152 acres, 300 boxwood shrubs, 100 chickens: Inside Martha Stewart’s 26-year-old New York farmhouse. How pruning, mulching and grooming keep her garden healthy

American businesswoman Martha Stewart has transformed her 152-acre farmhouse in Katonah, New York, into a lush haven where one cannot help but feel closer to nature. More than a countryside retreat, the vast expanse of the property has now become a working farm, creative laboratory, and carefully managed home for an ever-growing collection of animals. For the unversed, Martha purchased the 1925 farmhouse in 2000, and over the years, the sprawling space has become home to a wide variety of poultry animals and shrubs, reflecting Martha’s love for animals, gardening and a slow lifestyle.

Martha Stewart’s care for boxwood shrubs

As per her blog posts, Martha Stewart keeps over 100 chicken breeds on her Bedford farm, adding 13 new birds, including Polish chickens, Araucanas, Buff Orpingtons, Silkies, Rhode Island Reds and Sultans, more recently. She also welcomed a young male silver pheasant, bringing the farm’s pheasant population to 11. But late summer, which now marks Martha’s busiest time on the farm, as she needs to take extra care of her garden, especially her 300 boxwood shrubs.

In her latest blog post, Martha revealed that she nurtures her evergreen shrubs all year-round. They are regularly fed and mulched while in the harsh winter season; the shrubs are cloaked in protective burlap. Meanwhile, by late summer, many of them are ready for careful pruning and grooming. Helping her in the extensive process is pruning expert Phurba Sherpa.

Hand-pruning keeps boxwoods perfectly groomed

Phurba ensures to skillfully trim the boxwood border along both sides of the clematis pergola as the shrubs tend to grow along both sides of the winding garden. Boxwood can typically grow in full sun and partial shade, with Martha claiming that most of her boxwood varieties rise to 2-6 inches every year. To groom them, Phurba uses Japanese shears, as Martha prefers handheld tools.

‘It is a slower process, but they make cleaner, neater, more detailed cuts compared to powered versions,’ pointed out Martha. The other ground crew uses Japanese Okatsune shears to trim the hedges. Phurba, on the other hand, shapes the shrubs into an oval shape and holds the shears midway down the handles to groom the sides. The method allows the garden to bloom in vibrant purple and blue hues in spring, vivid orange lilies in summer and a bold green colour in autumn.