Categories: Gardening

Our Episode On Ask This Old House

Ask This Old House

Years ago before I left Boston to start my career in construction my wife and I were fortunate enough to be featured on an episode of Ask This Old House. It’s funny to think about these days because at the time I had no idea that today I would be writing websites all about home improvement, remodeling and construction. I do know that our short episode on Ask This Old House taught me that working in front of a camera is LOTS harder than it looks!

If you’re not familiar with Ask This Old House you should start watching it. Ask This Old House is only 30 minutes long and each episode focuses on a small project. People ask the show questions and they select small projects to solve and highlight on the show. We originally wrote into the show about how to prune a holly tree in the  yard which prompted a site visit by Roger Cook. When he showed up he came up with several great ideas (I assume from looking at our pathetic landscaping!).

Season 3 – Episode 1

Our episode of Ask This Old House featured instructions from Roger Cook on how to edge lawns around flower gardens. The first home we bought had beautiful flower gardens all around the house. Unfortunately the gardens had been neglected for several years and needed some serious attention. One of main focuses on rejuvenating the gardens was to edge the intersection between the lawn and gardens.

Edging the lawn is actually quite simple once you understand the basics. Grass roots can easily spread from the sod into an adjacent flower garden causing grass to grow quickly in the loose loam. To stop the spread of grass a simple technique of cutting the edge of sod with a half moon edger can be used. Roger showed us how to easily cut back the sod and create a nice clean edge that prevents the spreading of grass roots.

What I Learned From Ask This Old House

After writing this site now for almost 4 years I’ve come to realize that one of the things that I offer are answers to everyday questions. Everyday we receive several questions from readers about all types of home improvement, construction and remodeling projects. I’ve come to realize that being available to readers and helping them solve their projects and problems is one of the great features of this site. So I encourage all of you readers to contact me with your questions and we’ll try to come up with answers.

Todd Fratzel

I'm full time builder for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm also a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experience in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tool Box Buzz. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.

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  • WOW, I'm a huge fan of the show. And a huge fan of empowering others by sharing your knowledge. Kudos!

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