This is my entry in the hoedown Carol is hoesting over at May Dreams Garden. While I lust after her hoe collections (probably stem from my years writing about cultivator implements for farmers), I’m really not a tool collector. I tend to find a few that I like and that work and remain loyal to them.
Above are the tools that are on the top of the pile or closest to the shed door. There are a few more specialized tools that really come in hand for specific jobs (breaker bar, post-hole digger, pocket pruning saw, loppers) or ‘go without saying’ (lawnmower, leaf rake). But these are the tools that get used.
Left to right, front to back (more or less):
Felco pruners – Not pictured, because they were in my back pocket while gathering up the other tools for the picture. ‘Nuf said.
Weed popper – I don’t even know what this tool is called. If you saw my beds, you’d know it wins the award for most under-used tool. (Don’t even look at the lawn this time of the year.) But if you really want to get a taprooted weed by the roots, this tool works pretty good.
Fiskar fabric shears – My seamstress mother is spinning in her grave. They’re great for cutting everything from flowers to plastic deer fencing. Wonderful for deadheading, not that I do a lot of that, either.
Bulb planter – I don’t plant enough to justify the longer version, but this beats the heck out of planting with a trowel.
Trowel – I think I got this through Smith and Hawkens at least 25 years ago. I really couldn’t afford it. But among my first gardening lessons was I can put more force onto cheap trowels than they can take.
Flex-tine rake – Perfect for raking up fine seedbeds for solid-sowing of greens. Once crops are up, you can use it to ‘blind weed’ small weed seedlings while they’re just germinating without wiping out the crop.
Serrated knife – I think this was touted as ‘Japanese’ when I bought it. Makes short work or divisions that can’t be teased apart. Sometimes wish the blade were longer. But it saws right through most anything.
Spade – Just your run-of-the-mill, decent quality hardware store shovel. They last me at least 10 years. Shoveling manure into the pickup. Turning under cover crops in the veggie garden. Breaking sod. Digging big holes. The usual shovel stuff.
Contractor-quality rake – It’s got cahones. Sharp teeth. Extra wide. Great for breaking up clods, shaping veggie beds.
Digging fork – Probably the most expensive took I’ve ever purchased, even though I don’t use it all that much. Aerating beds. Some digging.
Stirrup hoe – Probably my most used tool. I use it to weed and rake soil around. If you could only have one hoe, this would be the one I’d choose — having not had a chance to try out Carol’s collection.
Half-moon edger – As you can tell by the fine iron oxide patina, another under-used tool. But there’s nothing like edging a bed to spruce things up a little. The makes short work of the chore, though I’d love a longer handle. Also slices through the Invisible Fence cable with ease.
Tree spade — My favorite shovel. Narrow enough for tight spaces. Long blade cuts deep. Build like a brick outhouse.
Garden cart – Gardenway cart that’s more than 25 years old. The plywood is starting to get funky, but it’s been a workhorse every year, and most of those years stored outside. Old half-sheet of plywood turns it into a convenient mobile potting- and work-bench.
As soon as I saw that cart load of tools, I thought “now that’s the collection of a real gardener”. I don’t have a stirrup hoe exactly like that one, but I do have two similar type hoes, and I would agree they are the best design for actually ‘weeding’ with a hoe.
And of course your Felco’s would be in your back pocket. Mine are most often in a clip-on holster at my side, even hours after I’ve gone inside for the day.
Thanks for joining in for the Hoe Down!
I sometimes discover the Felcos when I sit down to blog.
Oh, do you know where I can get a little hand rake like yours? Is it sold in Ithaca somewhere? I didn’t see it in the Ithaca Agway. M Sinclair Stevens had one, and I knew I needed one as soon as I saw it.
I have never seen it in stores. (And I’ve stopped browsing garden tool catalogs unless there’s something specific I need.)
My recollection is that someone (for the life of me, I can’t remember who – maybe a Master Gardeners or someone from the ACNARGS group) found a source and put together a group order. You’d think you could get these everywhere.
Feel free to grab the larger image (click on the one above) and crop it to the rake and put it on your site. You have enough readers that I’ll be someone knows a source.
Have a happy Mothers Day, Kathy.
OK. I gave myself a 10-minute limit to try to find a source. Got it in about minute 8: http://www.ballantynegardens.com/garden%20tools.htm
It wasn’t easy because of its uncertain name. Thank you google image search.