Completing Your Garden Tool Kit
In the long run well-designed and soundly made tools are more effective, pleasant and even safer to use.
March/April 2009
Harvey Ussery
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A high-quality, hand-crafted Rogue hoe is made from a recycled cultivator disc.
Matthew Stallbaumer
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Like me, most gardeners are suckers for new tools. We go on accumulating these over the years, then settling on those that offer a unique solution to our specific task.
Let’s briefly consider a few of the tools you will need for tasks around the homestead. In all cases, I recommend spending the extra money up front to buy well-designed and soundly made tools. In the long run, such tools are more pleasant, effective and even safer to use. Indeed, they are cheaper: Buying a well-made tool often costs less than buying, and later replacing, a shoddy tool.
Spades and shovels
There is an endless variety of spades (for cutting into compacted earth), shovels (for moving looser earth) and scoops (with larger, more bowl-shaped heads for moving even looser material like ground corncobs). Some will have long handles, while others have shorter handles ending in a D-shaped grip for working in tight quarters. Most gardeners end up with a number of variations on the theme.
Wheelbarrow
While the garden cart is better for bulkier loads of lighter materials, the wheelbarrow is better for dense, heavy loads such as earth and rocks. The best tribute to the wheelbarrow I’ve seen is the beautiful pond at the old Nearing place in Maine, which Scott Nearing dug out by hand, one wheelbarrow load at a time.
Rakes
You’ll want a hay rake to gather up grass for mulches. A good hay rake is light, with a wide head securely attached to the handle. I’ve had trouble with both wooden and nylon teeth breaking when they snag on tough weeds, and I am still looking for my ideal hay rake. Another must-have is the garden rake, with close-set steel tines at right angles to the handle, for raking out bumps and clods, as well as smoothing seedbeds in preparation for planting.