"tools and cools" and such like stuff

I got that phrase "tools and cools" from an announcement of an estate sale I intend to go to and thought it worthy of repeated use. :)

but the reason I am opening this thread is to share about tools in general and in specific to gleefully crow about a new tool I just received in the UPS delivery..... I ordered it just yesterday from a outfit I happened across online and I am jazzed about it because it is the cheapest one I located in my brief search and not only did it arrive fast because a local distributor, but the heft and balance is superb.

So I am sharing and I just want to say I have zero interest in this company financially at all. But. Went to put it on Garden Watchdog and realized the post of the company name has to be approved even before I can give my feedback, so I am doing the feedback more informally, here.

I have had several of these type tools here and there and this one is far and away the best one I have ever held in my hands. The first one I ever had broke the handle one day, finally, after much heavy use. It was a decent one but not as good as my baby here. The replacement I got was too big for me to be comfortable with but I used it okay anyhow. A couple others since then have been poorly balanced or the head did not fit well upon the handle, or something.

This one is sharp, balanced and feels sturdy and once I picked it up I just wanted to get outside and let it bite into the ground.

HA!

Oh yeah, the source of my cool tool is called shovelandhoe.com. Check it out if so inclined, I think it may be a good resource for us PNWers. Plus which, they sent me a little bag of Christmas candy with my order!

and no, they are not just new and doing this til they get wore out, I saw on their website they've been around since 2006 or 2007 or something, you all may already even know of them.

I went to the site Kyla and looked up watering timers as my favorite one is so hard to find when I need it. There it was-the one and only one they have listed. The price is great. I put their site in my favorites. The thing that is special about this timer is that it offers 4 zones. I have used it for several years and when up to four zones are needed it is the best-brand name Orbit. I will go to the irrigation forum and note it there. Thanks

wow, good to know!

I got the entry posted in Watchdog this morning and just added my review over there.

Good thread. I need to ramp up my use of tools. I don't use many. Any favorites?

Well, what *DO* you use?

My chopper-digger (that thing I started the thread to crow about, called a hoe-matick I guess.....) is actually my favorite. That and my ancient Felco clippers that I just got sharpened right before moving up here. For the first time since I bought them in 1990. They did need it.

And a spading fork and a shovel, but no special kinds, just to have one of each is needful.....

I like those folding, back-cutting pruning saws also and may acquire one of those here soon, but right now I am running pretty low on funds for such purchases so that one will have to wait.

One more tool I find useful is the kind of rake that is adjustable. The tines can be used spread wide or narrowed for smaller spaces.

http://www.chocolateflowerfarm.com/shrew?b=1

Check this out. When I was at the Choc. Flower Farm in the spring he was telling us abuot how affective this too is. What do you think?

My 3 favorite tools are the small, I call it a #1 spade, the blade is pointed and is about 12" long and 8 inches wide, Its on a short handle and is great for planting medium size to small plants. The #2 tool is my Hori-Hori, its great for dividing plants, planting small plants or bulbs, weeding, whatever. #3 is Grandpa's weeder which can grab and extract the full root of the dandelion. Of course my #2, spade and flat bladed shovels, steel and leaf rakes, are also indispensable.

My list of necessary tools is: Pole pruner, folding pruning saw, hand-held rake, narrow grass rake, weeder, and good clippers. I also have a short handled fork and matching spade, long handled hedge trimmers, and long handled pruners and one of those things in your first picture. These are all things I use all the time. A good pair of scissors is handy also. Now that winter is over ^_^ maybe I can get back outside.

"Now that winter is over" - thank you for that brief note of levity. I took my dog for a walk this morning and about froze myself. Note to self: layers, layers, layers.

Willowwind2 - what do you mean, now that winter is over???
I still have one little patch of snow from all that "winter" last week!
In Chimacum on the Olympic Peninsula...

Good topic!

Pick, mattock, and long-handled spade.
Wheelbarrow.
Hoe and steel rake.

? trenching spade ? It has a long narrow square-tip blade and short handle, good for deep turning soil or cuting precise ditches or beds. And it's the right length for a cane!

Telescoping mini-hoe / cultivator, mainly because it is very light and extends my reach for planting & weeding.

I'll have to bring a photo of the last two.

The telescoping mini-dingus is like Kyla's chopper-digger, but cheaper in construction, longer-handled and very lightweight. The telescoping feature is a problem, because it tends to collapse. Otherwise, it doubles as an aid to balance (cane). It extends my reach ehnoguh that I can dig holes and plant things in the center of a bed without walking on the bed. I will occasionally use it for hoeing/weeding/cultigvating, which is probably its intended use.

Some day my priorities will cyhange - like when I spend more time on plants than I do on soil and beds.

My sister, who teaches junior high school English, taught me "Too cool for school".

Corey

Well Willib, most of my snow is gone, I have bulbs coming up, hellebores blooming, and in 20 more days, the days start getting longer. To me that sounds like spring. I'm a glass half-full.

Oh Willow, What good news 20 more days and the days start getting longer. Never thought about that before. Yes You just made my day. I hate these dark days.

I like a garden fork, Hoir knife, and a rake. Also, have a trowel that is pointed with serrated sides. What did you guys think of the shrew offered by the choc. flower farm? I think my hula hoe would do the same.

Hula hoe doesn't have that digging point, though.

I don't trust tools that have too many supposed uses, until I actually try them out.... Seems pretty often that lots of those "and you can do this! and This! and THIS TOO!" notions don't work very well.

Yep, the sun is going to return. Time to put up Christmas lights though to cheer up the dark days of winter. Time for homework.

The sun has been out here all morning, took me by surprise. What's all that blue stuff up there? I says to meself this morning upon gazing out at the window....... Kind of glaring, actually. A bit, well, bright. Not so soft and fluffy as the usual gray, not quite so kind on the eyes, no....... Ah, yes, now it is softening over a bit, some moderation in all that blue stuff.

sheesh.

And welcome to the NW. LOL

You who haven't see it might be interested in looking at my thread from last year:

Garden Tools and Tricks I Can't Live Without:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1000700/

Thanks for the welcome WW, and would you believe I was actually sort of serious in a tongue in cheek kind of way?

And Sharon I'll for sure look at your thread.....

and here is a blog post I just happened across, from just a bit ago today that has some kind of neat stuff in it, about tools and all that.....

http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2010/12/english-garden-tools-yeah-baby.html

Soon you'll be out there dancing with the rest of us as we worship the Big Round Yellow Thing In The Sky when he puts in an appearance.

Corey

Having a yard full of bamboo, I am always carrying my bamboo saw, loppers and Felcos...wouldn't leave the house without them!

Whidbey Island is in the sunshine belt sitting just north east of the Olympics, with more sun than Seattle or those of us in the Convergence Zone. If I am not mistaken, that is.

I think it is only a little more sun, a little less rain, but so far I like the mix.

Really, it took me about a week to get accustomed to the gray wet cold and I started feeling quite comfortable. I have been amazed, really, at how much sun I've seen lately and right now it is shining.... can't see a cloud out there.

Oh and here's a skyscape from the other afternoon:

Beautiful pic.

My favorite tools:

Pick, mattock, and long-handled spade.
Hoe and steel rake.
Wheelbarrow.
Screens made from industrial steel shelving and galvanized hardware cloth.

(photo below of the last two)
? trenching spade ?
light weight mini-hoe / cultivator - it extends my reach & doubles as a cane.

Corey

Rick, I see you have a 'sharpshooter' spade, I have one too, as they are used to do soil profiles for wetlands. But I have not used it in my garden. What do you do with it that needs such a deep blade?

Sounds like you and I have the same soil. I built my screen with 2x4s and 1/2" hardware cloth. works great.

I had one of those as well, and used it all the time to move perennials around. It digs deep enough to get the root, but narrow enough to not disrupt everything in the immediate vicinity. I either lost it or broke the handle, haven't seen it for awhile.

Interesting, I never thought about it that way. I guess I just accept the disruption. I need to try it out.

>> 'sharpshooter' spade

I can see where it would be handy for digging profiles, or extracting perennials.

My first application was ditching. It let me cut a narrower ditch with cleaner sides.

I use it a lot for mixing sand and compost into screened clay. It lets me reach DEEP into a pile and stir or mix deeply. When a compost heap is mostly broken-down, it lets me reach into the center and pull out the good stuff, or mix the whole pile. (I use a fork on the compost heap when it is mostly stiff stalks and woody twigs.)

When I'm trying to turn some compost or sand pr peat deep into a bed, it can give almost the effect of double-digging in one pass.

Corey

Now I know what to call the spade I need for trenching. I like the sound of sharpshooter spade. I need to install a faucet across the yard where the hose can't reach. I plan to sod cut across the distance about the width of the spade and remove the sod and then dig down just enough to lay in some pvc and then put the sod back.

Hi Patti

Great minds from Lynnwood/Everett think alike! But I see we have quite different hardiness zones. You must be a little way inland.

Sometimes, to get a very narrow trench, I break the soil up in a thin dotted line with the pointed part of a pick, then slice with the trenching spade blade held parallel to the trench.

Then I pull the loosened soil out with a mattock blade, to get a trench narrower than either the trenching spade or a hoe would leave if used normally.

Corey

I need to lower my lawn's profile to below the concrete, so it will drain away into the grass as it was built to do. Its a concrete driveway with one slab from the house dipping away from the house, to the other slab dipping away from the sidewalk. It also dips right to left, so a big puddle forms there when it rains hard.

I cannot figure out how to reshape it gracefully. I can see trenching it would drain it, but that would be ugly and a pain to mow. Ideas?

I have the same problem at the corner of my back patio. I plan to dig down well below grade and put in a small-rock swale with a few large boulders as accents - a bit of a rain garden.

AnalogDog,

is there a fairly short path from the puddle to an even lower spot, that either has good drainage, or where you want to grow bog plants? I would say "or leads to the edge of your property" but that can cause feuds and building code violations.

A trench need not be an OPEN trench. You can dig it deep, put gravel or pipe in the botttom, then add spun fabric on top to keep it from silting up. Then backfill the top few inches of the trench with loam and plant over it.

If you make it big enough, you can put in cheap 4" diameter corrugated perforated pipe. Around $5-6 per 10 feet.

Or make it pretty small, but line it with 1-2 thicknesses of non-woven spun "landscape filter cloth". $12-20 per large roll? Then backfill with a few inches of gravel (that gets expensive and heavy). I buy gravel at Home Depot for $2.50- $3 per 1/2 cubic foot, around 50-60 pounds. Or do you have cubic feet or cubic yards of gravel and pebbles available for free?

I have a fairly shallow ditch with 4" plastic pipe, plus just a little medium-fine gravel. I covered that with a few inches of pebbles and rocks I screened out of my "soil". It doesn't seem to collapse when I step on it, but pebbles and rocks may give better support than loam.

I have another very shallow, narrow ditch that 4" pipe just barely fits in, barely covered with gravel. However, I laid 12"x12" paving stones on top of that, supported at the edges. Some photos:
"Crude but effective raised beds"
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1139478/
Post #8198620
Post #8198621
Post #8198625

Either way, lay some non-woven "landscape filter cloth" on top of or around the pipe and/or gravel, then backfill with some excavated soil or decent loam. The cloth hopefully keeps clay and silt from clogging up your drainage. Plant grass on top of the backfill.

I wish they made that corrugated perforated drainage pipe in smaller diameters! I would worry less about crushing it where it is only shallowly buried.

The contractors who built the manufactured home park where I live failed to obey Rule One: the bottom of the trench must SLOPE DOWNWARDS at every point. They didn't want to go around or under a tree root, so they just jinked upwards about 8", causing that entire run to NOT drain.

If you want a nice, even slope, you can play games with taut strings and yardsticks, perhaps even lasers. Or rough it out first, then wait for a heavy rain. Scrape mud from the high spots into the deepest puddles in the ditch. Work from the bottom up . Where you see turbulence and rapid flow, it is steeper there than it needs to be. A horizontal puddle that "just sits there" should probably be steeper.

Try for at least 6" drop per 100 feet run, but 12" or more is said to be better.

The deeper and steeper the better. The soggy horizon will be lowered and root zone increased for some distance around your trench, depending on how well your soil drains.

Also see:
Construction Zone: building, remodeling, additions: How do we get rid of this water issue in backyard?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/934855/
and
PATIO DRAINAGE INSTALLTION with Gymgirl
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1138194/


Corey

thanks a bunch, Corey. I have a Water Quality ditch that runs from the street all around my property, to a pipe. It is a monster of a ditch at the pipe, here at the puddle, its nothing all that big, but I will plan on one of the above suggestions and reseed dandelions and Ranunculus on top of that, as its whats taking over my yard. Sounds like there is gonna be a golly big puddle at the door of the Jeep in the morning.

Re: great minds think alike-Rick, the faucet across the yard will probably be one of those prefabricted ones with a stake that pounds into the ground. Is that what you used or did you make your own? There is a wall to attach to so making my own is a possibility. As to zone, mine just popped up when I put in my zip code. Inland a bit is a stretch, I'm on the west side of 99. I can't imagine you being zone 8, that's downright tropical.

AnalogDog,

I would think those weeds could suck up the water tout de suite, and then come banging on your back door for more! I think Lobelia like wet feet, but they can't compete with Ranunculus (creeping Buttercup?)

We also had pounding rain this morning - and high winds, thunder and lightning!

Corey

I'm for bog plants in your depression! Some will even take the dry days of summer without qualm. How about camassia? Some of the smaller bulbs should be able to take it, also. Oooo....how about some of the lovely fragrant primroses? Florindae, japonicas, bulleysiana....

Regarding favorite tools: There are long handled shovels available that have a small shovel head on them. It's a God-send for women. I can dig deep, it just takes me a little longer. But my back and shoulders appreciate it.
I also have fiberglass handled spade and fork where the metal is stainless steel. Very strong in all respects. No rust, no degradation from moisture or UV rays. A winged weeder is my hoe of choice. And of course, the requisite Felcos. All spades, shovels and trowels arrive with a very dull edge. Either get a small hand held diamond stone and keep it in your gardening apron, or run the edges lightly across a bench grinder every so often. Spray with WD-40 and the rust will kept in check.
Think Spring! OK...let's be realistic and think hellebores!

My mom had one of those shovels with the small blade and was thrilled to pieces to find it.

What be a "winged weeder", pray tell?