Japanese Tools Garden

As an observer of gardens everywhere, I've become particularly sensitive to how trees and large shrubs are pruned. It's always a pleasure to admire properly pruned, mature trees in public and private gardens. Now is a good time to examine your garden and make a plan for any necessary pruning in the coming months. I can begin, however, with some basic concepts followed by examples from my own garden. While not all mature trees require pruning, many are healthier and more attractive when sensitively pruned. Judicious pruning can help train young plants, tidy up a plant's appearance, control its shape and size, promote flowering and fruiting, invigorate stagnant growth, and get rid of damaged or pest-infested growth. If properly shaped when young, most trees and many large shrubs require little pruning after they've matured.

Make shrubs and small ornamental trees the backbone of your garden, not flowers. But even with that much help, it's tough to reach that mythical state of what garden books call "friable soil. Rather than digging organic material into clay soil, make raised beds with a combination of topsoil and organic compost at least 18 inches high. At the risk of incurring the wrath of those who believe well-drained soil is the 11th commandment, I must tell you that there are some plants that are almost invincible in any conditions and require almost no care. If you don't want to make frames for raised beds, simply mound the soil up. 4. If you want flowers, stick to perennials instead of annuals that must be planted each year. Don't grow plants that need staking, pruning or deadheading. Underplant shrubs with ground covers to keep down weeds. If you must have annuals, stick a few in pots for high-impact color accents....

KMT, YOKU, SUN, DRI, HNZ - Stocks to watch at NYSE

Kennametal's product offering includes a range of solution products in metalworking, such as metal cutting tools and tooling systems, and advanced materials, such as cemented tungsten carbide products. It specializes in developing and manufacturing

Midland kicks off the season with a Holiday Art Fair

“But I think I must have seen Japanese prints at some point and thought, 'Oh, gosh, that looks like fun!' ” She uses homemade Japanese paper — it's soft and absorbent, she said, but doesn't tear easily — and plates her son cuts with his power tools

Gardening world cup: An English success story

Japanese customs refused to permit the shipment to be unloaded before it was thoroughly cleansed, meaning that a Georgian water pump – identical to the one at Beatrix Potter's former home at Hill Top – old tools, a garden gate, wooden wheelbarrow,

Margaret Lauterbach: Put your garden to bed for the winter

Other gifts gardeners welcome are good tools such as comfortable-handled trowels, pruning loppers and bypass pruning shears. If your gardener doesn't have one, a Japanese farmer's knife, or Hori-hori (less than $25, usually) quickly becomes a favorite

Putting the 'fun' into functional garden shed

It's on our wish lists somewhere just above a Japanese maple and non-heavy clay soil and right below a glass English greenhouse and a world without earwigs. We're reminded of how much we'd like one every time a garden magazine shows up in our mailbox

The Essential Urban Farmer

Popular Science

Bamboo in Japan