Groundswell Garden Design

This is a list of the ten tools I find myself reaching for again and again. Buy the best tools you can afford, take good care of them and they will last for many seasons. With shovels and spades, I prefer wooden handles because I like the way they feel in the hand. My rock working friends scoff at wooden handles and only buy fiberglass, which may be slightly better suited to the rigors of their heavy duty trade. It is a personal decision, so take some time to try them on for size. Wash your tools off at the end of each day to rid them of dirt. My Dad also taught me to plunge my shovels, spades and forks into a bucket of sand moistened with motor oil regularly to keep rust at bay. It really works! Every year, I lightly sand the wooden handles and rub them with linseed oil. As far sharpening, a couple swipes with a bastard file to take the burrs off of your shovels and spades makes a huge difference in the ease of use. And I also keep a small file just for the hand pruners. To see pictures of each item, click on the name.

Garden fork – What, I didn’t start with a spade or shovel? Nope. I use my fork so often, it deserves top billing. It is especially useful in our heavy PNW soils: for amending, I gently fork in compost; for aerating, I use it like a broadfork to gently lift the soil but not turn it; for transplanting, I use it to tease out stubborn roots or lift clumps of bulbs without slicing them; for sifting rough compost or chucking shredded wood or screening a newly weeded area, etc., etc. It is easier to sink into dense soil and with less guillotine action than a shovel, so I find myself reaching for it first to save my back and my plants. Mine has a short D-handle, which I find gives me better control and impact (and because I am short!) Also called a Border fork or Spading fork, but NOT a pitch fork – those are for pitching hay and manure and the tines are too lightweight for digging.

Garden shovel – Bigger is NOT necessarily better! I like a narrow blade with a round point for transplanting and digging – save the bigger blades for moving soil and amendments. My long-handled Corona with a 8″ blade gets the most use. (On the Corona website they call it a forged floral shovel.) It’s lightweight feel and small head bely it’s usefulness. Too often, I see my clients struggling with large-headed shovels in our dense soil. This small beauty slips in around roots easily, is perfect for transplanting in thickly planted beds and won’t leave you feeling like your tools are working against you, not with you.

Garden spade – With a flat point, this is the tool I use for edging beds and removing sod. It also comes in handy for scraping muck off of hardscaping. For this one, I find a shorter, D-handle to be more useful: when cutting sod, you can achieve greater impact with your hand over the end, rather than slipping along the length of the handle. Also called a Border spade or Digging spade but NOT a square shovel – those are for scraping and scooping up compost and gravel and are impossible to try and dig with.

Expandable rake – This is one of those instances where inexpensive is okay. These can be bought for around $15, yet are ever useful and more dynamic than your basic garden rake or leaf rake. The tines expand to a wide, leaf-gathering stance all the way down to a narrow, get-between-the-perennials flare.

Stirrup Hoe - By far my favorite  standing weeder, it has a two sided cutting “stirrup” that shuttles along just below the soil surface, severing weed roots. Using this push-pull action, I can clean up a bed quickly  and follow with a light raking to clean up the debris. For deep weeds such as dandelions, you will need to get the taproot out to completely obliterate the little monster, but I find that using this method helps knock them back enough to buy me some time. Also, called a Scuffle Hoe or Hula Hoe.

Cape Cod Weeder - This is now the only hand weeder I use anymore. It has a nice point to tease weeds out of cracks in paving or used like a mini scythe to pull out mats of clover. I even use mine to cut neat furrows for seed starting in the veggie garden and for small transplanting in a rockery. It always hangs from the left side of my Carharrts – it’s THAT indispensible! (Note: this seems to be a hard to find item in the Portland area, as my clients have told me. I found that Red Pig Tools in Boring carries them and is worth a visit. It is tool-lovers paradise!)

Felco Hand Pruner - This is my other indispensible and it lives in the right tool pocket of my Carharrts. There simply is no substitute for a good pair of pruners and Felco is my pick, hands down. These Swiss-made tools are marvelous to work with and will last a lifetime because all the parts can be replaced. I have come to love caring for my #2’s: taking them apart, cleaning them well, sharpening the blade and then putting it all back together. Felco #2 is the standard model and will suit most everyone. There are also ergonomic, lefty and small hand models, so it is best if you can find a place to test them out and find a good fit.

Pruning Saw – These are for the jobs that the hand pruner cannot tackle. I have several and find that I like Felco and Silky brands best, and in particular, the Felco folding saw. It fits in my pocket and because it folds into it’s handle, I never worry about accidentally scraped knuckles. And because it is a Felco, the blade can be replaced. I also have a Felco saw that had a longer blade and does not fold for bigger jobs.

Tub Trug - Trugs were originally made of willow and beautiful objects in their own right. This is not what I am talking about. This is a rubber bucket, with two handles and is my constant companion. It gathers weeds on their way to the debris bin, helpfully scoops up compost for mulching areas the wheelbarrow cannot access, even carries water and folds into a spout for spot watering. When I first bought mine, they were only available in tire-tread black, but recent years have brought out all kinds of designer colors with appealing hues like kiwi and lilac.

Water wand - This is so important, but so often overlooked that I simply MUST include it here. I see so many bad watering set-ups, but the one that pains me the most is the hose-end sprayer with a jet stream like a fire hose. People: these are for cleaning your driveway, NOT for watering plants! When you stand in the shower, you want a nice drenching downfall, as opposed to an aquatic assault, right? Your plants feel the same way! I prefer the Dramm Touch and Flow long-handled wands, but whatever type you get make sure it has a shut off valve (to save water) and a nice big rose (the part where water comes out). No gimmicks, no need for lots of spray options. This type of wand allows you to really target your watering, whether it’s hanging baskets, drenching new transplants or watering between rows of lettuce.

Tags: garden tools, tools