Favorite gardening tools

[ponyexpress]

I have a few favorite gardening tools that I’m very passionate about. One of them is the McGuire Bamboo rake. I’ve been looking for another one because invariably someone grabs the McGuires and I get stuck with the crappy one. I finally decided to do a search and it appears they are no longer made.

The rake is the middle one of the three. Not sure how old it is, probably at least fifteen years I’m guessing.

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I did stop by my local hardware store and picked up this rake that is very similar to my beloved McGuire.

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Haven’t used it yet.

My other favorite tool is the bonsai scissors from Chikamasa. They’re lightweight, small, and easy to use to trim in the garden or to divide up my dahlia tubers.

They are the two top (red) scissors in this picture.

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Another favorite that use to be easily found in stores are the Gardena quick connect fittings. They are made in Germany but are harder to find in the US. I’ve tried other quick connect fittings but they are not as good as the Gardenas. You can add and remove the fittings while still under pressure which you can’t do with other fittings that I’ve tried.

They are the red/orange gray fittings in this picture versus the black gold junk from Home Depot.

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These are some of my favorites. What are yours?

[karstopography]

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This Hoss Tools Gardening Fork. I don’t use a motorized rotor tiller to work the soil, the garden fork takes care of that. This one is indestructible and won’t break even when the oak tree sends big roots into my plot. No corrosion, no wood handle to inevitably break, total beast of a fork.

[ponyexpress]

This Hoss Tools Gardening Fork.

That's a very nice fork. It looks very similar to the King of Spades shovel that I have. Could they be made by the same company?

[karstopography]

One in the same, Hoss tools.

[pepperhead212]

[mention]pondgardner[/mention] I also love those quick-connect fittings, but I only use the plastic ones on ones I don't dis-connect as often as the ones like the hand sprayer for the hose - I've broken a number of plastic ones on that, and a couple of others. The metal ones I use are the solid brass ones, from Harbor Freight. The rubber seal lasts about 2-3 years, before cracking, but they are cheap, and the male fittings last forever. They are usually $4.99 for 4 male and 2 female fittings, but in spring they usually have a dollar off coupon. The metal on some types I have tried is brass coated aluminum, and it eventually corroded while connected, and was not easily disconnected.
Harbor Freight quick connects. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cutting implements of all types are my most used tools - knives, scissors, and pruning tools - as well as the most numerous out there! I have a couple of knives out there that aren't as good as what I have in the kitchen, but they are fine for what I cut up out there!

[GoDawgs]

This is my favorite hoe for close-in weeding. It was passed on to me about thirty years ago by my garden mentor who was in her early 80's at the time. She called it a finger hoe. Heaven only knows how old this hoe is. It has a handle about 5' long but so light I can use it with one hand if necessary and you can get in real close to plants with it.



This is The Beast, my name for the broadfork. Made of steel, it's heavy but those 16" tines really loosen up soil in the beds. I can't remember who made it or where I ordered it from but I've had it about ter years now.

[worth1]

Anything like a grape hoe.
The ones the the handle going through an eye in the hoe.
Best hoe ever.

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[ponyexpress]

One in the same, Hoss tools.

Hoss do make some nice tools that have a pretty green color. They also sell stuff from other vendors. So your fork and my spade are made by WW Mfg. It's interesting that the WW stands for Walt's Welding.

@pondgardner I also love those quick-connect fittings, but I only use the plastic ones on ones I don't dis-connect as often as the ones like the hand sprayer for the hose - I've broken a number of plastic ones on that, and a couple of others. The metal ones I use are the solid brass ones, from Harbor Freight.

Even though the Gardena are made of plastic, they're surprisingly durable. I can't recall breaking one. I did break one of the knockoffs from Melnor. Gardena does have some made of metal & plastic that are more durable. I got very frustrated with the other companies quick connect offerings. They're just not reliable and will leak or be difficult to connect after a short while.

[ponyexpress]

This is my favorite hoe for close-in weeding. It was passed on to me about thirty years ago by my garden mentor who was in her early 80's at the time. She called it a finger hoe. Heaven only knows how old this hoe is.

Looks nice! My favorite hoe is a stirrup or hula hoe. I have two. One I bought myself and the other was given to me for free on Freecycle. I have several tools with old, weathered wood. I hope to give them a light sanding and then wipe them with boiled linseed oil. Have you done this with your tools?

[JohnJones]

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I bought the two items on clearance at Wally World for less than $5 total last winter. I used them a ton this year.

The bulb planter made popping in transplants a breeze.

I never understood how many ways a garden knife comes in handy. I used it everywhere.

I'll have to upgrade these when they wear out as the quality is not great, but it was great money spent considering how useful they've been.

[zeuspaul]

That looks a lot like my favorite weeding tool. The Japanese Kana hoe. I panic when I can't find it and keep a couple of spares. It has a similar shape but narrows to a point for close weeding. It is a short handled tool.

edit: Of equal importance the Kana hoe is also my planting tool. I dig and prepare the transplant hole with it.

This is my favorite hoe for close-in weeding. It was passed on to me about thirty years ago by my garden mentor who was in her early 80's at the time. She called it a finger hoe. Heaven only knows how old this hoe is. It has a handle about 5' long but so light I can use it with one hand if necessary and you can get in real close to plants with it.

[wykvlvr]

Loving the new trowel I got this year from Amazon. Friend kept trying to take it so I bought her one... she loves it not just for gardening but also for gold panning...

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000Q6KSUU/ref=dp_prsubs_1]

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[rxkeith]

i have a couple stirrup hoes i got from jonnys that i really like. weeding is much easier.
the other tool is a triangular shaped hoe that i use for digging furrows for planting potatoes,
garlic, beans, and what not. also used for digging smaller holes for transplants.


keith

[zeuspaul]

That looks a lot like my favorite weeding tool. The Japanese Kana hoe.

Kana hoe for weeding and prepping a planting hole.

Flat claw hammer for tougher weeds in harder dirt. Also for digging in difficult dirt.

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[ponyexpress]

Flat claw hammer for tougher weeds in harder dirt. Also for digging in difficult dirt.

Glad that my dirt in Mass is not that hard where I need a tool like this.

[pepperhead212]

My soil has never been that hard, even before I started digging all the compost into it. However, a friend, that is digging up several areas on their new property, has hard clay, and could use those! They are going to have a lot more leaves than I get every fall, and already they are looking ahead to fall, and collecting the leaves! They definitely caught the gardening bug! However, they have more varmints to deal with, for sure.

[bower]

This Hoss Tools Gardening Fork.

That's a very nice fork. It looks very similar to the King of Spades shovel that I have. Could they be made by the same company?

I have never had a square ended shovel like this one, but I nearly bought one today. I was wondering if this might be the very item for cutting through really deep sods? If so it would be worth the cash.
I am really fond of my light pick-mattock, which really is versatile and not as heavy as my older favorite pick-mattock now less used... But I ended up hurting my back and neck last week, trying to dig a trench for potato bed setup in my Dad's old garden now disused for a decade. The soil is fantastic down there but oh wow what a job to break through the grass and weeds. I was tidying up the shed there this week and came upon an edger - I tried it out on the field and it seems like this might be the solution, you drive it down with your foot and it seems to cut right through. The square shovel though, if it is meant for the purpose, would cut even deeper... what do you think?

[ponyexpress]

I was tidying up the shed there this week and came upon an edger - I tried it out on the field and it seems like this might be the solution, you drive it down with your foot and it seems to cut right through. The square shovel though, if it is meant for the purpose, would cut even deeper... what do you think?

This shovel goes more easily through sod/roots than any of my other shovels because it's sharp and strong. I'm not sure that it's a great sod cutter. The challenge I have is that because the spade is tall, it's a bit awkward to use it for a lot of lawn edging when you have to lift your foot higher. I did buy a separate lawn edger tool that is half-moon shape and is only like 4-5" high versus the 12"+ of the spade shovel. So it's easier to do a lot of edging since your foot is not as high in the air.

[bower]

Tx for advice @ponyexpress . Yeah your shovel looks like a very sharp blade anyway, but the one I looked at today didn't necessarily look so sharp, and it had little crooks on the edges instead of being full straight. Only 12 bucks so half the price of anything else in the rack. Maybe not the real deal. I will see what I can do with the old edger and if that's the miaow I may even invest in a new one.

[bower]

That looks a lot like my favorite weeding tool. The Japanese Kana hoe.

Kana hoe for weeding and prepping a planting hole.

Flat claw hammer for tougher weeds in harder dirt. Also for digging in difficult dirt.



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For anything so tough you use a claw hammer, I would recommend the 2 lb pick, like this one:

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I do have a small hand pick that I use for weeding but it doesn't have the weight of a claw hammer, and would be useless for really hard dirt. The light pick is a great tool for many jobs (recent injuries notwithstanding!). I use this to weed overgrown beds and it's excellent. Very fast extraction. As long as it's not total sods.