I was reading a magazine article the other day that explained the "politically correct" way of referring to birthdays. One should not refer to people who have birthdays as "older," but rather as being "chronologically enhanced." Having celebrated a birthday not too many months ago, I resemble that remark, so this tip is for all you who, like me, are chronologically enhanced.

Anyone who has taken the Master Gardener training course from Rob Call has been indoctrinated in the screwdriver method of checking for soil moisture. If you want to know if you have watered your plants enough, stick a screwdriver in the ground. The depth to which the screwdriver penetrates the soil indicates how deep the water has gone. For example, if you have watered a mature oak tree and find that your screw driver will only penetrate a couple of inches into the ground in the area under the tree, you know you probably better water a little longer.

For the chronologically enhanced among you, the ground can be an awfully long distance away and a screwdriver can be an awfully short tool. This tip remedies that problem. Instead of using a screwdriver, you can easily manufacture your own "professional" water testing tool which will not only add to your image as an expert gardener but be easier on the back as well.

To make your water probe, get a "faucet key" from a hardware or other store that sells gardening supplies. A faucet key is a gadget about two and a half feet long that has a "D" handle on one end and two prongs (the "key") on the other and is used to turn the handle on a water faucet. Cut the "key" off the end (alternatively you could cut the "handle" off, but that would make the tool a little more difficult to use). The extra length of your new water probe as opposed to a screwdriver helps considerably to shorten the distance between the ground and chronologically enhanced arms and makes your watering check a lot easier.