Re: tools
- Subject: Re: tools
- From: Marya Williams s*@juno.com
- Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 13:26:25 -0600
Beth--
I used to dig up the whole plant to divide it, but now I use a spading
fork (only one fork is needed) and jab it into the plant while the whole
thing's still in the ground, and pry one part away, then do it again if
necessary, etc. This wouldn't be practical for making small dainty
divisions but if you have a nice fat hosta or astilbe or peony it gives
extra leverage to break off a chunk to make a new plant. The bonus is
that you can leave part of the plant in the ground without digging it up
at all, fill in the hole with nice compost and the old plant keeps on
growing seemingly without noticing the intrusion.
Marya zone 6 - 9 inches of snow yesterday...
> All this talk about garden tools prompts a question... I've always
> divided
> perennials by chopping a clump into sections with a shovel. However,
> as
> others have noted, this can be a challenge with some. In fact,
> sometimes I
> just throw away parts of a clump because it's just too much of a
> pain to
> divide it further (and yea, I probably don't really need any more of
> those
> things). Anyway, back to the question... I always read about using
> the
> double fork method to divide perennials - is this easier than
> chopping with
> a shovel?
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