Superior Aluminum Lawn and Garden Edging
YardEdge Aluminum Landscape Edging

I’m through using black plastic edging in both my yard and the yards of clients. Sick of the look. The best, commercial grade edging, the nice 6” wide stuff that doesn’t heave out from frost, leaves a full one-inch band of black all around your beds, even when installed properly. When edging lawn, it’s plenty visible for at least four days after mowing.

The worst look is black plastic edging in and around stone landscapes, particularly when you want a clean, narrow edge along a gravel pathway. That round, black tube that runs along the top of plastic edging looks like hell.

So I’ve switched over to some new products, aluminum YardEdge and ProLine, and I’m loving them. I just installed them for the first time – in my own yard – last week, and installation was slick and the look first rate (though you have to look close to even see the edging). Both products are wonderfully flexible – you can make tight or broad curves, and the product naturally flexes to your will. Connectors are available for ninety-degree corners, though why one would have a ninety-degree corner in one’s design is of course beyond me.

In the brochure photo of YardEdge shown, you can see the 1/8” top edge because the product has the mill finish (natural aluminum), but it comes in a dark green, and that’s what I’ve been using. The color finishes are electrostatically applied, baked on acrylic. Six foot lengths by four inches wide/deep. Leave a half-inch or less above ground and the product all but disappears. For edging gravel, you could go with the mill finish, or black, for that classic English/Italian look.

Second photo shows the green, and the patented interlocking system. Edging is held in place with 12” stakes. The company – Permaloc Corporation in Holland, Michigan – also manufactures the ProLine aluminum edging system (8’ to 16’ lengths) in colors mill, black, green, and bronze. I’ve chatted with the folks at Permaloc and their testing shows excellent resistance to frost heave in northern climates, when properly installed. Installation is a tad quicker and easier than installing black plastic edging.

Like many better-quality landscape accessories, this edging is not inexpensive. Retail, YardEdge is going to run you around $1.50 per running foot. If that works with your budget, it’s well worth it. Find out more at www.permaloc.com.

Terrific, Affordable Greenhouse
The Germinator Collapsible Greenhouse

Let’s face it, we all want a greenhouse – well, one-half of the adults in all our households want one, anyway – but even small ones seem expensive, and the bigger drawback is space. Connect it to the house in a sunny spot, and it’s fine for seven months, but in the way – or battered by snow – for winter. And what if you just want a temporary greenhouse out in the back yard, away from the house, during spring and summer? Constructing and deconstructing each year is out of the question.

Problem solved with the The Germinator. Ran into this product at a trade show, and it blew me away. What you have here is the only truly collapsible greenhouse on the market, meaning you can store it in winter. How much storage space do you need? The hinged aluminum frame collapses to a mere eight-inch width. You could literally store it under a king-size bed, if you could get it into the bedroom.

This is a patented, well-designed product manufactured from high quality materials. The tear resistant cover is made of a high density, polyester reinforced, polyethylene laminate that is waterproof and UV treated for lasting durability. Sewn-on kick guards protect the bottom corners and door entry. The product has ample large, screen-covered vents. The large, zippered door is wheelchair accessible, held open with Velcro fasteners, and can be opened with one hand.

The greenhouse comes with a two-tier, full-length shelf system that holds up to 24 flats. You can customize your Germinator with a second shelf system that doubles capacity.

Just as amazing is the price. The greenhouses come in two sizes, 5’ x 8’ for $425.00 and 8’ x 8’ for $495.00. The accessory kit to double shelf capacity is $85.00. They are shipped via UPS from the manufacturer, and since the 8’ x 8’ in the shipping box only weighs fifty four pounds, your shipping cost will only run $30 to $55. The 5’ x 8’ can ship for as little as $25. First time set-up takes under two hours and all you need is a standard drill and pliers. After that, setting it up and taking it down is measured in mere minutes.

Best feedback and customer satisfaction reports have come from the people at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, who did a small mailing about the product to selected customers. They sold quite a few, and feedback cards that came back from users were extremely positive. The Germinator comes with a two-year warranty.

You can order direct from the manufacturer, the 112 year-old Anchor Industries, Inc., in Evansville, Indiana. They happen to be the world’s largest and oldest tent and awning manufacturer, so you’re not dealing with some new skittering start-up, here. Visit their website at www.germinators.com, phone toll-free 1-866-343-7646 to order.

Outstanding Plant Disease Diagnostic Web Site
The University of Maryland Plant Diagnostic Web Site

Now we’re talking—this is the Internet at its best. The University of Maryland has the most user-friendly, coolest plant disease diagnostic feature that I’ve come across on the ‘net. It uses photos to help visitors select from hundreds of potential pests and diseases, each click of the mouse taking you closer to a highly educated conclusion about exactly what it is that’s been fouling your foliage, annihilating your needles, or besmirching your blooms.

The next time you want to know what’s ailing your plants, don’t waste time e-mailing me. I can take forever to answer e-mails, and then half the time I’m just making stuff up. Instead, head over to www.agnr.umd.edu/users/hgic/diagn/home.html and start following the simple prompts.

Garden Tours
Twin Cities Parade of Ponds

If viewing cascading waterfalls, bubbling streams, and colorful fish and plants sounds inviting to you, you'll want to attend this year’s Twin Cities Parade of Ponds. Expanded to two weekends, this largest of all Minnesota garden tours runs July 24-25 and July 31-August 1. The 2004 tour includes over 100 private water gardens.

Sponsored by Hedberg Aggregates, Inc., the Twin Cities Parade of Ponds raises money (over $37,000 last year) for Children's Cancer Research Fund and the Minnesota Water Garden Society. New this year are special night tours, so you can see the fabulous garden lighting of select ponds.

“The spectacular water gardens featured in this year’s Parade of Ponds can serve as a wonderful source of information for anyone considering a water garden of their own,” said Steve Hedberg, owner, Hedberg Landscape Supplies. “It’s also a great resource for those who already have a water garden but are looking for new ideas. Best of all, it’s a fun way to raise money for a worthy cause.”

Tour wristbands and guidebooks are $18.00/person (age 13 and up; 12 and under, free). They are available now at all Bachman's Garden Centers, Hedberg Aggregates showrooms in Plymouth, Rosemount and Stillwater, or by phoning the Parade of Ponds Hotline (763) 392-5937.

The Parade is a great family outing, and is a hugely valuable resource for you if you are considering creation of a water feature, or improving the water feature that didn’t turn out quite the way you wanted.

Great On-Line Plant Pronunciation Guide
Fine Gardening’s Guide to Pronouncing Botanical Latin

I think it’s been several years since I put in a plug for one of my favorite gardening magazines, Taunton’s Fine Gardening. Truth be known, for you cheaters practicing the sublime hobby in Zones 5 through 10, you really need only subscribe to two gardening magazines: Fine Gardening and Garden Design. If you garden in the true gardening Zones 2 through 4, add a subscription to Northern Gardener (visit www.northerngardener.org) to the above two, and you’re completely covered.

Anyway, Taunton’s Fine Gardening recently added a great new service to their website, a botanical Latin guide where you can learn how to pronounce the true names of all those wonderful shrubs and perennials you grow. Not only are the Latin plant names spelled out phonetically, you can click on the name to hear the pronunciation, uttered by a real human being, not some computer-voice deadpan.

Why are learning and using botanical Latin plant names important? Oh come, come. If you are asking that question, before you head off to the link below, you must first click and brush up on one of Renegade Gardening’s most important tenets: Tenet 4

Visit the Plant Pronunciation Guide at http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/spg017.asp

Best All-Purpose Gardening Gloves
Ironclad® Performance Work Gloves

The problem with most gardening gloves I’ve tried over the years is that they don’t leave you nimble-fingered enough to perform many gardening chores. For a long morning of shoveling, sure, any decent, lined leather glove will do, but shift gears into perennial or annual planting mode and you’ve soon dispatched with the gloves, because they’re making you clumsy. Those light little “Gripit” gloves are great for fine-fingered work, but they offer little protection while shoveling, raking, or handling stone.

This spring, I picked up a pair of Ironclad gloves at Dundee Nursery in Plymouth, Minn. I like them because they fit tight, like reinforced batting gloves. I like them because I can handle stone all day and not only do they protect my hands, I can leave them on when it comes time to deftly pick up a piece of flagstone by the edges. You can leave them on while tying and untying ropes, large and small. You can leave them on when grabbing a hand pruner from its holster. You can leave them on and flick your Bic, for, umm, melting the end of a braided nylon rope. You can leave them on while tearing off the shoulders and scratching up the sides of potted perennials and shrubs, and while plucking out individual large roots from a massed root ball.

I like them because they have cool, yellow, raised rubber lettering on the knuckles. I like them because I have beaten the hell out of this pair all season, and they have never let me down—and rarely left my hands. They have a wide range of gloves for gardening. They cost around $25, and are worth every penny. Visit their site at www.iclad.com.

October Issue, Better Homes and Gardens

Even a blind squirrel occasionally sits on an acorn. Be sure to pick up the October issue of Better Homes and Gardens, wherein you’ll find my article “Serene in the City,” which tells the story of Jim Handtmann’s astoundingly gorgeous northeast Minneapolis garden. Glorious photography by John Reed Forsman, and the prose ain’t too shabby, either.

The Renegade Gardener Speaks

While I’m in blatant self-promotion mode, local comrades are invited to hear me speak on stage at the Minneapolis Fall Home & Garden Show, which runs October 15-17 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I’ll be giving one of my favorite talks, “Design Secrets for a Beautiful Garden,” assisted by killer slides of great—and ghastly—gardens from across the country.

I speak at 5 p.m. on Friday, October 15, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 16, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 17, on the Remodelors Showcase Theater. For more details on the show, hours, directions, etc., visit homeandgardenshow.com.

I’ll be selling and signing books after each performance. Swing by and say hello!