Favorite gardening tools/gadgets? (grass, trees, violet, backyard)

[totallyfrazzled]

Which gardening tools/gadgets/whatevers are you REALLY glad you acquired and would not want to do without? Other than "old reliable" basic trowel and garden fork, that is.

I have several:

- the Trash Funnel bag holder that I bought more than 10 years ago. It holds 32- or 39-gallon bags, has a folding X-frame base and the top is a big widemouth heavyweight black plastic semi-funnel that also locks down over the bag edges preventing the bag from falling out no matter how heavy the contents are. So easy to throw anything into, from clippings to branches to leaves to whatever! I use it constantly all year.
http://choiceproductsinc.com/trash-f...FQIWFQodG3qHeA

- UV-blocking wide-brim gardening hat from Sunday Afternoons
http://www.sundayafternoons.com

- Waterproof Muck Shoes
http://www.muckbootsonline.com/Muck_...es_p/dlygs.htm

- Black & Decker cordless leaf-blower (runs on an 18V rechargeable battery)
http://www.blackanddecker.com/Produc...ProductID=6462

- a "poaching spade" bought from Smith & Hawken about 15 years ago. I use it for planting and transplanting anything that isn't a perennial.
Amazon.com: Classic English Poacher's Spade: Home Improvement (http://www.amazon.com/Smith-Hawken-Classic-English-Poachers/dp/B0000TX53K - broken link)

- Radius Pro Weeder. The blade is narrower and more dished than the poaching spade and is perfect for digging out taprooted plants.
Amazon.com: Radius Garden Natural Radius Grip PRO Weeder #205: Home Improvement

[azoria]

Nejiri gama hoe! Best_tool_ever. I liked the hand variety so well, when I couldn't find a full sized one I had a welder make one for me. Use them both just about every day.

Also a fine pair of Japanese pruners. I found a hardware store here in Seattle that carries Japanese gardening tools and they are so far superior in design and precision than American made tools, there's just no comparison. The Japanese pruners were cheaper than the crappy ones from Home Depot.

[oberon_1]

Originally Posted by azoria

Nejiri gama hoe! Best_tool_ever. I liked the hand variety so well, when I couldn't find a full sized one I had a welder make one for me. Use them both just about every day.

Also a fine pair of Japanese pruners. I found a hardware store here in Seattle that carries Japanese gardening tools and they are so far superior in design and precision than American made tools, there's just no comparison. The Japanese pruners were cheaper than the crappy ones from Home Depot.

A word of caution - these Japanese tools are so sharp and lacking any protection, that one could easily cut a finger off

[harry chickpea]

4' copper pipe with top of old soda bottle stuck in it, and a bit of scrap wood going all the way through with about a foot excess. just planted a couple rows of beans with the gadget this morning, with no stooping. The stick is to move up and down to remove the dirt clogs that form at the bottom of the pipe.

Roto-hoe tiller. Built like a tank.

[hey teach]

I have an old garden hoe that belonged to my father-in-law. why I like it so much is the blade is about half the size of a typical hoe and the handle is shorter. This garden hoe when tothe field with him daily for many years and chopped down many a weed and thistle.

[no kudzu]

what my husband calls the toad stabber. it is a 6 to 7"metal two pronged straight tool which lifts grass or other weeds. I use it every day
any scoot and do so I don't have to bend over and can just wheel myself along to weed the beds
my Ames garden cart- I hate a wheel barrel and the ames has 2 front wheels and 2 little yellow back wheels so it is always in balance asnd easy to pull or push...hard to find and I had to special order it

[DLK55]

Totallyfrazzled, I have one of the Trash Funnels as well and I agree, it's great. I've had mine 8-9 years now and if anything ever happened to it I would definitely buy another. I mostly use it for leaves in the fall but also when I clean out the garage, basement, whatever. Worth every penny.

I've had this Fiskars garden fork for a couple of years now and love it. I've done my fair share of transplanting and it makes it much easier and it leaves more of the roots intact as opposed to using a spade. I also used it when I was digging a new hole for our flag pole. I ran into some very compacted dirt with aggregate in it about 2' down and I used the fork to break it up at the bottom.

Fiskars - D-Handle Garden Fork (Steel) - 9666 (http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&categoryId=10272&productId=10553 &page=products - broken link)

A Corona tree pruner with a lopper. I don't use it all the time but with 8 40'+ mature trees in our backyard it's indispensable. 10 years and I've only sharpened the lopping blade once and never replaced the saw blade.

Corona : The Leader in Professional Quality Tools (http://www.coronaclipper.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cControllerFrontend.fControlF rontendCatalogDetail&int_product_id=189&int_catego ry_id=28 - broken link)

Not really a garden tool exactly but a Yard Man chipper/shredder vac. They don't make it any more but another brand, Troy Bilt does. The one I have is four years old and was cheaper but it's the same one at the link minus the chute for the chipper. Besides our trees, most every yard in our neighborhood has one or two 75'+ tall maples, oaks, tulip poplars and so on. With our yard being completely fenced in, once the leaves fall back there, they ain't a leaving.(Pun intended) I can get up every leaf front and back, regardless of how dense the cover is, in 45 minutes or less. I cut down a 40' maple a couple of years ago and ran just about every branch under two inches through it in less than two hours after cutting them off the trunk. It has *never* given me a problem, first pull start regardless of how long it has sat. Serious compression though. I let my neighbor use it and when he tried to start it, he uttered an expletive. It is mostly definitely not a quick yank to get started.

Chipper shredder vac models from Troy-Bilt

I have a little hand cultivator with a three tine fork on one end and a flat blade on the front. I've used that thing more than I can say and would probably have a trauma if I lost it or anything. This is the closest picture I could find.

http://images.orgill.com/200x200/8092280.jpg

A Gilmour large head impulse sprinkler. Large spikes that never budge, great coverage. Our yard is around 80' wide and it reaches one side to the other easily. I've had it for seven years and it works like the day I bought it. A little pricier than some but worth it to me.

Poly Head (http://www.gilmour.com/Watering/Hose-End/Sprinklers/Extra-Large-Coverage/Poly-Head.aspx - broken link)

An 8" hand tamper. Stone, sand, dirt, just a handy thing to have around.

https://www.whitecap.com/store/image.../150-99320.jpg

I had a Mantis tiller for about 8 years but got where I wasn't using it for tilling, only edging the sidewalk. I used it to till almost 1500 feet on one side of our backyard, 100 square foot plus planting beds and it never let me down. I hand crafted am oak wheel for it so I could use one side for turning over just 1/4" of soil for grass seed for bare spots. It was easier and less hit or miss than raking. Because I got down to just edging with it I sold it a couple of years ago and kind of regret it. It was weird for awhile to walk into the shed and not see it hanging in its spot. It was sort of like a reliable friend that you had been through a battle with was gone.

No kudzu, I have a four prong, 5" version of the toad sticker. It actually served me well as a mole eradicator although I have to admit that any success I had was 95% luck.

[South Range Family]

I only have three garden tools. A diesel tractor with front end loader, a 5' wide rototiller attachment, and a rake.

Besides using the tiller for for turning any patch of land into brown velvet, I also use it to turn over a giant pile of leaves, and grass. It makes a wonderful batch of leaf mulch that I spread on the garden with the front loader. Since the mulch prevents any weeds, I use the rake to lean against while I watch the garden grow.

[bluepacific]

Well I'm just going to post all the important pictures of what I consider the most important that I use.

First off my best pruning tool companions:

http://www.monopol-colors.ch/images/multilanguage/bereichsbilder/referenzen/533_1.jpg (broken link)

Now my favourite planting tools:

http://www.gardeningexplained.com/gardens/tools.jpg (broken link)http://www.promotiontopia.com/promotional-images/commemorative-shovel.jpg (broken link)

Favourite Hardscape construction tools:

http://www.customtoolsupply.com/images/ss26020.jpg (broken link)http://www.sameertools.com/images/ct/9.gif (broken link)

http://www.dav-muenster.de/images/denali/voile-pro-extreme.small.gif (broken link)

[no kudzu]

DLK 55- your hand cultivator picture is the tool I have 3 of- one for the garage, one for the barn, one for when I forget and leave it in the garden. We call it "Mama's digger" and it is my favorite tool in 30 years of gardening. BUT why did they use green handle? I paint all my garden tools etiher bright yellow or RED so I can see it in the garden.
I am prone to gardening till I literally drop-or my blood sugar does- and I just leave stuff in the garden and go inside to eat. Anybody else leave your tools in the yard? Gardening in the early spring always brings "Oh, so this is where I left it last fall."
I don't feel one bit of guilt about having to buy new tools. This is my therapy and is much cheaper than liquor, cigs or shrinks.
A lady here in Chapel Hill NC invented a deer repellent and other gardening items and named her business I MUST GARDEN. Oh I can relate. i'ver even pulled weeds from a wheel chair and hobbled in casts just to be gardening.