I love the weed hound.

Soil Scoop. Bought mine when they originally hit the market years ago, and it's still going strong (save for a bit of chewed up handle from my dog chewing on it when she was a pup). I haven't picked up a trowel in years - the Soil Scoop blows a trowel out of the water as far as I'm concerned. I have the original, not a knock-off cheapie (read: you get what you pay for, same as with any tool)

A grabber -like what they use to pick up trash on the side of roads. This is great for picking up lots of fallen limbs.

Bumblebeez, your post reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Straight Story. Love when the hardware store owner doesn't want to part with his grabber.

First step out the door toward the garden I will have the shears in my hand. Never know which plants might be in need of trimming you know.

{{gwi:68416}}

Thanks to you all.

mxk3, I thoungt of you this morning when I was repoting my plants, is there any special brand you could recommand, quality does matter.

weenerdogg's weed hound look like a cool gadgets, I think I saw them at HomeDepot.

Bunblebeez's grabber sounds great, got to get one.

Ankraras, do you have a favorite shears ? by whom ?

- Suzy -

Suzy - the brand is 'Soil Scoop'. I linked to a picture of it, but I have the original with a wooden handle. I paid around the going price now about a decade ago - so I don't think it's out of line price-wise. (note: I know nothing about this website link, just wanted to show a picture of the Soil Scoop)

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Scoop picture

I have a trowel... and a shovel... of the two I use the trowel more...

For me there ain't nothing like the Garden Bandit.....A hand held short one and the longer Telesco Weeder.....Best weeders ever in my opinion, at least they have worked out for me better than anything I've used before. You get in real close to perennials without disturbing them and I've found I get my weeding done much faster. If I sound like a pitch man its cause I'm so happy with the way its works.

Paul from Alabama

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Bandit

I used to go through a lot of trowels, then I found one at Lowe's that was Stainless Steel. No more rust when I forget to put it away. Going on four years with the same trowel and not looking like it is giving up any time soon.

pm2

the telescopic weeder ad is funny....can an uncoordinated person really use it efficiently?

5-gallon plastic buckets, 2-gallon plastic buckets, 32-ounce plastic soda cups, cheapie "Fiskars" knockoff scissors, 1/2 gallon pitchers and cheapie kitchen tongs. I use all of those every time I'm in the garden.

Lisa...
Someone makes a thick plactic lid that you can use on the 5-gal buckets, to convert it into a garden stool. Snaps on/off easily, for access. A friend gave one to me and I have no idea where it came from.
Guess I would have to say my favorite garden tool is part of a set. It's a small leaf rake, 8" wide, with snap-on handles, a short one, about 9", for close work and a long pole handle, for reaching the back of the beds. Clean-up under shrubs and in between plants becomes much easier with it.
Other snap-on attachments that came with the set, were; a standard leaf rake, a garden/bow rake, 5-tine cultivator,an 8" wide, multi-blade tiller/mulcher and a flat weeder, with sharpened, serrated edges, that cuts on push and pull strokes.
My set was purchasd in the 1980's and was made in Germany.
Scotts/Ortho later purchased the tool line and it has since disappeared from the marketplace, at least around here.
Another one of Scotts decisions that seems to make no sense to the public, i.e., Buying a competitor's line of garden tools and burying them. In this case, they were better made, more versatile tools than Scotts was offering or has since offered.MHO
Rb

Forgot to ask!
Any Quake damage?
Saw the report on the news and had visions of you running outside, not to escape falling objects inside, but to ckeck on your garden for damage! :I know, it's nothing to jest about, could have been a lot more serious!
Rb

I couldn't garden without my hori hori knife.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hori Hori Knive

Not exactly a gadget, but I could not garden without my canvas(??) bag!

It is a plastic/canvas/tarp-material type bag, about two feet tall and two feet in diameter, with handles. I use it for everything. Weeding, raking leaves, carrying dug-up plants, etc. I always take it with me into the garden.

I've seen these in catalogs going for $25 to $30 a pop. I found mine at a Sears hardware store several years ago for $5 a piece. I bought two; should have bought more. I lost one (how the heck one loses something like that I'l never know!) and the other is getting holes in the bottom from being dragged by my kids to empty leaves, so I am getting nervous that I will soon be without...

:)
Dee

My favorite is a rust resistant trowel that I keep very sharp on one side near the tip. It does the usual trowel duty and will also slice roots of perennials that invade my annual flower gardening space.

Shnj ;- My most favorite shears are Thinning Shears made by Corona.

Supannee

My favorite is my Cutco kitchen shears that I got over 20 years ago when I was in college & sold Cutco knives (made in upstate NY). Those things will cut through anything, and they come apart for great cleaning. All the Best, Tree (usually a soil forum lurker :)

[And which are currently MIA!!! We have over 10 pairs of scissors in the house - at least one for each room of the house - so I must have buried them in the garage somewhere, ughhh.]

I want a hori hori now.

idabean......

I use it VERY efficiently.....and.....I am VERY uncoordinated...so there......:)

If anyone does get one I hope they enjoy it as much as I do...

Paul from Alabama

I have really liked using my Korean Hoe for several years. I pick it up to use before the trowels of any kind.

A purchase last year was an electric sprayer. I do a lot of fence weed killing out here on the farm. This sprayer can hold 2 gallons, has wheels and long handle. Sprayer is wonderful because there is no pumping the tank up, to keep the pressure working. I got it at Home Depot for about $10. Saved me a LOT of work and speeded up the weed killer application. All the power is in the handle, runs on AA batteries, just hold the trigger down. Just walking the fence, aim and spray, instead of fighting with the pump sprayer. I must have sprayed 10 gallons of Roundup before I needed to put new batteries in!! Did a nice job.

They had a smaller electric model, one gallon, that I think will be purchased for spraying garden plants with soapy water for bugs. A real help for those with painful hands trying to spray different products on the garden.

Husband made me some new hand tools for Christmas. He modified the handles a bit, lengthened them, forged out the tool heads. They look like they will REALLY be a nice fit in my hands!! Have only gotten to use one to put in a row of peas. It did a good job, so I am looking for jobs for the others!

My favourite gardening gadget is the Katate Sankaku. This little handy tool can be honed viciously sharp, and is simply a joy to use for battling weeds. This is my favourite tool, although, not my most useful.

Katate Sankaku

{{gwi:205235}}

It's a saw! No! It's a trowel! No! It's a knife. No! it's a Planter's Buddy!

{{gwi:205237}}

My most useful gadget is Garant's "Planter's Buddy 7 in 1". This handy multi-purpose garden tool is a trowel, a knife, a saw, a little hammer, a transplanter, dandelion weeder, etc.

Okay, this is not a gadget either, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Carhartt canvas work pants!! They come in different colors, white, khaki, and brown (maybe more) and I have all three, white for painting, tan for casual, and two pair of brown for gardening...hides the dirt. They are men's pants but waste/leg can be sized to the inch and fit me great. Durable but lightweight, they are comfortable even in warm weather.

And they have a ton of nifty pockets to hold all my gadgets! When I'm fully "equipped" for gardening, I've got my Carhartt pants on with a thick leather belt, with holsters for Felco pruners on right and Japanese weeding knife on left (looks like the Hori hori knife and I agree they are GREAT!). A pair of scissors for deadheading and trimming fits in with the weeding knife. A Corona folding pruning saw slides into the pocket on the left pants leg. My cell phone goes in the right leg pocket. Swiss army knife, camera, keys, etc. go into the nice, deep front pockets.

I feel like a gunfighter in the wild wild west! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Carhartt Canvas work pants

Velcro plant ties from Lee Valley Tools (Google it, comes up first on list). You'll love it...

- Steve

My FAVORITE is my Felco pruning saw, but the most USEFUL is a heavy duty auger so that we can plant in our heavy, red clay soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

terrene,
glad they don't have metal detectors at nurseries. Does Carh. hem the pants for you. They say classic rise; is that waist high. I do not do things that show untoward parts of my rear anatomy; I find it painful to look at, and would not inflict it on others, even garden critters.

To Razorback: First, to stay on topic: When I want a temporary garden seat, I don't bother with a lid. I just turn a 5-gallon bucket upside down, or appropriate the cheap plastic garden "side table". I don't seem to park my backside long enough to need a padded seat. Now, if only I could find the perfect knee pads--I do spend a lot of time on my hands and knees, and most knee pads shift too much.

For trowels, only the cast aluminum one-piece jobs will do for me. Everything else looks like crumpled aluminum foil within minutes. I'm a lot stronger than I look or than I think I am, I suppose. I mean, I'm simply trying to dig holes to put bulbs in...

I don't buy anything other than relatively inexpensive Fiskars pruners even though I know that Felco is a much better grade of pruners. When I don't LOSE the pruners in the garden by setting them down in the dense foliage, I ABUSE them trying (and succeeding) to cut through branches too thick for the blades, by not wanting to go get a hammer to pound something and using the pruners instead, by thinking that pruners can be used as a mini pry bar...you get the idea. So rather than carry a whole arsenal of appropriate tools, I ruin whatever I have in my hand at the moment. I also ruin my hands (I just plain blow through gardening gloves, and my fingernails redefine hideous), my shoes (what, feet are NOT bulldozers or forklifts?) and my jeans (all that crawling and rolling around). Remember Sears Toughskins jeans for boys? I'd probably destroy those, too...

In other news: The quake (the biggest one) was only a 4.7, and that's what it felt like. So--a bang/thump, some shaking and rolling, and that was it. Nothing fell down, the walls didn't crack any more than they already have in the past 35 years, and the cats slept through ALL of it (so much for animals warning about earthquakes). A friend who lives about half a mile from the epicenter (I live about 10 miles from the epicenter) reported that stuff fell off her top shelves, and there were some new cracks in her walls (in the drywall/plaster), but that was about it.

I hate to sound blase, but the national press makes such a big deal about things we consider very ordinary: windstorms and snowstorms (like the ones that close I-80 over Donner Pass). Ask a local about the "big windstorm" (take your pick of which one), and they will tell you that a big rig blew over in Washoe Valley, some trash cans blew over, and maybe some roof shingles came loose, but unless the winds are over 75 mph, trees don't even blow down. We get 35 mph winds in the afternoon most days, so things are built to hold up to wind. As for the snowstorms, locals will say something like: "See those mountains? Those are the Sierra Nevadas. It SNOWS in the mountains in winter..."
And then there are the very rare floods. With the exception of the surprise flood in Fernley a few months ago, news crews can count on finding locals filling and stacking sandbags in pouring rain (VERY rare) who will quite sincerely tell you: "Yeah, but we NEED the water" as flood waters lap at their ankles. In other words, it's just *different* here...

Idabean - I buy the pants at a local outdoor store, and they are sized by the inch in both waist and legs, so you ought to be able to get exactly the leg length you need. I was able to try them on, and get just the right size. Yes they are waist high.

Since they are men's pants, I'm not sure they would accomodate the hips or "rear anatomy" of all women, lol. But they have extra room in the derriere and legs, for all the bending and squatting people do when they're working (or gardening)!

My daughter bought me a small short handled shovel for Mother's Day a few years ago. I searched everywhere for some but never could find them. Finally I found some called Earth Tools by Ames. They have a small bowl with a short handel. The handel angles back and it is perfect to use in the flower gardens. I use it almost everyday. I have given many away to friends. I try to have a couple on hand for gift giving. They are $10.00. I have found them at Meijer, Menards and Home Depot. They also have a rake.... Great tool....

Susie

My local workclothes store has Carharts pants for women, with inseam lengths so you don't have to hem. I think I'm in love.

My favorite tool is my japanese hand hoe with a pick on one end. I use it to weed and plant, you can get right under a buttercup's crown with the pick or dig a nice narrow hole for a bulb with the hoe end. Love it, love it. Next are my felcos, I don't abuse or lose them and I'd be lost without them. After that I have a five-gallon bucket cover with pockets for all my tools (a reason I don't lose my felcos!).

Hope the link thing works, I always await results of such with trepidation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hand hoe with pick end

What a lot of great ideas! This may sound silly, but one of my favorite "tools" are the light weight surgical latex gloves which I buy at Walgreens. Walgreens carries ones which are sized SM, MED, or LG. Those old one size fits all are a joke for me! I use them for light pruning and especially for planting new annuals and perennials. I like that I can feel the plant and be gentle with it. Then toss 'em. Another favorite tool which I just broke is the smallish 3 prong cultivator with long handle that I use to scratch up the surface of the ground as I leave the garden or to lightly dig in compostor fertilizer. It gets close to the plants, but is easy to control. I cannot find one around here. They're all 4 heavy prongs, more like a mini rake. I'm looking for a source.

I like the exam room/surgical gloves too. But the best tool for me, aside from a good pruning saw, has been a scuffle hoe (best $7.95 I've spent in ages).

I've been singing the praises of the A.M. Leonard Soil Knife from Gardeners Edge - http://www.gardenersedge.com/ - it cuts, saws, divides, weeds, cleans out cracks in the sidewalk, knocks clumps of dirt off big rootballs. I couldn't garden without it. I suppose it is a lot like a hori hori, but it has depth markings and a twine cutter and is both serrated and smooth bladed.

Right now, though I love my Felcos, my Soil Scoop, my hori hori, my little rake that I use to clean up around the bases of the roses, and my faithful 5 gallon bucket, though I love all those, the one invention I can't live without is Advil.

My favorite is an old army shovel I got on eBay. Having hard clay in the yard, you can use it as a standard shovel or tilt the head to use in an axe swing to cut into the dirt. I have used it to dig (chisel) out holes to plant trees all the way down to digging a hole and amending the soil for 1 gallon perennials.

The newer plastic handled versions you find many times are military surplus stores aren't quite as sturdy as this old school version.

{{gwi:205239}}

I love the Atlas 370 gardening glove. It lasts so long and I can feel through the fingertips as there is no seam. I bought them for $6 each at the Philly flower show and then found them on the internet for $40 for 12 including shipping (palmflex.com).

I use a hand held dandilion weeder ($1 or $2) for most weeds and also for transplanting small stuff. It disturbs the soil less than a trowel.

This will sound a bit silly, but we garden a relatively large area, and I use and really love the almost fifty-year-old Ford tractor, which moves compost, manure & mulch, mows the field and woods roads, and picks up and moves rocks. I made fun of my husband when he bought it second hand about 12 years ago, but I probably use it about as much as he does now. As I age, having a machine to help with the heavy chores is really nice.

Like duluthinbloomz4 I love my scuffle hoe - cuts both coming and going, and doesn't need lifting - just shuffle it back and forth to get rid of weeds.

I like goatskin gardening gloves since I can throw them in the washing machine when they get too grubby, but they are tougher than fabric gloves and quite flexible.

I love my straight edged spade, which I use for edging as well as for digging in soft soil. It has a D shaped plastic handle on a wooden shaft which is warmer and has less vibration than metal.

I'm not sure that any of those qualify as gadgets, but they are my favorite and most-used tools.

I'm surprised no one mentioned a spading fork, I couldn't garden without it. Also my Felco pruners. For a Hori, I use an old butcher knife-and hope I never lose it.I have misplaced(I hope) a short handled 3 prong fork I use to loosen soil. Either I find it or I have to look for another one.I also have 3 old metal garden carts. They always seem to be full! My neighbor goes to auctions and is always bringing me one. I have one now with holes starting so I can throw it away if he turns up with another one. Spring is around the corner, Happy Gardening!!