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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Green Party: Flowering cabbage not only provides landscaping with multi- colored, frilly foliage--it is also edible and makes an attractive garnish.
Falling leaves require the right kind of rake
By Tony Tomeo
Although the changing seasons are enjoyed by most garden enthusiasts, it is sad to see all the autumn foliar color fall from trees onto lawns. To make matters worse, it is necessary to rake up all the fallen leaves. At this time of year more than any other, lawn rakes or leaf rakes may be the most important tools in the garden.
Lawn or leaf rakes are designed to collect light material from flat surfaces. In summer they are useful for raking clippings from lawns. In autumn, they are useful for cleaning up fallen leaves from lawns, ground cover, gravel or paved surfaces. Lawn rakes are made from plastic, bamboo or light metal.
Most are fan-shaped, but some of the metal rakes are comb-shaped. Selection of lawn rakes is a matter of preference. Metal rakes are noisy when used on gravel or pavement, but do not wear down on such abrasive materials. They are also better suited to separating debris from gravel. Bamboo rakes are not a good choice for those who often forget to bring their tools in after use, because bamboo may rot in wet weather or soil.
Bow rakes and level-head rakes are the rigid forms used in soil rather than for light garden debris. Both are composed of strong metallic teeth held in a comb-shaped arrangement. Bow rakes are the more common and are useful for leveling loose soil, sand or gravel. The bow between the handle and the teeth is designed to be flexible, similar to a shock absorber.
The level-head rake has a rigid flat top useful for flattening soil that has been leveled with the rake. The flat top may be employed by simply flipping the rake over. After the soil has been finished with the flat top of the level-head rake, it is ready for seeds or seedlings.
Because of contemporary low-maintenance lawn grasses, the self-cleaning rake is somewhat rare. It is heavier than other types of rakes with sharp teeth designed to cut vertically as they are pulled. The teeth are curved back and downward in the other direction, so that debris is cleared from them as they are pushed. (The teeth are semicircular with the flat blade side facing the operator and the curved side facing away. The rake operates the same way if flipped over.)
Several other garden tools have been developed for specific functions, such as weeding, cultivating, loosening soil and cutting high grass or weeds. The cultivator resembles either a small bent-over spading fork or a narrow level-head rake with very big teeth. Cultivators are used for loosing hard soil. Hand cultivators lack the long handle and are useful for small or confined areas where cultivation must be done by hand. Hand hoes are also useful where the long handles of conventional hoes would be cumbersome.
The asparagus-cutter or dandelion weeder is often used as a small hand cultivator, but is designed to dig out long tap roots of large weeds. The tip is forked to cut through the tips of roots or to cut asparagus shoots off close to the base. Trowels are similar, but wider and scoop-shaped. They may be used as small shovels to make holes for planting bulbs, ground cover, new seedlings or small plants.
In uncultivated areas of the garden, weed-cutters may be used to cut weeds off near the ground. The blade extends from a long handle that is swung like a golf club so the blade passes just over the surface of the soil. Grass cutters are similar, but have serrated blades for cutting tall grass. Neither tool removes roots, so grass and weeds are not totally eliminated.
Flower of the Week: Flowering Cabbage
Flowering cabbage is a cabbage, but not actually a flower. The colorful 8-inch wide rosettes comprise the open foliage of the cabbage. Flowering kale is very similar except that the foliage is more open and often more intricately fringed. Performance is best if seedlings or young plants are planted after weather has started to cool. If planted too early, heads develop on short stems above the soil level, rather than appearing even with the soil. They prefer rich, loose soil in full sun exposure, but tolerate light shade.
Irrigation should be regular, so that plants are never dry enough to wilt. They may be planted in beds, large containers, or even singly in 8-inch wide pots. Smaller pots are not proportionate to the bulky foliage. Frost enhances foliar color, which ranges from white, pink, red, rose, purple or cream against deep bluish green. Patterns may be edged or marbled. Foliage is edible and is often used as a colorful garnish. Flowering cabbage and flowering kale are commonly available at most nurseries and garden centers through winter.
Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
