I've used a scythe before. It takes a little practice to be able to use it well. And it helps if you keep it very sharp.

They are out of fashion.

My current favorite tool is a broadfork, but I do love buying new tools for gardening.

This is the snath or scythe:

This is the bag, but not where I bought it from. My url did not work.

{{gwi:33275}}And the hippo roller looks like this:

{{gwi:33276}}I don't work for any of these companies and I truly bought the first two items, but really there should be a forum discussing what's available or some odd tool. I just thought these were scarce and a garden forum might appreciate knowing what they are.

Scarlet daisies

You shouldn't do this to the weak-willed! I love reading about garden gadgets. And you can spend WAY too much money giving into impulse-buying, then have a bunch of things you never use.

But it sure is fun.

I searched them out, so I can't say they were binges. I've been planning for over a year on the scythe/snath and so I bought it. I think binging is worse if it's on useless motored machines, like a tiller that can't even be used on the type of ground you own.

There is a lot of trial and error to find what works, so some money will be wasted. Nobody talks about any other methods of doing anything. A gardener that buys their dirt, uses machines to plow a small lot, and a lot will even not grow their own seeds, but buy plants from nurseries. I'm not saying that is bad, but I would like gardening to be within reach of my budget. If it costs more to have a garden than you get out of it, you did something wrong.

Basic tools are what people should be looking for. That is what I'm in search for. Most gardeners already own a wheelbarrow, so the bag is a cheap trick and if it doesn't work, it won't matter as much. It can be used for something else. The other thing, the scythe, that was definitely an investment of some kind. If you've ever used a lively lad, and I have, you already know how well this would work.

I agree garden gadgets and garden shopping can be an obsession. This year I've done nothing, but shop for seeds. It doesn't really matter about the seed, but the soil it grows in and how well you tend to it. I also bought tools that worked better than I thought.

I think people should shop around, used or new, for different tools. In the UK, they have it a LOT better if you get into gardening. The only people making things to make it simple to garden are Europeans. It must be a social requirement to put out a garden in Europe, that is so impressive. It's weird that you cannot get most of the things I'm looking at in the US. These are things that would be very useful, but not offered accept in extreme type catalogs.

Is it politics? Not to get into a debate of national socialism, but things make you dependent on something else are all you can get. I don't think my country is conspiring against gardeners, but they certainly are not making things simple for them.

I wish there was a website that compared all of them to see what worked for what best. Feedback is appreciated. No one gave any feedback on any of these items? No one, accept me thought to use them? If I had that kind of feedback, I wouldn't have to shop around so much. It certainly would be nice to hear.

Well, i think i like the H2go bag. What other things are you seeing offered in overseas catalogs that you can't find here?

i have a little garden tool, some kind of Japanese knife, that works really well for a bunch of different garden tasks-weeding, trimming, thinning. Costs about $6 at Walmart. Maybe i'll take a picture later.

The broadfork to aeriate:

the water carrier with wheels

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Imitations of the Hippo roller

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Those are a few. A lot of my gardening books were European. The broadfork can be found in the USA, but I found it originally in one of my garden books.

I bought a scythe and handle from Smith and Hawkens many years ago. I too paid a lot for it, over a hundred and forty dollars if I remember correctly. I regret it, for the same money I could have bought a gas powered weed eater with a brush cutter blade that works much faster and is much more useful. You have to keep it super sharp to cut with it, and its really only good for really high weeds.

Agree with Californian,

Actually gas weed wacker has the advantage of partially mutilating the
weed. So it will compost faster.
Other thing is that using scyth/snath requires skill and strong back and lots of muscle power.

scarletdaisies - please, please, please do not use your scythe like the girl in the picture. Bare legs and feet are a recipe for disaster. Guess why my great grandfather had a wooden leg?

Wear protective shoes and thick trousers, such as you'd have for chain sawing, and concentrate 100% on what you are doing. There is an art to scything efficiently and it can be exhausting if you go at it wrongly. I hope you also have a whetstone because as others have said you will need to constantly sharpen the blade as you work. If you are working in tall weeds watch out for hidden obstructions like bits of old metal. One bad rebound and you could really mangle your leg.

I do agree with your paragragh about budgeting and the way gardening seems to be made complicated as reflected in many of the posts on these forums. Obviously I only know my own climate and environment but I can never get my head around the idea that people think you have to 'build' a garden or buy in soil before you can grow stuff or that it is necessarily an expensive activity.

I like your phrase 'putting out a garden'. It illustrates perfectly our different garden cultures. We don't 'put out a garden' as if it were a bit of additional outdoor furniture. The garden is there all the time. It's not the furniture - it's the room itself.

Don't worry! I have a nice pair of steel toed boots I always use in my garden. I don't plan to get too fast with the snath, so I'll be safe. I've read about some people who use them and they for what ever strange reason, work barefoot to be closer to the earth, maybe tree huggers like this tool for not wasting fuels. It's the people in front that have to worry, mostly, but I'm sure there are laws requiring shoes with something like this. What about broken glass and rusty cans? No I'll be wearing my steel toed boots.

It might save a toe or two! Steel toes are much harder to cut through.

I put more than I wanted into the snath, but when I got just the stick in the mail, I figured I had to invest in the other part or my losses would be much worse. I really do have a good use for it though. There is an old yard nearby we bought, but haven't gotten paperwork on. The grass is very tall all the time and I'm sure the neighbors would like it cut.

Not to be a slob on purpose, but the guy needs to finish the paperwork or I can't legally do anything on the property. My brother owns the lawn mowers and they stir up the yellow jackets nests worse than anything is why he quit mowing. I've seen some really tough looking guys fall apart at nests of yellow jackets chasing them! They thought they were bad untill... I shouldn't be laughing at them, but it was funny to see them run so fast.

The snath is quieter and I don't smoke either, so the smoke can't antagonize them. My brothers are chain smokers! Our yard used to bad with them, but I started to put out a vegetable garden, and they slowly went elsewhere at least where the garden is, not saying much for the yard we would like to mow that is over grown.

Putting a garden out probably was phrased by putting as in putting your plants out in the garden. I've always heard people say they were putting a garden out this year. It's a nice general phrase meaning, just cause you put it out, doesn't mean it's going to grow. It's like saying I'm going to try to grow something, it would be more accurate to say it.

Garden spots do change, so I can't say it's a room. Not everyone puts a garden out every year either, so it's kind of a statement of whether you are going to make an effort this year with a garden or not. I hear the question a lot and I ask the question a lot, Are you going to put a garden out this year?" I've noticed I have slang, and usually I'm the one who doesn't use it.

Slang doesn't have to be a slang word, but a regular term of words that are ordinarily used to mean something other than what they may mean without each other. Sometimes it's hard to explain things to people out of my area or even out of the country. They know what the words mean, but they sound simple until they get that it's a statement normally used for something a little different.

Sorry for my rambling, and as far as the H2GO bag, I got it today, it's not as big as it looks, but I haven't tested it out yet. Looks good though! I'll try to get some pictures of it in my yard.

I'm looking into a the ballpeen sharpeners. They say they make the blade last a lot longer and the snath has to be sharpened probably once an hour of usage, with ballpeen and wet stone. I'm working on that next. When the blade gets here I'll have that ready. I'm excited and I may have to buy the book on how to use it.

I have an old scythe, and I sharpen it with a drill bit which is a diamond-dust rubber disk. It takes a while to get the stroke right, but once you can swing properly, letting the scythe inertia do the job, it it is fairly effortless unless the weeds are very thick. This said, it is used rarely, mainly to clean up the Fall garden, and on slopes. Even there, if there is woody growth you will slow to a crawl and have to have cutters with you. Other uses include clearing the squash or cuke bed, after SVB/CB have done their thing, and harvesting fava greens or nettles. It can cut easily up to squash (most of the squash plant) or tomato, but it won't cut brassica stalks. I agree with other posters, not an essential tool so long as we have oil to power weedwhackers.

Barefoot are you kidding me? The stubble left behind will be like walking on a bed of nails. The cutting is not too bad though. Kinda fun if the job is not too big. Sharpen well and do not force the cut with too big of swath/bite. Enjoy!

Curt~

It is for cutting grasses and clearing wheat fields or corn fields as was advertised in the description of its normal use, so I have a pruner on a long handle to cut the small bushes and woody stems. The main area to clear is tall grasses, so I'm lucky on that. It's got to be easier than a lively lad. I used that once, lost the bolt, and it's sitting hanging on a nail in the basement. It really wasn't worth fixing and needs to be sharpened. It bent all up and had to be straightened every now and then, but was hitting just tall grasses.

Here are the photos of the bag being filled:

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This is how it looked empty above.

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This is about half full above.

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This is full with maybe a few gallons over 20, so guess as 22, it is definitely what it advertised for.

I'll try her out for a week before I say anything more. Not watering much other than the small compost pile.

scarletdaisies - just a thought - wouldn't it be easier to fill the bag in the barrow? If you fill it on the ground you'll have to lift it into your barrow. Or is the photo just a practice run?