RAKING SHATTERS

SHATTERS are a valued commodity here on the Shore. To inform you folks from other places, shatters is the local name for long pine needles. Further down the county, they are sometimes called Shatts. They are used as a mulch or ground cover, for weed control and also as a ground conditioner for acid loving plants like camellias and azaleas, daffodils and even strawberries. In the Old Days, one could buy a shatters rake at the local hardware or farm supply place. They were hand forged and set in a special way on a long handle. Today they are a rare find. When our old place was sold, I grabbed our old shatters rake and brought it home. I wish I had grabbed the hand plow, too and the old wooden wheelbarrow. They were real treasures!

 

The tines on the shatters rake are longer, further apart, and angled. When I needed a new handle (the old one was older than I and actually in worse shape) I had to find someone who had an understanding of the value of the old tools. The first guy that looked at it told me they didn’t have those things in New Jersey, where he came from, they used “normal” rakes. Well, that told me not to let him get his hands on my rake! Phew! He said, along with putting a new handle on it, he would straighten it, “See how crooked its got?” (Yeah, it was made that way!) See the difference in a “normal” rake and a shatters rake? My shatters rake is close to 100 years old dating back to around the time the old house was built, 1914.

My Uncle has been talking lately about carving new tines for his hay rake. I have another friend who makes (carves and assembles) his own hay rakes, too. I am so impressed. I would love my Uncle to get a picture of his rake. I wonder how big it is. Another friend made one to go behind his garden tractor to rake shatters as well as hay. It is about 5 feet across. Impressive. That must be on my project list, but when would I have time? I guess that is one advantage of having long cold snowy winters… nothing else to do. That doesn’t ever seem to happen here.

  

Anyway, I found someone who was as impressed as I at the age of the rake… it took him about a week to put a new handle on it. He was so careful to not damage any more than he had to since the old rake had a metal piece go right thru the old wooden handle and was welded in place. No wonder it never came off! So, the other day,  I happily got it out of the barn and raked up a few loads of shatters and bedded down the newly transplanted camellias and azaleas. I discovered the late December camellias were starting to open. Well, it was 70 degrees. The bees were happily buzzing along in the open camellias, it really looked and sounded like springtime. I also noticed the new miniature holly bush is in bloom! Go figure that! Someone suggested I decorate this camellia (with the first white bloom) for Christmas since it is shaped so perfectly.

Then, this morning… well, you know, every once in a while the light is just perfect, there is that special glow things get first thing in the morning… I am so glad I am not one of those folks that lay in bed half the day – mornings are so magical! Anyway, the little maple out front was just glowing… I guess it was showing me that we really could have red maple trees here! That is Yule Tide next to it on the left. Those green spiky things on the right are yucca.

As I walked back to the house, I noticed some bright yellow out at the edge of my woods… I am not sure what these trees are. They get pink flowers in the spring, but I never see any nuts or fruit. Any idea what they might be? Tomorrow it might be even prettier! Stay tuned!

GARDEN DIARY END OF MAY 2013

This is mostly a private notation for future reference. This week the peas started to bloom. The first blueberry bush has green berries, the birds are thoroughly enjoying the strawberries, and the onions are well over a foot tall.  The yellow wax beans have their second set of leaves, and the Italian flats are just pushing some green thru the dirt. The Lima beans are thru the potting soil reminding me of my first biology class where we all had to plant one and learn such fun terms as cotyledon, and watch for the first sign of a real identifiable leaf. Remember?

I planted a circle of Blue Lake pole beans and put my big aluminum pole and hoops in the fenced in garden. A few beans have their leaves. I think I might have to replant in the empty places.

The potatoes are well over a foot tall and need more dirt in their bags. The last time I added dirt, the coons dug most of it out. That explains the ugly fencing. They also demolished my bag of carrots that had just been planted the day before. However, I do have a few carrots showing tiny green shoots this morning. I have had to put pieces of fencing over the growing bags anyway because Punk and Spook seemed to love to nap in these bags.

   This was my second planting – or replanting – of potatoes last year – the little ones that were too small to eat… I just stuck them back in the bags and got a couple more pounds of potatoes! Maybe the cats helped hatch them? This is Punk hatching the carrots last year. I sure do miss my little garden shadow!

Yesterday I managed to get the tomatoes and bush basil in… the zucchini and eggplant (Ikiban) are in the old tomato raised bed… I still have cucumbers to plant and some dill. We don’t use the dill anymore, but the black swallowtail butterflies caterpillars LOVE it. So I grow it for them.

The sage is in flower and the rosemary looks like bushes.

Thanks for all the interest so many of you have had in using these growing bags. Let me know if you try them and how it works out for you.

AN OLD PIECE OF HISTORY

THINK YOU HAVE A SERIOUS RAKE? Well, I sure do. This rake has been in my family ever since I have known my family and then some! I know this rake is MUCH older than I (and I am glad something is!) A couple years ago, the old handle pretty much just disintegrated. It finally turned to dust, and I was, quite honestly, heartbroken. As you can see, this is no ordinary rake. Nope. It may have a different name in other parts of the country, but around here, this is known as a shatters rake. Guess that is because it is used for raking shatters! Ordinary rakes just don’t do the job like these rakes once did. I don’t know if they can even be found anymore, but back in the days when the strawberry was king, shatter rakes were most useful. An "ordinary" yard rake would do a lot of damage, and not be able to handle as many shatters. You see, farmers covered their strawberry plants with shatters over the winter. They didn’t dump chemicals in the soil, they didn’t buy fancy ph gauges, no fertilizers, they just wintered their berries under a cover of shatters. Now some parts of the Shore call them shatts. “Fereigners” call them pine needles… the long pine needles like those from the loblolly pine. Here is one of those pine trees in the winter - this is a baby, just about 5 feet tall at this point. See how long those needles are? When they fall to the ground, we call them shatters. I don't know why fereigners can't get a handle on that name. Fereigners? That’s what the old folks called folks from further away than the “come here” states (MD, Del, PA, NC, SC). Come here’s were tolerated... fereigners, not as much. Most ‘come here’s’ eventually learn the local names of things and how to pronounce them, fereigners have a harder time, and some fereigners spend all their time trying to correct the locals on what they have called things for generations. Sigh. Most of those folks come from one particular state, but I won’t mention that. (Reminds me of a favorite bumper sticker that says, “We’re RURAL, not stupid.”
Anyway, back to the rake… I have tried to survive without it, but after cleaning up a big chunk of the East 40 here, I decided to get a new handle for my old friend. I looked in a number of places, from Lowes to Tractor Supply (the most expensive of all,) knowing our local building supply place would be outrageous. I never did see one for less than $28. That’s just a dumb old handle, folks! Then, I thought of Jaxons – an old timey hardware store where much of their stock is made in America, and they actually help fix things! What a novel idea! I called them on the phone and not only did they agree to help me out, they actually KNEW what a shatters rake was! The man that fixed it actually appreciated its age and spent an hour (and 2 drill bits) getting the new handle to work with the ancient rake. Yep, it can be called ancient, we know it is well over 100 years old. Best of all, the new handle cost just over $10. Well, no... the best part was to see someone caress the old steel and treat it with reverence.
The newer rakes might be as wide from side to side, but there is a lot of difference in the length of the tines and the space between them. Then there is the flimsy metal thing that holds the rake to the handle. This thing from China (that cost nearly $30) will come apart in a couple more years with its one size fits all skimpy little sleeve that the handle fits into. Well, you can see the difference. The old rake will last as long as I need it to, and when I am gone whoever inherits it or buys it will probably consider it a piece of junk – but I bet it will outlive them, too. Maybe the Smithsonian would like it? A piece of Americana!

A SERIOUS RAKE comparison of my newest rake, made in China, no doubt, and my old friend. We were trying to figure out if this rake got twisted somehow, or if it is made this way. The guys concluded it was made this way as the steel in it is so strong, it burned up a drill bit trying to get the nail out and they could not imagine any way it could have gotten twisted unless it was made this way. All I can say is I can't wait to get outside and use it!