9am to 3pm

Ratchet Pruner $20

For gardeners facing ambitiously large branches or for those with weak hand strength, the ratchet action on these pruners makes them easy to use. Simply cut until the pruner clicks, release and repeat. Easily tackle jobs impossible with other  pruners.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/ratchet-pruners

Daisy Grubber $15

A wonderful weeder for stubborn, deep rooted weeds. Simply grab the weed in the deep 'v' groove and use the leverage of the angled blade to pop the weeds right up.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/trowels-hand-forks/daisy-grubber-hand-trowel

New! Sliver Grippers $7

Handy pointed sliver grippers are the best thing around for removing splinters and thorns. Made in the USA. Also great for handling small seeds!

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/sliver-gripper

New! Japanese Garden Knife $25

Made in Japan, and brought in by Clarington, USA, this planting knife has a sharp serrated edge, and graduated markings.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/japanese-gardening-knife

Household Shovel $14

Wonderful for scooping bird seed or soil, it also makes a wonderful fireplace shovel for cleaning out ashes.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/household-shovel-large

New! Gimlet Hand Drill Set $12.50

These handy tools allow easy drilling of holes in wood without a power drill. Ideal for small jobs around the garden when you don't have an electrical outlet handy. Simply push the tool into the wood, and the threads will pull it through with ease. Made in France.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/gimlet-hand-drilling-set

New! French Harvesting Scissor

Handy French garden scissor for cutting flowers, herbs, or harvesting grapes. Traditional design. Made in France.

http://www.claringtonforge.com/accessories/french-garden-scissor

Trowel & Fork Gift Box

SALE $35

Hand Tool Gift Box

SALE $65

Rabbiting Spade

SALE $55

Mini Pruning Set

SALE $24

Bypass Pruner

SALE $20

Children's Tools

SALE $11-45

The wide mouth and ratchet action make cutting through large branches incredibly easy and smooth. And the extended handles allow you to prune hard to reach areas. Like our ratchet pruners, you cut through large branches in stages – closing the pruners until they come to a stop, release and repeat. These incremental cuts allowed by the ratchet action greatly minimize the physical strength typically needed to handle big pruning jobs.

Here is a video of me trimming a large branch in my yard. Sorry for the poor filming and editing – I could have used an extra set of hands that day. Acting lessons wouldn't hurt either!

These tools are from our new accessories section – a range of tools that are manufactured for us, but not made in our factory. We do offer a one year quality guarantee on these loppers, though as I mentioned above mine are still going strong after 5+ years!

Squash Bugs: End of Season Strategy

 If you’ve raised squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, or any variety of melon (all called cucurbits) then more than likely you’ve had problems with squash bugs.If you don’t know what a squash bug is ——then you live in a section of the country that’s not bothered by them. But here in Virginia they’re the arch enemy of many a gardener.

Preferred Plants:

Pumpkin and squash are the preferred plants of squash bugs. But they’ll readily move to cucumbers and melons when their favorites aren’t available. One of the favorite foods of the squash bug is summer squash.

Tough Bugs:

Gardeners who use poisons on their gardens are not free from being troubled by the squash bug either. Squash bug eggs are impervious to insecticides and the adult squash bugs have thickened outer layers that protect most of them from falling prey to poisons.

Damage to Plants:

They damage plants by piercing and sucking sap from the leaves, stems and fruits. Leaves yellow, dry, turn brown and then die. The inexperienced gardener might think these symptoms are a result of drought when actually it’s squash bug damage. If damage continues the entire plant will wilt and die.

Up to 250 eggs per bug:

A female adult squash bug can lay 250 eggs over a long period of time. She can hibernate through the winter in the top 6 inches of the soil. When temperatures are right the following spring she can emerge and continue egg laying without having to mate again!

An Important Control Tactic:

You need more than one tactic in your arsenal of strategies to control these pest. One of your most important tactics for squash bug control is to prevent their overwintering in your garden. Whether it’s early summer or late summer, here’s what I do when any cucurbits in my garden have finished producing:

• Before removing the plants from the garden, I want to kill as many squash bugs as possible. I pull the plants up and leave them — along with any damaged fruits —in a pile on the garden bed. Since squash bugs have a tendency to stay with the vines even after they wilt and reduce in mass, I’m able to check every day for more adults and nymphs – killing all I find.

• I also look for eggs and remove those. (I tear them off, take them with me, and throw them in the trash. They’re next to impossible to crush. So I take no chances of having them hatch anywhere in my yard or garden.)

• Usually it takes about a week before I can’t find anymore bugs. Then I remove the plants and any damaged fruits from the garden. When you remove plants from the garden without following the above procedure, you miss killing a lot of squash bugs even after a diligent search. (They’re experts at hiding.) Remaining in the garden, they’re free to search out and destroy any other cucurbits you have growing in your garden.

In late summer when mating slows or ceases they’ll continue to eat, storing fat in their bodies that’s necessary to take them through the winter.

Bottom Line:

By killing as many as you can and removing the food source (the finished plants) from the garden you greatly reduce their chances to make it through the winter. Lowering the numbers that survive is your first step in keeping the prolific squash bug under control.

Three great tools for planting bulbs

Transplanting Trowel

A small hand trowel, this is the least expensive of our handy bulb planting tools. A bit narrower and more rounded than a standard trowel, this tool is the perfect size and shape for planting fall bulbs. The rounded shape results in a soil plug that can be removed to insert the bulb, and placed right back into place to cover it up again. Made in England. 12 month guarantee.

www.claringtonforge.com/trowels-hand-forks/tanged-transplanting-hand-trowel

Planting Spear

A mid-priced tool that can be used for bulbs, but will be just as useful for planting in the spring. This tool has a small, narrow blade which makes for quick and easy planting of bulbs. Simply step on the treaded blade to push the tool into the ground, push the tool forward to create a hole, drop in the bulb, and cover with dirt. This solid forged planting spear is backed by the Clarington lifetime guarantee, ensuring it will be around season after season!

www.claringtonforge.com/spades/treaded-planting-spear

Bulb Planter

 A serious tool for gardeners planting a lot of bulbs. Solid forged from one piece, this tool is incredibly strong. The shape of the blade allows you to remove a soil plug, which can then be replaced once the bulb is planted into the ground. The ash handle (made from sustainable American Ash) has a "T" shaped grip to make it easier to move the planter in the soil. Solid forged in England, and backed by our lifetime guarantee.

 www.claringtonforge.com/spades/bulb-planter

Rakes & Hoes for Fall Clean Up

Merlin & Wizard Rubber Rakes

These wonderful rubber tipped rakes are perfect on all surfaces - wood, stone, brick, gravel, grass, and for cleaning out beds with minimal distruption to surrounding plants. They work wonders on pine needles, holly leaves, maple pods, and other pesky garden debris. 

 www.claringtonforge.com/rakes-hoes

A Variety of Pruners to Choose from

Clarington Forge also offers a nice selection of pruners to complement our range of digging tools. Our full range can be found here:

  www.claringtonforge.com/accessories