Trellis Community Vegetable Gardening Forum

Sharing our knowledge of vegetable gardening in the Snoqualmie Valley area

The meeting started at 10:00 am with a brief presentation by David regarding care and sharpening of garden tools.

Oil the wooden handles of tools to protect them from water and sun.
> This oil is a mixture of "boiled linseed oil" and paint thinner.
> For first time ever oiling, use mix of TWO volumes oil to ONE volume thinner.
> For annual oiling, use mix of ONE volume oil to ONE volume thinner.

Sharpen the shovel, hoe and weeding tools, using a flat metal file.
> Be careful, don't cut your fingers on the new edge.

Oil the metal parts of the tools to protect them from moisture and rust.
> This oil is ordinary machine oil.
> Mix a cup of oil with a bucket of dry sand. Stick shovels into oiled sand then remove.
> Alternatively, dip cloth or paper rag in oil and wipe oil onto metal parts of tools.
> A thin coat of oil is plenty for several months of no use.

http://davidbach.net/wiki/doku.php?id=garden:cultivate:tools:care

Discussion:

Short handles can be egonomically better than long handles, for some uses.

Everybody else presented their demonstration tool. We had:

> Garden fork -- aeration, breaking soil, dividing plants, potato/carrot harvest

> Shovel -- look for a rubber handle top protection layer and folded steps on the back of the blade to protect shoes and boots from sole damage.

> Weeders of several varieties -- keep them sharp.

> Dibble Stick -- cleverly carved piece of branch with hole depth, fertilizer depth and seed separation distance, in this case for corn planting.

> Hand Rake -- a small, stiff rake for one hand use.

> Mattock Fork -- weeding tool and breaking up soil

> Broad Fork -- deep aeration and breaking soil

Places to buy tools online include Red Pig Tools -- http://www.redpigtools.com/

Colin suggested looking at some Renaissance Faire sites for traditional toolmaker blacksmiths and information about maintaining metals outdoors.

> Camlann Medieval Village is a local venue between Carnation and Duvall you can visit all year for various events, though the tool, armor and weapon makers will probably be more likely to show during the "Village Days" of summer.

http://www.camlann.org/calendar.htm

I must admit, I have no idea what they do about Medieval gardening at Camlann. Never occurred to me to ask. Something to remember next visit!

> Here's a fun site with the Medieval farming year plotted out.

https://www.historyonthenet.com/medieval-farming-the-farming-year

FREE GRAPE VINE CUTTINGS

David plans to leave a bucket of grape starts at his Fall City garden across the street from the Methodist Church. If you take any, be sure to take several as some actually root and grow but others don't.

How to root cuttings -- http://bunchgrapes.com/rooting_of_cuttings.html

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When: No meeting in December! Regular meetings on the 3rd Saturday of each month, 10am - 11:30am. 

Where: As announced

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