I’m happy to welcome a new tool to the family, one I have been wanting for a while. I bought it as an ‘edging shovel’ but it seems more like a edging spade to me. It’s much easier to use than a normal digging spade – heavier and more stable to stand on, and easy to get a standard depth. Hopefully this will help to keep the grass out of the garden.

I’m sure that grass all over the world prefers to grow into the garden where it can avoid being mowed, but here in NZ we have an African grass known as ‘Kikuyu Grass’. It seems to be able to survive anywhere, creating a springy green mat even in a dry hot summer on sand. It’s useful in paddocks to provide summer grass for stock, although it’s tough and not that good to eat. And it can spread across a meter or more in days. Left on its own it will bring down most garden plants and even shrubs. The only natural thing that knocks it back is heavy shade or frosty weather.

C keeps it under control by mowing it into a lawn, but what happens is that the lawn gets bigger and the garden shrinks. My rock and wood borders leave overgrown areas which are hazards for the lawnmower. Now as we wait for a new lawnmower part to come from Italy, I am trying this 45 degree edging procedure described by Meg Ruffman.