My definition of a great garden tool is
multifaceted: It should be durable, practical, easy to use and helpful in
multiple situations. Plus, it should not only aid you in accomplishing gardening
tasks, it should also ultimately help you grow more food. Even for gardeners
like me—someone who prides herself on reusing materials, making do with what I
have, and gardening on a budget—these six tools are worth adding to the garden
shed.
1.
Long-Handled Circle Hoe
The circle hoe has a small metal circle at the
end, one side of which is sharpened. This hoe style is ideal for weeding right
up against mature plants and between tightly planted rows. You can even use a
circle hoe in between tiny seedlings if you’re using the square-foot gardening
method or other intensive planting techniques.
You can drag the circle through the soil tight
against your rows, adding in a tiny chopping motion if needed. This minimal
motion makes for a much more controlled weeding job, meaning you don’t have to
worry about accidentally chopping into your seedlings. It’s also far easier on
your back and knees than weeding by hand or with hand tools.
Keep your circle hoe sharpened, and it will
even cut through heavier clay soils. Because of the hoe’s shape, it won’t move
your soil toward you as you weed—the soil simply slips through the circle.
However, turn the hoe slightly sideways and it will work just as well as a
triangle hoe for creating small furrows in which to plant seeds.
2.
Broadfork
The broadfork, also known as a U-bar digger,
is an essential tool for no-till gardeners concerned with nurturing the soil
food web. Even if you don’t follow a strict no-till philosophy, if you’re
cultivating more than, say, 1,000 square feet of garden space, it’s time to
befriend a broadfork.
Because your garden soil is home to extensive
networks of critters, fungi and microorganisms—many of which form mutually
beneficial relationships with plant roots—minimizing soil disruption will leave
these networks intact, thus leading to a more successful garden. The broadfork
allows you to loosen soil before planting and dig in compost with the least
amount of soil disruption. The large tines of the fork dig deep while keeping
the layers of soil mostly in place. Earthworm burrows and strands of fungal
networks can be rebuilt much more quickly if soil layers aren’t inverted or
completely mixed up as they would be with tilling.
This tool makes good sense for gardeners who
try to maximize their harvest potential by succession sowing. Instead of
hauling a tiller out every week when you want to sow a new area, you can easily
loosen small areas with your broadfork. Even though a broadfork is a large
tool, almost anyone can use it. The tines dig into the ground as your body
weight rests on the U-bar and you make a back-and-forth rowing motion with your
arms.
3. Pitchfork or Garden Fork
With images such as American Gothic firmly planted in our minds, it’s more natural to think
of pitchfork as a traditional tool for an austere farmer rather than a
gardener. But I find that a pitchfork, sometimes called a digging fork or garden fork (depending, generally, on the thickness of the tines), is my
go-to tool in many situations. If you have to loosen soil in a really small
area—for example, if you’ve pulled out a spent plant in late summer and are
about to sow a small patch a fall greens—a garden fork will work as a
mini-broadfork. It doesn’t dig down quite as deep, of course, but it’s narrower
than a broadfork so it won’t disturb nearby plants if you’re only loosening a
tiny area. I find that a fork is much more effective at loosening soil
than a hoe, plus it disrupts soil layers less.
A garden fork is also useful for picking up and
moving around mulch material such as loose hay or leaves. In addition, you can
easily use your fork to stir up your compost heap and to harvest root crops
such as carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Finally, the garden fork is an unlikely ally in
dealing with tough weeds. Many weeds, such as Bermuda grass, bindweed and
ground ivy, will become far worse with tilling or vigorous hoeing as the root
fragments are spread around and will sprout again, creating an even denser weed
problem than you had to begin with. Minimize spreading the weed by using your
fork to carefully dig weeds at the roots (this works best if done an hour or
two after a heavy rain or watering). Because the fork digs down with only thin
tines, it will potentially break and leave behind fewer roots than a shovel
would. Use your fork to dig up weeds with a deep taproot such as dandelions,
too.
4.
Manual Hedge Trimmers
Hedge trimmers can be a gardening Godsend—and
I don’t mean just for your landscaping. They work wonders when you want to take
out large plants at the end of the season and chop the plants into manageable
pieces.
For instance, your compost pile becomes
wild-looking fast if you’re throwing whole tomato plants, pepper plants, okra
plants and corn stalks onto it. With well-sharpened hedge trimmers, you can simply
chop down these large plants bit by bit (you can choose the size, but I cut
corn stalks into about 6-inch-long pieces), and then you have wonderful fodder
for your compost heap. These smaller pieces of stalk, stem and vine not only
make for more compact composting, but they’ll also break down much faster. This
method won’t be realistic if you’re growing 40 long rows of corn, but it will
work for many small-scale home growers.
As a bonus, you have the hedge trimmers on
hand to shape and prune bushes and other large perennials. Use the trimmings
for your compost pile, too.
5.
Garden Shears
Garden shears are more heavy-duty than typical
scissors, and they generally have a serrated edge that can grip tough stems. My
favorite use for shears is harvesting. If you try to harvest certain crops that
have thick stems (eggplants, peppers, okra, etc.) by using just your hands, you
can actually damage the plant by accidentally ripping off a whole branch. Using
shears to snip off mature fruits is faster and ensures you don’t damage plants.
Garden shears are handy to have in the garden
for cutting string or twine you’re using to create a trellises or tie plants to
supports. Shears also make quick work of harvesting herbs and
cut-and-come-again crops such as Swiss chard. Use them for cutting off any diseased
or damaged sections of plants and for small pruning jobs (you may want to use actual
pruning shears for larger jobs).
This tip has an ick factor, but I don’t mind
admitting that since I always have my shears close by, I often use them to
quickly end the life of a tomato hornworm when I see one.
6. Hand Sickle
For thousands of years, growers around the
world have been using sickles and scythes to reap grains (a scythe is similar
to a sickle, but with a longer handle and usually a longer blade). If you grow a
small patch of a grain such as wheat, use a sickle for harvesting by grabbing handfuls
of the grain with one hand and, with the other hand, sweeping the sickle below
where you’re holding.
Even if you don’t grow grains, a sickle can be
useful for other jobs. For example, if you grow any cover crops and want to
harvest the mature crops for mulch material, a sickle is the perfect partner
for the job. Harvest the crop with the same grab-and-sweep method that you’d
use for wheat, and lay the material down around plants to provide a beneficial
mulch that will retain moisture, suppress weeds and add organic matter to the
soil.
A sickle can come in handy for certain weeding jobs as well, especially
if chopping down well-established weeds before digging out the roots with your garden fork.
Sources for High-Quality Garden Tools
As with a piece of furniture, it’s best and less wasteful in the long run to buy an item that may
cost a little more up front but that will last a lifetime (or more). In that
spirit, these suppliers are known for making exceptionally durable tools for
the home and market gardener.
Circlehoe: Specialty tool-makers
of—you guessed it—quality circle hoes.
Grants Pass, Ore.;
800-735-4815
Clarington Forge: Classic tools from the
only large-scale forge still producing forged garden tools in England (products
available in the U.S. through Robert Larson Company).
England; 800-356-2196
Fiskars: A company with a global
reputation for innovation that makes great garden shears and other tools.
Madison, Wis.; 608-259-1649
Green Heron Tools: High-quality tools,
equipment and gear specifically created for women farmers and gardeners.
New Tripoli, Pa.;
610-844-5232
Hoss Tools: Owners of this company
founded in 2009 are avid gardeners who grew up on a farm, and they’re on a
mission to make great tools.
Park, Ga.; 229-769-3999
Johnny’s Selected Seeds: A seed company equally
well-known for its large selection of both unique and traditional garden tools.
Waterville, Maine;
877-564-6697
Meadow Creature Artisan Farming Implements: Makers of a
super-durable, effective broadfork that comes with a lifetime guarantee.
(Bonus: This company donates three percent of all proceeds to sustainable
agriculture projects in their community.)
Vashon, Wash.;
360-329-2250
Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply: An environmentally
conscious company that sells cost-effective, state-of-the-art tools and
supplies specifically targeted to the needs of organic growers.
Grass Valley, Calif.;
888-784-1722
Hoe photo from circlehoe.com; broadfork photo from Meadow Creature; garden fork photo from Clarington; shears and hedge trimmer photos from Fiskars; sickle photo from natureworks.com.
