Five Garden Tools You Didn't Know You Needed
It's spring! So, how does your edible garden grow? If you're just getting your gear together, here are a few tips on tools you might not have known you needed, courtesy of three exciting new books on our garden nightstand: "Your Farm In The City," by Lisa Taylor of Seattle Tilth; "The One-Block Feast" by Margo True and the staff of Sunset magazine, and "Apartment Gardening" by Amy Pennington (yes, the same Amy Pennington who rocked our kitchens last year with Urban Pantry). You'll want the trowel and garden gloves first, but after the bare essentials, consider these:
1. Soil thermometer: Know how those seed packets tell you to plant when, say, the soil reaches 50 degrees? Here's how you can actually figure that out. Taylor, who advocates owning "a few high-quality tools," lists this as a handy extra.
2. Scissors: A "wonder tool" for the garden, says Taylor, snipping everything from lettuce leaves to twine. Go for a pair with short blades, and look for rustproof stainless steel.
3. Mason jars. Yes, you know you need them for canning. But the Sunset book recommends also using them to store your leftover seeds. Most packets supply more seeds than you can use in one year, and the book says they'll last at least another year if you store them airtight in a cool, dark place. Put them in the freezer if you've got room.
4. Bamboo: Pennington calls it the duct tape of gardening, full of uses. "Use single stakes to support heavy plants, assemble a trellis, or form a teepee by tying twine or wire at the top. You can also easily build a shade wall for blocking out the strong summer sun -- wrap floating row cover between two bamboo stakes and secure."
5. Electric drill: Sure, Pennington says, you can grow plants in plastic pots or salvaged vegetable crates or even a burlap bag of soil. But if you want to get fancier with your DIY, and you find yourself with a pretty glazed ceramic pot that has no drainage holes, all you need is the drill and a ceramic or masonry bit. Flip the pot over onto the lawn or a few layers of newspaper, she says. Cover the area where you will drill the holes with a crisscross of masking tape (it prevents splinters from flying up). Mark the holes on the tape. (The bigger the pot, the more holes you should have. She says 3-5 per pot is usually fine.) Using the drill fitted with the appropriate bit, drill your hole. "Try to work in one swift motion and drill straight down to minimize the chance of cracking the ceramic."
And, hmmm, since two of these listings mention twine, you may want to lay in a ball of that too.
What are some of your recommendations for unusual but handy garden tools?
-- Rebekah Denn
chipped bark on April 24, 2011 at 11:48 PM
I love my garden bench/kneeler. A bunch of my friends now have them too and they are great knee and back savers! My all time favorite tool is my CobraHead Weeder and Cultivator. I have even used it to dig post holes! I have to keep an eye on mine so my Master Gardener friends don't walk off with it!
soilless grow on May 05, 2011 at 11:04 PM
This is my first time to visit this site and my fist time to know that Soil thermometer, Scissors, Mason jars, Bamboo and Electric drill are garden tools!Thank you so much for the information. I usually have bolo at home that's why these tools are strange to me.
artificial lawns on January 29, 2012 at 09:02 AM
I never thought that electric drill is needed for my garden. I usually use hoe and shovel in my garden. Thanks for this information.
plumbing on March 20, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Drills are commonly used in woodworking , metalworking , construction and do-it-yourself projects. Specially designed drills are also used in medicine, space missions and other applications. Drills are available with a wide variety of performance characteristics, such as power and capacity .