Please share your ideas on a favorite gardening tool....

Mine is a Radio Flyer....my little red wagon. It has been my garden companion for more than 20 years. I load it with tools and it saves many steps back and forth It also carries gloves, glasses, hat and water. Over the years it has moved heavy items like sacks of soil, fertilizer or bird seed. I can roll the bags off the tailgate and into the wagon. Over the years, we have acquired two more red wagons. A sturdy work wagon which I set the gas can in and take to to the mower or tiller. Also this newer one which works well to carry pine straw for mulch or leaves to the compost. This wagon is also my potting bench. It carries potting soil, hand tools and pots. A large plastic bin sits on top, making it a convenient height to work on and contains the mess. The wagon helps move plants out in spring and back in when cooler. In the summer it carries gallons jugs of water to the thirsty plants. It is more stable than a wheelbarrow. I have been known to load it with plants to display them in a spot that needs a splash of color or even just to see if they like that spot. With out a doubt, this is my favorite gardening tool.....
What's yours?

Good topic podster. My fave has to be the bucket. I have about 10, all different sizes. Most have something in them: manure in one, compost in one, one is for weeds only, another holds my gloves and spade. My dh thinks we need another stall in the garage to park buckets.

I have a little Radio Flyer red wagon too. Mine does not have the wooden sides but I use it a lot. It is very very old. Dh has put new wheels on it and right now it needs painting. I use mine like you do Pod to carry all kinds of things. I'm bad at laying my tools down somewhere and then later can't find them without a big hunt. I need to paint the handles of some of my tools red so I can find them. The RF is my #1 fav tool but we also have an all metal mesh wagon that has sides on it that we use for everything. It is much larger than the little RF.
My fav hand tool is my old wooden handle trowel. It was my Mother-in-laws trowel. When she passed on the kids were going through her things and I was shocked that her dd's didn't want the trowel so I inherited it. ;) The metal part is slender-er than most of the ones you buy now. It's not as heavy either.
Lin

I am married to an incredible Tool Snob who is absolutely horrified by my collection of "dollar store" screwdrivers, wrenches, and hammers (hey, I figure if they "unscrew the screw", they're good enough)... his snobbery is often the source of much eyerolling on my part, but it does mean I get really nifty birthday presents.

And this http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=16.100.25&dept_id=13213 is my favorite garden tool, a birthday present from years ago. These bad boys fit my hand perfectly and take all sorts of abuse (hubby shudders every time I plunge them straight in the dirt to snip a tree root) and keep on clipping. I do manage to clean and oil them on occasion.

They get used every day in every way. Though, like Dancey, I have threatened to paint the handle bright red, lol.

Since I'm busy trying to get rid of St. Augustine grass so I can really garden, my immediate favorite is my stirrup hoe. Works like a charm and not nearly as hard on the back as a shovel.

My favorite and best back-saver is this mini-pick. I use it for digging planting holes in my rocky soil and edging and removing sod.

My favorite is "THE tool" My wife and I fight over who gets to use it when planting, laying rocks, chipping rocks, weeding, mixing compost into soil around plants, chopping roots, and many other uses I have yet to find out. It is like KatyMac's but smaller and the pick end is a forked tiller rather than a pick. I got it years ago and still have it with me what ever I am doing in the garden.

KatyMac, Soferdig, Ugh ~ that sounds too much like manual labor! Brigidlily, I have never used a stirrup or scuffle hoe. Have heard they make life easier.
Dancey reminded me, I have a grand old trowel that I haven't been able to find a new handle for. Any suggestions? ShelfLife, I intend to take a pic of a tool for your tool snob, should post it tomorrow.

Shelflife~ here's one for the tool snob! I paid a whole US dollar for it. And it is a favorite hand tool for all. The screwdriver has a magnetic tip which holds the bit or extends to pick up a dropped screw. The handle stores extra bits aaannnnnddddd batteries. When turned on, the light shines right where you need it. When dear spouse says 'hold the light over here' I can say ~ Hold it yourself! Handier than pockets on a shirt!

cool tool, podster -- I want one. ;)

I really can't make tooooo much fun of the Tool Snob -- l already have my Christmas present picked out and want to make sure I get it. ;)

I like tools too. Wish I could get my hands on more of these. I bought all they had, we kept one at work, one for the house, one for the garage, one for Mom, the rest I passed around to friends. Last of the big spenders. Deep down, I believe you TS would like this even if he wouldn't publicly admit it.... pod

Pod, love that tool, I haven't seen any with a flashlight. That would be handy.
Where did you get it? My dh and I each have our own toolbox, we got tired of blaming each other for not putting a tool back lol

Yeah I could see that as a garden tool if it had tweezers on the end and you could go out at night and harvest crawlers for the fishin trip.

>>Deep down, I believe you TS would like this even if he wouldn't publicly admit it.

The only way to find that out is if you first abducted his Yankee Screwdriver and he was then forced at gun point to use something so "gadgety." ;)

Sorry Soferdig ~ That one did deviate from the original intention. I guess Shelflife is right, I am a sort of "gadgety" person. On the other hand, I have learned (with age) to look for easier ways to do things.

Fly-girl, as a matter of fact, I couldn't find the one that was supposed to be in the tool drawer... hummmm......
A local guy pedals "junk" like this. All imported and inexpensive. I have acquired some neat stuff from him though. Like a set of really handy lopping shears for $10. They have compound leverage to make trimming the largest limbs a breeze. I went around the edges of the area I bushhog and trimmed up branches. I got tired of either having to duck, or having a branch catch the throttle lever and kill the tractor (drt ~ dead right there!) I figured if I used the shears one time, I would get my moneys' worth. They are still going strong.

More favorite gardening tools: I am proud of a shovel I picked up at a garage sale for a dollar. Its' blade is narrow. square cornered and sharp. I use it for edging, cutting through roots and much more. I also have a favorite turning fork that works well to break new ground or locate bulbs or potatoes. A five tined pitchfork makes itself valuable moving leaves and pine straw.

Any other favorite tools you like?

Yes I'm drooling about the Dixie Chopper lawn tractor. I haven't saved up my money yet to buy it but it will be the last tractor I need to buy. My current Sears tractor/mower does save me many miles of walking when gardening around my 3 acres.

My favorite is my hori hori aka japanese grubbing knife. I use it for weeding & planting.
Its really strong so it never bends. Its got a serrated edge to cut through roots. Great tool
for anything you need to do by hand. My second favorite tool is a weeding tool from
Lee's Valley. Its got a small blade on a long handle - maybe 1" deep and 4" wide. You
use it to cut weeds off while standing. Great precision for tight gardens.

Tam

Gotta be my bread knife .. I use that for everything .. makes removing sod a breeze .. slice around the perimeter then start at one end about an inch or so deep and saw under the grass and it comes up beautifully and intact so you can place it elsewere. Also good for removing grass and weeds which have overgrown walkways or brick. Great for getting rootbound plants out of pots because the blade is thin. Good for dividing rhizomes as well.

That's the short list.

X

Xeramtheum ~ interesting to use a bread knife. I use a drywall saw, mostly for whacking back root balls and sectioning ferns. I have wonder if an electric knife might save some effort? Improvise, we can all learn from it....

Ahhhh now you are talking my pleasure. Knives. I love to cut my Fava beans with a cleaver. Thhhhhpppppttttt. And a chilled glass of Chianti. LOL

This message was edited Jul 28, 2006 11:17 AM

Soferdig. ;•)

An electric knife? .. I'm lazy, but not that lazy! Don't forget the key ant eee sofer!

X

I AM a lazy gardener. I also own an electric chainsaw and love it!