Nice. I may have to get one of the trowels. I break one a year, it seems. My long handled loppers are also broke. (just bought another one) I buy a new pair of gloves a couple of times a season. I have a new shovel (the old one's handle is broke). I have a newfangled weeding hoe that I love and has held up! I have numerous shears - cheap and good. They just follow me home! And my best investment so far this year? My gardening shoes!

The best tool I have are my hands. What a marvel of engineering and art hands are, don't you think?

But I wish I had pants with inflatable knees and with a built in apron that had big pockets so I could keep my pruners and gardening stuff in. And pruners that will yell "hey, dummy" when I leave them in the grass and then can't find them.

Also, I want a gardening fan, something to blow air on me to cool the sweat while I am out there in the heat pulling weeds. Solar powered, so I won't have to lug a cord around. Don't tell me that's called wind, because there isn't that much of that stuff here in Alabama.

And while I'm at it, how about some gloves that really will keep the dirt out and don't make my hands all sweaty, that are impervious to rose thorns but aren't bulky.

But anyway, your friend's tools are beautiful. That pointed hoe looks something like my Japanese nejiri gama hoe that I love.

My favorite tool is my Felco #2 pruners.

Randy

Yeah, I need some new pruners. Often I go without gloves so mine are holding on. My investment in a regular pointy shovel was one of the best I ever made. I had my loppers with the long handles sharpened and use them often but seldom for roses.

I need my squarish shovel sharpened, and one of my handiest tools is a kid shovel if you don't try heavy digging with it, gets in where I can't get with the bigger ones. Also I couldn't get along without my nice, smaller fork I picked up for $5 from Restore Habitat.

My one bulb planter comes in handy for setting out plants, not just bulbs. Glad I got a 3# sledge hammer. Have many more but don't drag them out any more than I can help, am still pulling most weeds out by hand.

That one tool is called a scuffle hoe, thought about getting one but decided I like to get more of the root out if possible so sometimes I get out my pointy thing and weed a little and loosen up the soil, easier on me than the hoe.

Corona pruners, Corona one-piece trowel, Corona tree saw--all with red slip on grips so I can find them when I throw them out with the clippings. Shovel with fiberglass handle. Bare hands--I can't work in gloves. Swiss army knife.

I have others but these are what I Use. In my busy season, I do two or three gardens a day, plus my own. I can't mess about with anything that is going to bend, break, get lost and I don't want to cart around something that is useful only once in a while. I can use the above for just about anything anywhere.

I never used to wear gloves either. My husband made me. My arms were always ripped up from the roses and the old man bought me some long-armed rose gloves. It was getting bad. Varicose veins.
The thorns get through sometimes, and they're wearing out fast.
For cooling I run through the sprinkler just like a little kid. I know some of you don't have sprinklers because you have rain.
Oddly enough, we are drownding this year. I saw a couple summers like this. One in '67, one in '77. Otherwise, not. Except for last year.
The knee problem is well noted. I have a pad somewhere. Somewhere. If someone would invent a garden caddy that kept the rain out that would be good. Finding your tools sitting in water is not good.
I have to have a pitchfork. It is the best thing to scoop up loads of weeds and put them in the wheelbarrow.
Garden shoes are a good point. I laid waste to a pair of sandals a year until I discovered Keen sandals, which are rubber and you can throw them in the washing machine. They will never die, and are not all that comfortable.
While I would not trade Tuli's tools for one, there is a solar powered hat fan.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hat Fan

I have a pair of soft plastic (I think they're plastic) shoes that I bought for about seven bucks at the market. They're perforated on top and have thick soles and a strap that goes around the heel. These are what I wear summers in the garden. They're light, durable, and comfortable, and they don't try to slip off my feet no matter how steep the slope. The drawbacks are that the perforations let in grass seeds that stick to my socks, and the soles are soft and can be penetrated by long, hard thorns. Fortunately a childhood of going barefoot left me with a habit of watching where I put my feet.

I lost my Felco pruners: boo, hiss!!!!

I wish I had a shepherd's crook, for maneuvering branches that are over my head without my having to get on a ladder. Also, a good long-handled pruner, for the same reason.

Sounds strange, but my Fiskars hard plastic trowel works well, and has the great virtue of being light. It doesn't appear to be easy to break: I've tried.

For gloves I'm now using some rubber-y-plastic-y kinds from the hardware store, at a couple of dollars or so a pair. They last quite well and are great for digging and repotting and so on. The clumsier and more expensive all-leather gloves are reserved for pruning roses and similar tasks that require extended close contact with thorny canes.

Now that my knees are shot and my husband does all the digging, I find that a hoe can be quite useful for moving dirt around, as when terracing or otherwise leveling ground.

I wish I had more tools and better ones, but this is a year to be thrifty on optional purchases, since necessary expenses are quite hefty. But we're still buying plants.

Melissa

Hori hori. Great for slicing right through hardpan (and, unfortunately, even 1 inch drip irrigation pipe).

I have not yet found the breathable, light-weight, washable, arch-supported, tick-impervious, seed-proof, water-proof, grippy-soled garden shoe. In the winter, I sometimes wear my ole Raichle hikers.

I use a cheap pair of boots for heavy gardening. Dirt always manages to get inside shoes so I wear the boots. I only wear gloves in the early spring when I'm doing my garden clean up, and it's only because my hands would freeze otherwise. I probably should wear gloves more often to keep my hands looking nice. I have a cheap pair of by-pass pruners. Maybe next year I'll invest in the Felco brand. I use a scissors for deadheading.

I don't buy many fancy tools, but there are some I consider essential:

kneeling pad - essential if I have to work from a hard surface like the patio

old plastic crate - used as a seat when pruning

contractors' buckets - for collecting weeds/cuttings or soaking alfalfa cubes - available along most highways

paint-stained, torn, t-shirt and matching shorts - so bad that you have no problem wiping hands or garden tools

good pruners - Corona works OK but the Felcos are better

hand pick - a great tool with pointed side and shovel side which can be used for weeding, cultivating or digging

I have a nice larger size Felco pruner. It prevents me from having to look for the loppers. I love my telscoping pruner, but would like to get one that is better quality. I've started using a Saws-all for large old canes. It has a rechargable battery and works like a charm. During pruning time I wear gaunlet gloves.

I'm on my second year with Felco #2....well worth the money. Randy & Harry...do you sharpen yours? And if so, how? (Sorry for the small hijack).
-terry

Terryjean--I use a Corona AC 8300 sharpening tool. It is a bit of hardened steel on a handle. You swipe it along the blade maintaining the angle of the bevel, then a couple swipes on the backside to remove the burr and you are good to go. I was skeptical at first-- my efforts at steeling the kitchen knives always resulted in dulling them rather than sharpening them but I quickly got the hang of this tool. I've used it on old, really beat up pruners and loppers. Ones with burrs and chips out of the cutting edge, ones that no longer close properly because the cutting edge is kinda folded over--it takes off those burrs, you just have to press harder.

I love my AC 8300 (LOL). I've turned into a kinda sharp tool snob. Google on sharpening pruners and you will find information on how to use this tool.

Wrap one handle of every tool with yellow electrical tape. Easy to spot when you lay something down in the catmint.

Broken trowels are the most common complaint, duly noted.

I have Felco 6 but I'm thinking about getting the Felco 2 as it has a longer blade.
As far as loppers- I use Felco 22
Then for the saw- I use Felco 610- I use this a lot, more so than my loppers.
As far as gloves, I buy the leather gloves from Costco, it's for mens, it's a little big for me but it works. It's thick and it handles thorns pretty well.

I put all my tools in my little lawn buddy.

I was iffy about gloves until I was bit by a brown recluse when weeding. Now I aways have them on. The best so far are a $5 pair I bought in Ace Hardware. They are a bity loose, but are leather and canvas and nothing gets through them.

My next most favorite is a hat. I now have a wide brimmed 50 SPF had that I wear whenever I go out. I have sun damage on my face that I'm trying to reverse and am avoiding all sun exposure. It does help keep you cool as well.

Felcos, of course, and 7 and 10 gallon black plastic planters that trees came in that serve as my carry alls for pruning and dirt and what ever. My Lee Valley Tool Spade Fork is probably my favorite digging tool.

On thing I've also added that is great, I usually wear sandals or flip flop in the yard in the summer. IT's just to hot for sneakers or boots. And even when I do wear sneakers with socks, the dirt and clay get inside and my feet are always dirty. So I know have this brush that I use to clean my feet before I come in the house. I love it.

Gotta have a kneeling pad. I love my deerskin driver gloves--thick enough to stop smaller thorns, but soft and flexible. They are kind of expensive, but worth it. I've got to do somthing about the pile of lefties that are almost new when the righties wear out, tho.

I also love my ratcheting pruners.

For shoes, I have a couple of pairs of cheap sneakers for the winter and for mowing, and some Merrell clogs that are getting a little older for other times. Great comfy shoes. I like being able to slide the shoes off for quick trips in the house. I was wearing open-toe slide ons, but kicked one too many bee and got stung between the toes. And in wet weather, tiny slugs on the grass blades get up between your toes & squish--NASTY!

A Pulaski axe! It was recommended to me by a guy at our local tool lending library as a great item for getting through hardpan and digging out roots. It's actually a fireman's axe, and combines a mattock. It really made short work of some dead tree roots. (Only took 3 hours instead of 6!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pulaski wiki

duchesse - lol!!!! If you find a source for all the items you mentioned, please let me know because I will be right behind you in ordering!

terry94705 - that ax is some ax! Unfortunately, for me (and others on here, I suspect) we need the fireman to go with it because after two swings, we're all done! If we even got it over our head the first time :)

Shoes are always my problem. I always wear flip flops because I go in and out a thousand times (moving hoses and sprinklers) but to work in they aren't so great. When it's cooler out, I wear black rubber boots but it's WAAAYYY too hot right now. I might add that they look so lovely with shorts, too. If they only offered them in WHITE (kinda like a little go-go boot!), I wouldn't even care what the neighbors might think.......

Lynn

Lynn,

There are definitely white rubber boots out there. Fishermen & clammers in Central Fl wear them all the time. They aren't quite go-go boots, although I can just picture boatload of clammers in white high heels.... I'm not sure where they got them, but googling "white rubber boots" came up with several results.

If I had smaller feet, I'd have to buy these boots. What a fashion statement!

And not only would they be great for gardening, they'd perfect for driving teenagers places--"honey, wait 'till I put on my boots to take you to meet your friends at the mall."

Okay my turn,
My digging bar for clay and hardpan. I hate using pick axes.
My felco pruners I found when digging, stays sharp and very strong. I tend to break wimpy tools.
Fiskers extension/long handled pruners- kinda wimpy but saves my arms.
Ziploc with Alcohol soaked paper towel for cleaning pruners.
rolling seat- needs cushion :-O
contractor buckets for debris and brewing teas.
good adjustable strong hose sprayers- finally found them at Costco, a whole set of 4 different ones

I need:
better gloves
hat- I'm Irish
shoes- need stop wearing every pair of shoes I have when gardening
shorts- said I would never wear them again but....never say never ( THANK GOODNESS!!, we do not have chiggers or ticks.)
A hose- that doesn't frustrate the *?&% out of me.
and probably new hips because I squat 'cause my knees don't like kneeling (too many years in the trade I think)
And last but not least....a helper :-)

I used a sawsall on a leafed out rose, not a smart move. Might be okay with bare-roots. Way to destructive because of vibration, IMHO.

Allison

This thread sure took off while I was away. Here's the story:
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had just gotten home from work. I fixed a glass of ice tea and sat down at the table. Glancing to my left, I saw my horse Strawberry go by. The pasture is off the back porch. We named him Strawberry so that could be Strawberry's Field Forever.
A minute later, I thought, "He's not in his pasture." Then I thought, "Nah. He's in his pasture."
Then I thought I'd just better check.
Now my rose garden is off the back porch and to the left. There he was, standing on Great Maiden's Blush. And GMB is just a baby. Got him from Vintage last year.
"Strawberry! No! Not Great Maiden's Blush! Get outta my garden!"
There was a little hill of dirt just east. He stood on top, looking guilty.
I ran around looking for the halter and the rope. Nowhere. I called up my husband. "It's in the back of the truck." Which was in town with him.
Got to put a lid on this somehow.......
Getting a horse convinced to get out of your rose garden took some talking.
I found a little piece of rope and waved it around. "Strawberry, look at this nice clover over here." I took a couple steps. He moved on into the veggies.
"No, Strawberry, not the peas." He ate one. "See, Strawberry? Clover." He walked past me and went to the gate.
"YES!"
Now the old man is out there with the spud bar, which no home owner should be without, fixing the fence.
Great Maiden's Blush has lost its top and no way to tell if it will grow a new one.
And I've thought of another thing a gardener needs, sometimes. A nice, cold Lite Beer.

Horses love to eat roses.....my Climbing Pinkies have been eaten down several times (they are located on the other side of the fence - stupid me for putting them there). The good thing is that they have eaten them into nice little shrubby things.

lucretia - I certainly don't need funny boots to embarrass one of my daughters......my existence is enough - ha! It seems I have become a walking "What Not to Wear".....even when I'm not walking around in my Big Black Boots, garden hat and holey clothing.

Lynn

Brown recluse spider bites are seriously nasty. Our scorpion population is a big incentive to me to wear gloves ALWAYS when I work in the garden. I've gotten to the point that I find them interesting. I don't kill them. I'll add that, while a scorpion sting would be unpleasant, ours apparently aren't as dangerous as the ones in southern Italy. I have a theory that they're more venomous the hotter the climate, and we're at their extreme northern range.
Melissa

Terry,

I have a small flat file which I use to sharpen pruners. The Felcos stay sharp and don't seem to need sharpening very often.

Another important tool is brick bed edging. It provides the perfect flat surface for your beer bottle.

{{gwi:231600}}

My two biggest helpers are my green 3-wheeled cart. It serves many purposes: schelpping bags of RoseTone, which I need to put down today, hauling loads of clippings and weeds to the compost pile, and it even has a round hole for my water bottle and a tray for my Felco.

My favorite, however, is my garden kitty, Tabby, who keeps a watchful eye out for other neighborhood felines who might encroach on our yard or for the UPS or mail people. Gardening/policing is a stressful job that often requires frequent naps and delicious treats and she takes full advantage of both.
-terry

Kneeling pads and the ilk:
There are the really small pads that come with tool kits and are almost as useless as the kits.
Find a boating place and call and ask if they can order you an outdoor seat cushion? They should be able to order what ever dimensions your knees and bum need. I've had a custom one for about 15 years and it's so dense that even a cat's mistaking it for a log didn't destroy it.

For sharpening, I think that a progression of sandpapers will take out the dings and then a finish with a honeing stone. I like the triangular one that was a product of Felcos.

About gloves: For quite a white I depended on the goatskin gloves at Sam's. A look at my forearms compared with the tops of my hands will always show the difference. Sam's dropped them. We looked long and hard and finally found them on line at the Affordable Western Store....and AWS did tell the truth when they said that these are the same as Sam's sold.

For slick grass and hillsides, the soles of boat shoes have a fine grid that really gives stability on slick surfaces.

I was looking at Harry's brick edging and thinking mine are under the grass out there somewhere when I realized he set his bricks on their sides, not the flat. So now I know what I done wrong. Besides the beer.
Ann, that cushion of yours sounds too comfy. I'd probably forget to work. Course, lately, I keep discovering the bench by the pond is calling me. One thing every gardener needs is a bench every ten feet or so.

Two Felco 6s for general pruning--I generally know where at least one is located at any given time. A Felco 23 lopper for the bigger canes--I really need it since our roses have matured. Not only does it cut bigger canes but sometimes I just need the reach. A DeWalt 18V Saws-All for even bigger stuff, like tree roots. A drain shovel for transplating roses.

spading fork-must have for my soil

Nitril coated gloves-not the latex coated ones...nitril fits your hands nice and snug and the backs breath...I wish they made a long armed type. they are amazingly tough.

Muck shoes breath. I have two pair-one(new) I got in a thrift store for only $4...muck shoes are expensive but they last forever.

I need a better kneeler-one that would follow me around.

I have old green plastic patio chairs that I leave around my beds as I am getting really creaky. I can sit while I dead head the Gallicas.

I used to have these wonderful hand sized spading forks-nice wide tines that were perfect for digging and weeding but the last one is lost or broken..you could equip a store with my lost tools and I paint the handles red even.

I use a fishermans vest for my hand tools-it is mostly mesh with lots of pockets-maybe too many pockets? It has this huge pocket at the back for putting fish in...I cant imagine having a fish on my butt.

What I really need is a gardner...I envision my self lying in a comfortable lounge chair giving orders while I sipped a nice fizzy Gin........well I actually do like to weed...

patricia

I have a few things that are out of my league due to a sale at Smith and Hawkins:
1. a titanium spading fork that is light as a feather and is easier to insert in the hard clay than a shovel and is great for scooping out trailing roots of various noxious grasses which I then grab and rip out as much as I can.
2. a long handled weeder with a cutting edge helps enormously in reaching under big thorney low growers and raking out the evil weeds .
I have another long handled tool that is like a four pronged curled hand that weeds out whatever the chopper misses.
For gloves I have the heavy duty kitchen gloves with cuffs that I can weed in without my fingers turning black. I too, have a little light file that I file down the edges of my pruners.
My shoes are the Land's End version of Crocks--lighter, easy to washout, air-holes and come in amethyst and aquamarine, they are built like clogs with a good low heel.
I have a couple of light green garden chairs that I escort around during pruning time, and then plunk my parts on when I pick my next victim.
My hat is the red straw one slowly turning tan. Hard to find a good garden hat for a girl of head girth.
la

I checked out those Saws-Alls and the old man says I'm too little. Would probably be unqualified to hold it while running. $141.00 to get one is a kicker.
I'm surprised how few here use the long-armed rose gloves. After years of bloody arms I'm not going back.
Patricia, I, too want a gardener of my own. A group of students are trying to program a robot for this purpose. But it looks like it is going to be awhile.
Luanne, I'll betcha (from the pictures I've seen) that your spading fork gets a lot more usage than the green chair.
Now here is a thing that a lady invented to correct sore knees, mud, and always thinking "I can't garden this morning before work, this is my last clean britches....."
Click on gardeners to the left.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden pants

I am very fortunate to have a gardener at my house.....unfortunately, it's ME! The pay is lousy but the payoffs are lovely!

This is a great thread! No matter how low or high maintenance you make your garden, there is still considerable manual labor involved, and a lot of it hard manual labor, too. And while we all love the discussion and pictures about roses, the tools we use can make it a pleasure or a terrible chore.

One "tool" that I don't have that would make my life considerably easier than anything else is a SPRINKLER SYSTEM. I waste so much of my time moving hoses around (I do have soaker hoses in some areas but not all) and it is not always efficient either with some areas not getting enough and some getting way too much if I lose track of how much time the sprinkler has been running. Once in a great while, I even forget to turn it off at night and wake up to a flooded area which makes me sick.

Lynn

Lynn, look into a timer that you can put at your faucet. I got mine at the local big box store. Look for the one that only turns OFF after whatever time amount you set has passed; the ones that will turn *on* as well as off are lots pricier. It can really save you from those self-caused floods! (Been there, done that.)

I love my digging knife for weeding, planting, whatever. I use it almost as often as I use my Felcos, which are my #1 gotta have tool. And the other thing I really depend on is my two-wheel wheelbarrow. It is huge but very stable and I have never lost a load going up and down and across all the contours (hills) on this place. I can even push it along with one hand when it's empty or has a light load!
Lastly, a tool I use all the time is one of those pop-up barrels for holding weeds and prunings. Light, tough, easy to carry, drag or dump, it collapses flat and takes up hardly any space in the shed when not in use. I can stuff it full of rose prunings - even smash them down - and the thorns don't tear it at all. Mine has been in service for years and is still in great shape.

One trick with gloves for pruning season: wear two pairs of gloves. Heat isn't a problem in January...I line my thick rubbery, felt-lined, prickle-proof Rose gloves with nitrile gloves. The theory is pretty sound: a prickle that finds its way through one glove isn't going to be so lucky with the other glove.

I have a "situation" in the garden right how: a bull thistle growing up the middle of Distant Drums, emerging out the top over my head. It's so ugly I've been walking by it for a month.

"...Hard to find a good garden hat for a girl of head girth..."

It's all that rose & gardening wisdom that's stored up there, La.

Randy

Since some of my garden is away from my home, my tools go with me in a bucket with a pocket set up that I found at some nursery. I keep my Felco #6s in a secateur holder that I keep attached to my right pocket. They have not been lost yet. Husband sharpens and oils them for me twice a year. I have a yellow "trake" - pointy trowel on one side and a little rake on the other. Good quality aluminum. It was a gift so I'm not sure where to find one but I recommend it. I also have a hand size hula hoe and a long one also as they are best for scuffing weeds. Also a hand weeder of the pointy kind I got at Ace Hardware. An old child's rake I've had for 25 years. It's way better quality than what is sold these days. If I lost it I would be very bummed. I use it constantly. My loppers are Fiskars and I use the best deerskin gauntlets I can find. They cost $35. approx. but last around 5 years. I use them most of the time as they really protect around roses and are very comfortable. I have many pairs of gloves I keep handy. Also keep scissors and velcro tape with me as they are always needed in the veggie garden. And a good hat and kerchief to keep the sweat out of my eyes and sun off my face and neck. Old walking shoes work for gardening and I have a pair of work boots I never broke in well but they are good for digging if you have plantar fasciitus.

Where'd you get the gloves and what do you do in the veggie garden with velcro tape?
I know what you mean about 25 year old tools. I've got a little Boy Scout camping shovel that's handy. Darn thing looks like it's from the '50's.'

Our grocery store wraps heads of leaf lettuce with velcro tape, and it's WONDERFUL in the garden. Good for tying things to stakes, strapping one loose branch to another, training the climbing roses, etc. Best of all, it's free and reusing it keeps it out of the landfill.

Got my Felco #2 yesterday, it's fanntastic! Thanks Randy for mentioning it here. I like it better than my Felco 6, I like the longer blade.

My two best buys were
-Felcos. I'd sing their praises in a commercial, for free.
- British rose pruning gloves I bought for c. 30 bucks, I've never had a scratch when pruning since.

Lux.

What a lot of great info on this thread! I'm especially happy to read all the posts about gloves, as I've come to realize that I need about 3 different kinds - I got a pair of goatskin gloves (big expense, but WORTH it), some nitrile ones for repotting (easy to clean and they don't get sopping) - and I have a cotton pair of regular gardening gloves for everything else. The latter are not very satisfactory, and I'm always on the lookout for the Perfect Pair. It's gotten to be a bit like looking for the Perfect Swimsuit when I was younger...
I got the Felco #6 pruners when I started working at the Sac Cemetery Historical Rose Garden - I have weak hands, and the #6s are much easier for me to work with. For my little garden of potted roses at home, I use the generic pruners that I already had. In fact, I try to keep the Rose Garden tools separate from the stuff I use at home, so I don't inadvertently carry some Bad Things (viruses, rust, etc.) to the Rose Garden (as far as I know, I don't have any of those Bad Things at home, but you never know). I got an L.L. Bean boating tote (very sturdy) to keep my Rose Garden stuff in, and all my at-home stuff stays out on my balcony. It's very convenient. I was kind of aghast at myself when I spent so much money on those Felcos, but I have never regretted it.
For my next mission: copying a list of all the great gloves mentioned on this thread and trekking through the nurseries in town on The Great Glove Search!

Laura

I'm still wondering where to get velcro tape. Sewing store? Wally world?Sounds like the perfect thing to tie up canes.
Another thing I lost was my rain coat. One day 15 years ago I was walking around K-Mart with my dad. He wanted to buy me a present. Couldn't think of anything. We're going by the fishing equipment when I spied an ugly green plastic raincoat that had a thick lining. It was 13 bucks. It worked perfectly for working out in the spring wind, which keeps everything at a toasty 40 degrees.
Last year it fell apart in the washer and nothing got done til May 10th.
Such small things can topple an empire.