Vera I can use my circle hoe to dig a hole if I need to. That sucker is sharp (but doesn't hurt the user at least I haven't gotten hurt using it.) and it works the same way as a regular hoe but in a smaller scale and it is safer to use closer to the plants. It does rip out the plant from the roots and if you don't get all of the roots in the first pass then you can go back and do it until the roots are gone. I go walk about the garden with my circle hoe in hand and when I see a weed just yank the sucker up. easy as pie. Paula

I love my Ho-Mi from Lee Valley. It is my go to tool more often than not. It works great for making planting holes, breaking up lumps of soil, the pointy tip is great for making furrows as well as digging out stubborn weeds. I also use it for mixing soil, the shape & angle of the handle works really well for pushing & pulling. The only thing it won't do is wash dishes... Here is a link that might be useful: My little ho-mi

i, too, prefer my hands for almost every task. since i garden in thick mulch, i more push than dig. if i get out a shovel (for transplanting a tree, say), it's almost always my trench digger -- a "half-wide" very sharp digging shovel that's angled more sharply than a regular shovel. i just find that it's more accurate, lighter, and slices through the 'dirt' more efficiently... aside from that, i use the leaf rake a couple times a year. that's it! (well, a mower and a kickin' weed whacker...) but i like the looks of those tools, and i bet they're easier to use.

The tool I seem to be picking up the most this year is my trowel. I bought a new trowel two years ago at Lowes. Oh my, I love it! I bought two of them. They are stainless steel and have a comfortable grip. I used to go through trowels pretty quick, they would all rust when I would forget to put it away, but this stainless steel looks as good as when I bought it and I leave it out in all the weather every day. Kitchen shears...I have taken to putting them in my back pocket..probably not a good idea. [g] I use them for deadheading and they work better than other scissors I have tried and are sturdy. They did a great job on cutting back grasses in the spring. We bought an edger last year, again at Sears, that is one of those half circles. We had a lot of beds that needed edging and it made quick work of it with little effort. Another favorite I wouldn't be without are the quick connect hose attachments. I wonder what we all did before those came on the market. I couldn't leave out our two wheeler. We used that a LOT this year. Usually it gets used to move pots into place, unload materials from the van, but this year we were also constructing a patio etc in the yard and edging a border with heavy rocks, and it probably got used every day we were in the garden for months. Hoses, nozzles and reels seem to be my annoyance as they are every year. I have had a hose from Sears for many years. I bet it's going on 10 years. It has never given me any trouble with leaking or splitting or kinking. It may be a rubber hose? I have two complaints with it though. One is that it is black and if I pull it along and it rubs against my pots, the black will come off on them. So I have placed a lot of hose guides to avoid doing that, but I still have to be very conscious of it. Second it seems very heavy to me when I am pulling it..lol. I suppose they all are. I would replace it if there was something better. I would love a nozzle that would stay on and not have to be held open. Patty, I don't have an Ocean State Job Lots near me, you don't happen to know the brand name of the one you bought do you? I am very interested in the reels that use water pressure to roll up the hose. Terry, and Triciae did you buy them locally at a big Box Store or did you find it in a garden tool catalog? We seem to be leaving our hose out a lot. We have a hand crank reel, but just not using it.