Garden update

I've been very neglectful of the gardening aspect of this blog, particularly since we've just left behind the most active growing time of the year. This and the posts that follow is my attempt to catch up.

I'll start with a trio of shovels, a spade, and a pick that I find handy to use in the garden. The very smallest shovel I despaired of ever finding a use for, but it turns out that it's great for close work in the vegetable garden. There are two larger shovels, and the smaller of the two I've heard referred to as a "lady" shovel or some such. It's very useful for scooping wet concrete because the scoops aren't too heavy. It also has a bit more finesse when used in tight quarters such as when digging around established plants. The largest shovel is a bruiser - I always buy the most expensive large shovel hoping that I won't break it, but I always have. This time the blade gave way even though it was advertised as unbreakable. I guess they only meant the handle was unbreakable. In truth, the fiberglass handles took a lot of abuse and never gave way like a wood handle. My newest large shovel has a beefier looking blade and the same style fiberglass handle. The pick is good for grubbing out plants that have overstayed their welcome and the spade it for moving loose earth or scraping weeds from teh cracks in my driveway. I have a mattock too, for general digging, and several other tools but I didn't use them this day.