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Posts Tagged ‘garden gloves’
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
Fragrant Paperwhites and Amaryllis are now a part of my Christmas tradition. I like to have paperwhites blooming on Christmas day and I enjoy amaryllis throughout the winter. I stagger the planting so there’s always something blooming. For paperwhites allow 3-5 weeks from planting to blooming. You can extend the bloom time by keeping them in a cool room at night. Otherwise, blossoms can be fleeting. For Amaryllis, allow 5-8 weeks from planting to bloom time, but each blossom can last for two weeks and one bulb will produce more than one blossom.
Growing Amaryllis– Amaryllis bulbs have the most gorgeous blossoms and will rebloom next year if you follow a few simple instructions (see below) . When planting in potting mix use a container with drainage holes. Leave part of the bulb exposed at the top and water about once a week. The soil should never be completely dry, but you don’t want your bulb sitting in water or it will rot. When planting in stones, select a container without drainage. When watering keep the water level just below the bulb so it reaches the roots only.
Reblooming Next Year– After flower fades cut down the flower stalk and continue to water. Fertilize once a month. You can plant the pot and bulb in the garden during the summer months. In September bring the pot and bulb indoors and start withholding water. Let foliage dry. Store in a cool dark place with no water or fertilizer for 8-10 weeks. In mid November add some fresh soil and start re-watering.
Growing Paperwhites– I usually plant mine in a glass container filled with stones. Press your bulbs into the stones nose up, and leave some of the top of the bulb exposed above the stones. When planting in stones use a container without drainage holes, otherwise the water will drain out immediately and won’t provide a benefit to the roots. Fill the container with water just up to the base of the bulb. The roots will grow into the water. When planting in potting soil use a container with drainage so the roots won’t rot. Keep soil moist. Put in a well-lighted area but not in direct sunlight. Paperwhites are much more difficult to get to rebloom next year, and most people don’t bother trying (myself included).
Stunting Growth with Alcohol If you are like me and you prefer less “leggy” paperwhites, you may want to follow this recipe for stunting their growth with a nip of alcohol. For the recipe, which I have tried and it works, go to this site gardening.about.com. Instead of having paperwhites that are 16-18″ tall, they will grow to be 8-10″ tall.
 Each Paperwhite bulb will produce a set of blooms like these This year for the first time we are selling holiday bulbs on the Womanswork website and in our catalog. They come wrapped in tissue paper inside a handmade burlap bag tied with a ribbon, suitable for giving as a gardening gift. Complete growing instructions, as well as a coco disk used for planting medium, come with it.
You see? We are indeed more than a garden glove company!
 Paperwhites in their burlap bag tied with a ribbon. Only from Womanswork
Tags: amaryllis, garden gloves, Indoor bulbs, paperwhites, stunting growth of paperwhites with alcohol
Posted in How-To Projects, Winter Topics | No Comments »
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Early last Spring I woke up one morning and decided that what my yard needed was a berm. Most berms, or mounds, are designed for privacy to block an unwanted view of the street or a neighbor’s backyard. By creating a little hill and planting it with trees and other vegetation you can create a very attractive and effective screen. Fences are often used for this purpose too, but a berm is a more natural-looking solution.
 Berm in Mid-Summer In my case I was trying to create visual interest in a part of my yard that was dominated by two spruce trees that have been struggling to become established since I planted them 3 years ago. In addition, the trees sit in a low area of our yard and lots of weeds and even poisin ivy had started to take over. Rather than clear out the bad, I decided to bury it under a nice big pile of wood chips.
 First truckload of wood chips and future berm First I called my local supplier of mulch and top soil and asked them if they would deliver a truckload of woodchips, which they did. They were able to drop it right on the spot where I needed it. After grabbing my landscaper’s rake and putting on my favorite pair of leather garden gloves, I spread it evenly across the area (what a workout!) and realized I needed another truckload. After that was delivered I had enough chips to create a 2′ high berm over an area of approximately 20′ X 30′. I piled them in front of the trees and left the ground around the trunks undisturbed. Since the ground was low in that spot some of the chips just helped level the ground.
 After spreading 2 truckloads of wood chips A more sensible approach is to use top soil because it is more stable than wood chips. The problem with a pile of wood chips is they are full of air and they will settle and sink, lowering the height of your berm. But wood chips are much easier to move around and I wanted to try different shapes to see what would look best from a few different vantage points. Next Spring I will probably have more wood chips (or top soil) delivered and shore up my berm again.
 Berm garden from the side with early plantings Once I had the shape in place I started planting a few shrubs and perennials. I selected 2 flowering weigela and a red chokeberry shrub to plant in front of my two spruces. As they get larger I will probably transplant them to another location, but this year they were the perfect screen to hide the thinnish lower branches of my spruces, while not blocking the sun which spruces need. In front of the shrubs I planted catmint nepata and basket of gold (aurinia) with its silvery leaves and bright yellow blossoms; and baptisia carolina which did not bloom this year. We have some lovely large rocks that form a gentle slope along one side of the berm and I uncovered them and swept them off with my little bonsai broom so they would become a focal point of the berm also.
 Large boulders rise along one edge of the berm I also placed smaller rocks here and there for accents and created a rock garden where I planted a couple of smaller annuals such as dianthus.
 Rocks in our garden provide slope and natural interest I left several hosta and ferns along the lower, shadier side of the mound. Left undisturbed, they thrived.
Since I did use wood chips, after digging a hole in the wood chips I had to fill the hole with top soil before dropping the plant in. Wood chips are acidic and would not have been a hospitable place for tiny roots. I may have to put in more top soil next spring to replenish what probably drained out this year.
Although our berm is not as high as some (you can build up the earth higher if you want) we were happy with our berm solution because it accomplished the objective of creating visual interest in front of the two struggling spruces (which thrived in the dry heat we had this summer in our region), and burying some of the unwanted wild weeds that were taking over that low section of our yard.
And since I own a garden glove company, I am always looking for projects that will give my gloves a workout. This was a good one!
 - Hosta and Ferns were left on the low shady side of the berm
 Berm in context of yard in midsummer
Tags: garden glove company, garden gloves, landscape berm
Posted in How-To Projects | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
We keep our garden shoes outside the kitchen door, just steps from the herb garden, but when it rains they can get wet inside. We also use this handy spot on our deck for hand tools and garden gloves and plants that are waiting to be put in the ground. It was always messy looking, so I decided we needed a bench to organize things.
 Before I built a bench  Our Garden Bench My garden bench acts as an umbrella over our footwear and also makes the space look neater as you approach our back door.
Here’s how I made it. I went to our local lumber yard and hand picked several pieces of straight, thick pine. I had the lumber yard cut the pieces for me, so I brought a drawing of what I wanted with me to show them. You can make the dimensions suit your space, but my bench is 66″ long, 11″ deep and 19″ high.
 Sketch for garden bench to bring to lumber yard I used a total of 14 two-inch screws to put the bench together. On the outer side of each leg, I put two screws in to hold the leg to the long horizontal support in the front, and two for the support across the back.
 Four screws were used at each end to connect the legs with the two horizontal supports  I did the same on the outside of the other leg. So that’s how the legs were attached to the horizontal supports, making a frame onto which I placed the top of the bench. Three screws were drilled down from the top of the bench into the leg at each end.
After the bench was completed I sanded it and gave it a coat of primer and then painted it with two coats of a dark forest green semi gloss paint. It has lived up to our expectations in every way!
 Finished Garden Bench
Tags: garden bench, garden gloves
Posted in How-To Projects | No Comments »
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
 Hardy Duncecap succulent (needs to be indoors in winter)  Allium Pink Curly Onion will be put in the ground for the winter  A pretty combination of tiny succulents and sedum  My first collection of troughs After letting my cement troughs cure for 3-4 weeks in plastic bags, I took them out, donned my garden gloves and planted them up this afternoon. I bought several succulents at a local garden center, some of which are winter hardy and others that are not. I plan to bring all my troughs indoors this winter so I can enjoy them. They are not large, so I can put them on the long kitchen windowsill that gets southern sun. Before putting the plants in the troughs I cut a piece of screen to cover the hole at the bottom, to prevent soil from draining out too rapidly. What I did NOT do is let the troughs sit for several days or weeks outdoors to allow the free lime in the cement to leach out. It is harmful to plants. So, I may do this after the fact and then repot this fall. Click here to watch the You Tube video for How To Make a Trough.
Tags: garden gloves, making troughs, Trough Gardening
Posted in How-To Projects, Trough Gardening | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010
 By August, does it feel like the best is over in your garden? Spring and summer bloom is usually abundant, but by late summer the garden may look tired. With just a little extra care you can make your display last until early Fall by growing perennials that keep blooming throughout the season, or produce a second flush later in the season.
 Salvia 'May Night' “Off with their heads” should be your mantra. The act of deadheading stimulates lower buds to develop and produce more flowers. Perennials such as Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’, purple toadflax (Linaria purpurea) and coreopsis bloom more or less continuously throughout the season. Threadleaf coreopsis (C. verticillata ‘Moonbeam’ and others) are trickier to deadhead because they have lots of skinny stems that take a little more time to snip. I recommend a lightweight compact scissor from Womanswork, which is small enough to be precise.
 - Yarrow (Achillea)
With strong-stemmed spiky bloomers you can whack off the stems more readily and be rewarded by blooms on the lateral branches later. These include meadow and summer phlox, obedient plant, salvias, campanulas, monkshood, and yarrow. If you work around globe thistle (Echinops) or other spiny plants, protect your hands with Womanswork garden gloves. I like the original work glove or rose leather gauntlet glove for this job.
 - Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’
Some perennials can be cut to the ground after blooming, and new foliage and possibly some flowers will return in a few weeks. These include Lady’s Mantle, catmints and some hardy geraniums (G. endressei ‘Wargrave Pink’ for instance). Shasta daisies can be cut to the ground after their second flush, with the possibility of more blooms later.
To deadhead, cut the stem above a leaf bud further down the stem, where you may see new growth. After a severe cutting, give the plants a deep watering and feeding with liquid seaweed or other fertilizer. Also fluff up the surrounding soil so that late rains penetrate the soil easily.
Tags: garden gloves, Garden Supplies
Posted in Ruth Rogers Clausen Tells All | No Comments »
Monday, April 12th, 2010
 Mom's Greenhouse Our greenhouse is moving along slowly, thank you very much. In the meantime, I have noticed that greenhouses come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, my mother has a “greenhouse” of the type I would put in quotation marks. She lives 35 miles north of me in Sharon, CT. This morning we visited a couple of garden centers in her neighborhood and presented the Womanswork line of garden gloves, then we went to her house for lunch. This is her “greenhouse.” It was purchased by mail through one of my favorite gardening companies, Lee Valley, and it consists of a lightweight metal frame with 2 shelves, covered in clear plastic with a zippered window for entry. She puts her seedlings in there during the day, while the sun is shining , but she brings in her trays at night since temperatures are still low in northwestern Connecticut. In fact tonight they are predicting a frost in her area.
Another type of “greenhouse” is the window extension. You can have this built onto an existing window. It offers sun from the top and 3 sides and is very useful for a few seedlings and potted houseplants.
The next level up in greenhouses is the free standing greenhouse kit such as the one shown below. These greenhouses are often sold as “do-it-yourselfers” and are situated in an area of the yard where they can get full sun.
Finally, there is the type that is part greenhouse and part sunroom. Although our greenhouse will not be ornate like the ones shown here, it is more along the lines of these greenhouses because it is being designed to fit the architecture of the house. In winter it will get full sun but in summer a large oak tree will shade it so it won’t need as much ventilation and cooling as most free standing greenhouses do.
 The Conservatory Greenhouse  Free Standing Greenhouse from a Kit  Window ExtensionGreenhouse and Sunroom
 Greenhouse and Sunroom
Tags: Building A Greenhouse, garden gloves, How to build a greenhouse
Posted in Building A Greenhouse | No Comments »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
So spring is here and the summer and fall-blooming shrubs need to be pruned—right? Well, yes and no. Don’t be in a rush. Beware of pruning too early, especially those silver-leaved beauties that have only just started into growth.
 Perovskia atriplicifoia Through bitter experience, I have found that it is better to wait a couple of weeks until at least 1″ of new young growth is showing. You can always cut back later, but too early pruning may indeed toll the bell for butterfly bush (Buddleia, shown here), common sage (Salvia officinalis), Russian sage (Perovskia), bluebeard (Caryopteris), lavender, etc. A friend of mine living in the Delaware Valley had a crescent-shaped bed with a row of tall butterfly bushes running down the spine. One spring, they were pruned hard just as the sap was rising and the buds were beginning to break. The following week there was an extended cold snap and every last butterfly bush was killed! It was a disaster and very hard lesson for her.
When I decide to prune these shrubs, I always wear sturdy and comfortable garden gloves to protect my hands, and am sure to use sharp hand pruners and loppers (www.felcostore.com). To encourage vigorous new growth, prune hard towards the base where new shoots are emerging. Cut above a bud on a slant so rain runs off the top of the cut. The harder you cut, the more vigorous the plants will grow. Every few years take the whole plant down to about a foot from ground level to increase vigor and control size.
 Salvia officinalis
Tags: garden gloves, pruning silvery leaved shrubs, spring pruning
Posted in Ruth Rogers Clausen Tells All | No Comments »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
 Ruth's Greenhouse Welcome to my 10′ x 9′ greenhouse. It faces south with a sliding door from the living room. When spring comes I can walk through it onto the deck where I pot up lots of fun combinations in planters. Many of the plants I use have been overwintered and propagated in my greenhouse. My nitrile garden gloves live there too where they are close to hand. At the moment several varieties of velvety-leaved aromatic Cuban oregano (Plectranthus), a current favorite of mine, are being propagated through cuttings. Coleus and Streptocarpella do well, the latter in full bloom along with mini-fuchsia (Fuchsia cana). I keep geraniums, especially scented ones, growing and blooming through the winter. Chives, parsley and mint are residents too, of course. I’ll be starting seeds any day now—sweet peas in cardboard egg cartons, sweet alyssum (8 weeks to bloom), and spinach.
 Plants are Propagated with Cuttings Propagating plants with cuttings is an easy task. Clip a 1 ½” to 3″ long piece of a young shoot from the mother plant, recut where leaves emerge, remove the lower leaves, and insert the cutting into damp rooting mix: perlite or vermiculite. Water gently. I enclose the whole thing in a plastic vegetable bag, blow it up, and secure tightly with a twistie. This balloon-like cocoon prevents the cuttings from drying out. Keep them away from direct sun or they will cook.
Tags: garden gloves, greenhouse, Ruth Rogers Clausen
Posted in Building A Greenhouse, Ruth Rogers Clausen Tells All | No Comments »
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
 Early Catalog Cover for Womanswork This year marks Womanswork’s 25th year in business. We thought, what better time than now to say thanks to our garden glove fans with a little give away contest?
The Womanswork Story.
But first some background on us. Womanswork was started in Maine in 1985 because there were no good work gloves designed to fit women’s hands. A little black and white (and sepia) catalog was sent to a growing list of women who needed a good work and garden glove. The logo “Strong Women Building A Gentle World” was written and became the rallying cry stamped on the back of each pair of gloves.
What’s different about Womanswork gloves is that they are all designed by women, so the fit, the features (such as machine washability), and the designs and colors are all geared to what women like.
 Dorian Winslow, Womanswork owner  High-Performance-Garden-Glove I’m the owner of Womanswork and I like to stay in touch with our customers through email, phone calls, face-to-face at trade shows, and now Facebook and this blog. The feedback we get helps us make our garden gloves and other products better all the time.
Thanks for 25 Years!
 Thank you gift--Chocolate hearts The other day we were putting together little packages of gourmet chocolate hearts in a Womanswork mug and sending them to a handful of our favorite wholesale clients, mostly garden center owners and managers. It occurred to us that, while we can’t possibly say “thanks” to all of our customers in this way, maybe we could say ‘thank you for 25 years’ to our wider audience of fans in a different way. So that’s what we’ll do. Stay tuned for garden glove contest details.
 Our production line of thank you gifts
Tags: 25th anniversary, garden gloves
Posted in 25th Anniversary of Womanswork | 2 Comments »
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
We spent the last 6 days in New York at the Jacob Javits Center, along with thousands of other people (perhaps tens of thousands). We stayed at the W Hotel on Lexington Ave and 50th Street. How appropriate.
 "W" is for W Hotel and for Womanswork Eve was with me as we met with owners and representatives of retail stores across the country. They were all looking for new items and many of them seemed pleased to see us there with our colorful, well made garden gloves, sun hats and Garden Wheels. We also saw some media people including editors from Better Homes & Gardens magazine and our friend Madaline Sparks from Real Simple.
 Dorian and Eve at the New York Gift Fair Down the row from our booth was a fun collection of indoor/ outdoor containers and baskets. I purchased some of them at the end of the show, which I will use for planting bulbs next winter. One of the fringe benefits of these shows is you get to pick up items from other exhibitors who are happy to sell their samples. We sold a lot of our own gloves to other exhibitors in this way.
 Pots being sold at another booth
Tags: garden gloves, Garden Wheels, sun hats
Posted in Winter Topics | No Comments »
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