What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?

My hands. I love digging in the dirt with my bare hands. Second would be my $12 shovel, which has a metal handle. I broke two before it, but this one has lasted a long time. I really like digging holes.

What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why?

My hand cultivator. I don’t use it at all. At home, with my raised beds I don’t need it. At the community garden, with the clay soil, I need a full-sized hoe. I thought I would love my hand cultivator, but I just don’t.

What tools sit unused in your shed?

The aforementioned hand cultivator. Like Matt, I don’t have room to store tools, so I only have what I know I need. But I just can’t bring myself to get rid of the thing because it looks like it should be useful.

What’s on your wanted list?

A hori-hori knife

And a set of Wolf Garten tools. I think you all are really going to hate me for posting that link. I want one of the short, handtool sized handles, and then a longer, telescoping handle. And then I want the attachments for the push-pull weeder, the hand fork, the snake rake, and the sweep rake, and several other things. They aren’t available (much) in the US. I think you can find them in Canada.

And then, I want an electric leaf shredder, but one that doesn’t make any noise and that stores in box the size of my head.

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?

chopsticks: I use them for everything. making little holes for seeds and seedlings, marking off distances between plantings, transplanting seedlings, weeding, “hand picking” insects that I don’t want to touch, etc.

knife: I have an old paring knife with about a 3 inch blade and a broken point. I use it for harvesting, pruning, cutting out squash vine borers, etc.

Between the two of them, they account for the overwhelming majority of my gardening.

What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why?

Like everyone else, I have a hand cultivator. It came in a set with a couple of garage sale trowels (that I actually occasionally use). I pretty much never use it.

What’s on your wanted list?

I don’t know that I particularly want anything. I occasionally want a better knife. Maybe one of these days I’ll get a hori hori; everyone seems to really like them.

Must haves: I use them the most

1. The dutch hoe or stirrup style hoe – kept sharp and used quietly they are excellent for weeding
2. Coking fork, or mulching fork. Photo and description as an example. Moving / turning compost heaps, mulching it’s brilliant. Digging potatoes or any tubers is much easier (Sandy soil here – clay would be different).
3. A small hand trowel. – garden variety (boom boom)
4. Ho-Mi – long handled – HO-MI: the Asian Hand Cultivator – recently discovered (for me) seems to be a good tool for preparing rows and heavy weeding.

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?
I do like tools. I very rarely go out into the garden though without my trowel, which I have modified by sharpening the edges like a hori hori. I didn’t care for the serrated edge, as I couldn’t keep it as razor sharp, and my trowel was the same shape, so out came the whet stone.

I also always have my trusty pocket knife and whet stone. The fit in the same little clip on belt case. Although I carry these every where, not just the garden.

And then, my two forks. My big one, a pitchfork for moving around compost, mulch and ‘raking’ over areas, and digging. And my little one, which is a hand cultivator (gasp). I really like mine. I have sharpened up the downward pointing part of the tines (mine has three) and tempered it in a fire (not necessary, but this particular one was too bendy and needed it). I use it much like a hoe/weeder, and also for laying out seedling rows, loosening dirt before planting and raking out mulch and bed surfaces. I definitely do not transplant without it.

*What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why?":
That is a hard one. If a tool doesn’t work like it was intended, it is often quickly repurposed into something else. And hence the disappointment is transformed. I have had lots and lots and lots of shovel handles break on me. I would imagine because of the rocks I was trying to dig.

Oh, I also was given ‘a claw’ to help break up my rocky soil. What a piece of crap. If it isn’t easy to dig, it will not be any easier on the back to twist it. Works okay as a weeder for clumps of grass no bigger than the inside of the claws. But definitely does not loosen and aerate rocky or clayey soil. For that, I grab the pitchfork.

*What tools sit unused in your shed?":
Really, hoes. I guess I just am not a weeding with a tool sort of person. I do use my hand cultivator for larger areas, but when I get down by the plants I want to keep, I just pull by hand (or cut with my knife if it won’t grow back). I much prefer my fingers, and I don’t do hardly any gardening standing up because I can’t see what is going on down there anyway. I hear lots of rave reviews about the stirrup hoe, but I have rocky soil. It is wonderful soil, it just used to be a gravel driveway. So any tool getting into it is difficult. I may change my mind in a year or two since I have put in raised beds this year to try and overcome the gravel problem.

I still reach for a small hand hoe at times, but not very often.

*What’s on your wanted list?":
A bigger knife. :) My pocket knife is only 2 inches. I would really prefer a larger/longer blade.

A decent rake. I go through them. Lots of leaves, lots of things, lots of sticks. I would like one that will hold up to my serious use and still function. Especially if it had those venus flytrap like folding bits that would pick up parts of the pile for me. That would be cool.

A push mower. Our lawn is down to small enough now that a small push mower would probably take about the same amount of time as getting out the gas one.

That is a hard one. If a tool doesn’t work like it was intended, it is often quickly repurposed into something else. And hence the disappointment is transformed.

Om, love this. I often do the same, but have to keep a lid on it because I’ll naturally revert to pack rat saving everything for use for something in the future. So I try to creatively repurpose things quickly, and purge regularly.

@puu I knew you would have some great gardening tools, was hoping you’d show up in this thread.

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?
I’ve only got a pair of chopsticks, a metal serving spoon from my flatware set that is too shallow to use for anything but mashed potatoes, some rooting hormone, and a pair of fiskar’s pruners. I’m currently an indoor and back porch container gardener so I don’t really need anything more than this.

My spoon in my favorite tool. It is the perfect size for potted plants.

What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why? & What tools sit unused in your shed?
Currently don’t have one, since I have no few tools right now. Everything I have sees a lot of use.

What’s on your wanted list?
Next year I’ll actually be able to start a garden since I’m moving into a house this August. My wishlist currently consists of:
Bunny Brand Hori Hori (Carbon Steel Version) with Sheath
Bonsai Brand Tempered Steel Trowel Wide Blade
Bonsai Brand Tempered Steel Trowel Narrow Blade
Kusakichi Brand #04 Wide Hoe
Kusakichi Brand #05 Bachi Hoe
Kusakichi Brand #41 Bear Claw

But I definitely see this evolving as I get more up close experience with my yard in mid-August. I’m very short so I have a hard time finding tools that aren’t too bulky/heavy for me, and I remember my grandmother using tools very similar to the above tools.

Favourite tools

• I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s the tool used by all the locals around where my dad lives in Portugal. It seems to be known as a grubbing hoe, azada or many other names. I just know that it’s the best thing for digging trenches and serious, hardcore weeding and earth moving. I bought it for a quid at the allotment auction. It’s a bit like this one
• What I call my “Victorian spade”. Not sure it’s actually that old, but it’s certainly getting on for it. another one I picked up at the allotment auction, it’s worn down what must be nearly half way, but nothing beats it. It cuts through the hardest of ground, even making light work of any roots that are in the way. The handle looks like it’ll last (another) century.
• My silverline slasher. About a metre long, this is the only thing that can handle brambles and the rest of the overgrown areas in our garden, where the woodlands have taken over. It’s also great for tackling the himalayan balsam. Most importantly, it’s really fun and makes me feel like Indiana Jones! Cost: about £3 for Amazon, and it arrived in a box like a giant Toblerone. Worth it just for that!

Hated tool
Not really hated, but the shears I picked up at the auction are uselessly blunt. The big rake I bought has a handle that’s far too short for someone of my height, but I knew that when I got it. I just need to get around to replacing it.
Wish list
I’ll join the queue for a wheelbarrow!

I don’t really have a whole lot of garden tools right now. Just the bare essentials: a hand tiller, ‘baby shovel’ (as my 3yo calls it), a “trench” shovel, a couple hoses, a sprinkler, a drip hose, loppers, pruners, 3 pairs of gloves, a plastic spoon, a plastic knife, bamboo stakes, twist ties, blossom bags, a garden rake, and for the yard I have a reel mower and a plug in type weed whacker… I think that’s it.

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?
My favorite that I actually own right now is my hand tiller. It is one that has four prongs and you step on it. It has made things sooooo much easier.

Most used:
my trowel and my pruners
What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why?
I don’t really hate any of them. Although I would like to upgrade to the unkinkable type hose, but the current ones don’t really bother me too much.

What tools sit unused in your shed?
My loppers get very little use. I only use them for cutting the really big canes off my roses and I only do that once or twice a year. I rarely use the rake, but it is handy when I do want to use it….

What’s on your wanted list?
a tool sharpener. a battery powered weed whacker, more mulch, more soaker hoses, the aforementioned unkinkable hoses. maybe another sprinkler. although a teen son to do the hard stuff would be nice too ;) (give me another 12.5 years….). Also a bigger yard, and once I get a bigger yard: a greenhouse, a rain tank, the neat soaker hose system mentioned above, a bigger shed devoted only to gardening/yard stuff.

Katxena-You are not the one who put holes for sale on craigslist are you? ;)

creme- “curb scavenged”, you mean “neighborly recycled”? ;) and the lawn edger is good for getting the grass that thinks it is a chicken and wants to cross the road :lol: again though who cares….

om-what I called my hand tiller is like your claw, but it has a part to step on to get it deeper. I love it for breaking up sod for new gardens (although probably not as good as the sod lifter above) and for in general loosening dirt to dig in.

@ Om – we live in an area that is very water stressed and although we have a borehole the water that comes from it has far too many salts in it to be used in the garden. It’ll just kill everything that you water with it. So we have 2 large rainwater tanks which I use for watering the garden. However only the smaller of the 2 is sealed and holding water, the big one has a massive crack in the bottom so never fills. Hence, what I really want is to have the big tank fixed :)

Wants
I thought of something else I want. Rabbit, bird adn cat-proof protection for my veggie garden!!

hey, why is everyone talking smack about the hand cultivators? I use mine a fair amount, mixing worm compost, harvesting compost from the bottom of the bin, loosening up soil in my raised beds. It is does what I wish my fingers would do in breaking up compost/soil.

It is interesting that most of the poster felt that some sort of gardening knife was their favorite tool. I found that a drywall knife worked so well for getting rid of roots and cutting sod that I haven’t looked into other knives.

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?
I am typically against uni-tools (tools that are limited to one function) but I love my uproot:
http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&productId=10563
It makes getting rid of dandelions so much easier.
A good set of gloves. I have a leather pair for heavier work and a cotton pair with a cuff for soil work.

What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why? & What tools sit unused in your shed?":
I agree with creme, the Fiskars pruning shears never seem sharp enough to do any good.

What’s on your wanted list?"
A thatching rake… ok really I just want someone to thatch my lawn.

I think I’ve gotten’ off the easiest! I always envy you guys when ever I see new pictures of your beautiful gardens. I dream … and then I wake up. So for now, I’m content just to wait for your next pictures! Come on guys, get clickin’

:: cackle ::

Most used tools ….

- nyglass, lightweight and strong hand trowel and hand fork
- bypass pruners
- dollarama washable gloves
- dollarama knee pads
- dollarama broom & dustpan
- the lid off of my garbage pail (if I used a pail, I’d probably plant something in it)
- tin cans from my recycle bin (for scooping & mixing)
- paring knife, fork, string, scissors from the kitchen (I do wipe them off before I eat, and I don’t let the dog lick ’em)

Least used tool …
- my new mini wet/dry vacuum that I bought on sale … because I’m afraid my neighbors will think I’m nuts vacuuming my terrace? It’s actually more quiet than a leaf blower/vac and it was a lot cheaper. I know, tough it up, Hedge, say you. They already know your bent!

Did I mention that I have a terrace garden? Woohoo! NO GRASS. I have a couple of small beds and lots of containers. Did I mention I’m frugal? Cheap would be a better word to use. I should have a bumper sticker for my car that warns others that I break for gardening materials, especially on recycle days. I’m still looking out for an old pair of work boots!

Hi, New here, and thought I might contribute..

What’s your favorite garden tool(s) and why?
Don’t really have a favorite, we have very few tools. 2 shovels (spade & square), a hand shovel and 3 fork thingy, pitchfork for the chicken compost & straw and am always using a nearby stick for sowing holes and loosening soil around plants.

*What’s your most hated / disappointing tool(s) and why?":
one of those tv cultivator things that is totally useles and one of those twisty claws, also useless

*What tools sit unused in your shed?":
No shed… always hunting for everything, but again with the culivator & twisty claw

*What’s on your wanted list?":
Tiller
Drip Irrigation

@Kelly: Thanks so much for the tip re: red plastic mulch. It’s gotten so much hype I kept feeling like I ought to try it, but I had mixed feelings about spreading plastic all over. It’s such a relief to know I can continue to not try it with impunity.

@mcav0y – that is simply brilliant!! I’ll be headed to the hardware store this evening. Thanks!