Confessions of a Gardener Pack Rat

I guess I finally have to admit that I’m a garden pack rack, or perhaps to be PC I should call myself a garden tool hoarder.

I’m a portable gardener, besides our gardens at home; I garden at a couple of other locations. I have to tote all of the necessary tools and equipment to the various gardens. I do this by means of a canvas riggers bag as well as the gardener’s briefcase a 5 gallon plastic bucket.

The other day while fighting off a case of severe cabin fever I decided to go out to the garage and clean out and organize my garden totes.

What I found was embarrassing to say the least. Do I really need 5 pairs of scissors, 6 screwdrivers, 6 knives of various sizes, 5 trowels, 4 spools of garden twine, 3 pairs hand pruners, 3 tape measures, a pair of channel locks plus 2 other pairs of pliers and an assortment of hose repair fittings.

In my defense over a 7 or 8 month gardening season it’s easy to accumulate “garden stuff”. You keep adding for various tasks while it seems like nothing is ever removed.

My garden totes are many pounds lighter today, and I pledge to keep them that way (yeah right) for the duration of the 2013 gardening season.

Welcome to Garden Guy's Blog

My name is Paul Rodman, the Garden Guy, and this is my blog.

 I’m a gardener and I will be sharing my gardening experiences as well as tips on gardening and home food preserving.

I’m an advanced Master Gardener with over 5500 volunteer hours in the Master Gardener program. I’m President Emeritus of the Master Gardener Association of Western Wayne County Michigan and presently serve as co-chair of the Wayne County Extension greenhouse.

April 1^st marks the ninth anniversary since I became the garden columnist for the News Herald newspaper in Southgate, Michigan. The column its called Dig It in which I share gardening news and answer questions from gardeners throughout Wayne County. The News Herald also sponsors a spring and fall plant exchange in which local gardeners get together to trade plants. The M’s Master Gardener Association also conducts an heirloom tomato sale at the spring event.

I also write gardening articles for Dave’s Garden.com on a variety of subjects.

Stay tuned as we are coming into the peak gardening season in Southeast Michigan, I’ll have a lot of information to share with you.

March 23, 2013.