Ramblings of Garden Tool Co.
Brush Clearing – Tools to Make Your Job Easier
01 month ago
by Blake Schreck
in Garden Tools
So, you’ve let things get a little out of hand or maybe you just want to take back a portion of your land for more garden area. Let’s not kid ourselves, this is and never will be an easy task, so having the right tools for the job will certainly help you out.
Though the materials that these tools are made of have changed for the better, the basic “tried and true” designs are the same as they’ve been for years and years.
Below are a few tools designed to make your brush clearing job a little easier.
This brush hook is designed for the toughest, heavy-duty clearing of undergrowth such as small trees, shrubs, heavy vines and weeds. Swung like an axe, this brush hook’s 36 inch Hickory handle and heavy head give a very forceful blow.
These ditch blades (also called a Kaiser Blade)from Council Tool will be your best friend when you need to cut undergrowth such as vines, small trees, briars or weeds. You’ll love this tool as its length allows you stand away from the brush you’re clearing without all the cuts and scrapes.
This large pick mattock with its 5 pound head is made to work as hard as you… and then some! You’ll find this pick mattock up for the job, weather digging, cutting roots, loosening hard soil, trenching or breaking rock.
This Pulaski axe has a mattock or adz blade on one side and an axe blade on the other making it a very useful gardening tool. Great for chopping roots, digging trenches and loosening that rock hard soil.
This Brush Hook by DeWit Tool is one mean little tool. At almost a pound and a half and the power of an axe, the Brush Hook easily cuts through under-brush and even small trees…great for brush clearing or cutting trail.
These brush clearing tools and many other quality garden tools are available at Garden Tool Co.
Garden Tools for Schools Giveaway Winners
01 month ago
by Anne Schreck
in Garden Tools
Choosing winners from the many fabulous entrants to our Garden Tools for Schools Giveaway was a very difficult task to say the least. Entrants included programs for the disabled, inner-city schools, schools just establishing a garden and a great number of other worthy applicants. Blake and I would give to all of them if we could afford to, but unfortunately we can’t do that. So after a long struggle we picked three from all the wonderful entrants.
AND THE WINNERS ARE…
Rialto Middle School in Rialto, California – This middle school is in dire need of tools as they have been gardening with a soup spoon and their hands. Their main goal is to supply fresh vegetables and fruit to the school cafeteria.
Clintondale Middle School in Clinton Township Michigan – This middle school has been gardening using an old set of kitchen spoons and pots pulled from the trash. In spite of it all, they have a ball.
The Academy of World Languages in O’Bryonville in Cincinnati, Ohio – This is an inner-city magnet school specializing in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian and many of the students families are refugees. Their goal is to build beds showcasing the different countries.
Each of these schools will be awarded a gift certificate for $500 to select tools to benefit their school gardening program. And from the entry letters, we know the school’s needs are great as two of these schools are gardening using spoons as their only tools.
For those schools that did not win, we wish you all the best in your gardening programs and sure wish we could have given you something as well. You are all doing great work out there and we applaud you.
Eight Tips to Make Your Gardening Easier
02 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Gardening
Gardening can be a lot of work, so why not try some tips to make it simpler. You can’t have a maintenance free garden but you can do things to make it easier on yourself.
1. Use Raised Beds and Containers – Raised beds can make it easier to amend the soil and require less deep digging. They can also help with your reach if you build them higher which makes it easier on your knees and back. Raised beds will help improve drainage and increase yields. Containers are another way to avoid a lot of digging and they are easy to move around and add color and interest to different areas.
2. Use the Right Tool – You don’t want to plant a large shrub or tree with a garden trowel and if you are planting a lot of bulbs a bulb planter can make the job go faster. Also consider when you can use a longer tool and avoid bending and back ache. A sharp tool almost always makes thing easier, especially when pruning and dead heading. If you don’t have the strength you once did, consider a tool you can use with both hands.
Clarington Forge Forged Bulb Planter
3. Amend the Soil – You can use your own compost or a commercial compost or peat mixture to help add nutrients to your soil and keep it productive year after year. This will help the health of the plants and increase yields as well.
4. Choose the Right Location and Plants – Most plants and vegetables will grow better in a sunny area. Try to be sure that your garden gets plenty of hours of direct sun every day by putting it in a location away from trees and other obstructions. To the contrary, if you have a shady area you are interested in planting choose a shade loving plant. There are also many low water and disease resistant plants available today.
5. Mulch – A good layer of mulch will help keep the water in and the weeds out of your garden. It will also help prevent erosion. And if you do see weeds, try to get them out early before they take hold and propagate.
6. Water Properly – Most places do not get adequate rainfall all the time so be sure your plants are getting enough water. You might consider adding drip irrigation to make the job easier. If you are using containers you need to pay attention because they can dry out much faster than beds. Too much water can harm your plants as well, so don’t keep them soaked all the time.
7. Group Plants – Group your plants according to their need for sun and water. You can also group them according to their need for deadheading or harvesting so that less getting up and down is required. In the garden certain combinations also help each other grow and keep insects away. For example garlic can help keep aphids off your roses and marigolds are good with your tomatoes. There are also vegetables that you should not place near each other, such as aromatic herbs and cucumbers.
8. Garden Gear – A garden bench allows you to sit or kneel while you work and helps in getting up and down, since most of them have raised sides that act as handles. A good pair of garden gloves will help protect your hands while keeping them cleaner and drier. There is nothing worse than blistered hands after a day of working in the garden. A garden cart or Trug will help you in moving numerous items around the garden with less trips.
Broll Bucket Cart
A Garden Tool to Save Your Back
03 months ago
Most gardeners have at one time or another had to move a large garden pot, weather it was to move it in the house for the winter or just re-arranging. Not only is it difficult because of its awkward size, but also the back breaking weight.
Well now you can carry those large heavy pots with ease with the Potlifter. This great new product can carry up to 200 lbs. with out killing your back or your pot in the process. And, the Potlifter is so useful for so many other uses including lifting landscaping rocks, small trees when planting, heavy bags of soil or concrete and so much more…Lifetime Warranty!
If you’d like to learn more and see the video of the Potlifter in action, please click on this link: Potlifter at Garden Tool Company.
Growing Business vs Growing Seeds
03 months ago
by Anne Schreck
in Gardening
We live in a house that would never be considered spacious and as Garden Tool Company continues to grow and we make every effort to stock all that we sell and the stuff required to ship it, it seems to get smaller by the day. Last year we built a second shed but that was full before we knew it, so whenever we get something new lately it must go somewhere in our house. Just last month, we lost access to our fireplace when we added some more shelves for products. We pretty much have things in every room but our kitchen and our bathroom.
To add to my dilemma, today Blake reminded me that spring is coming and I have used the space that I started my seeds last year for our few remaining house plants. So now, I have the daunting task of figuring out where in the world I am going to start our seeds or move the houseplants this year. Maybe we can just strap them to the dogs backs – NOT.
2011 Seeds
A Garden for All of Us
03 months ago
Here in Fort Collins, we have a wonderful community botanic garden called The Gardens on Spring Creek. My favorite things about it are the high level of community involvement encouraged, the whimsical artwork featured and the focus on plants that thrive in the area.
Classes are offered in everything from growing vegetables and other area plants , to various types of landscaping, to painting, to cooking. They host children’s camps, birthday parties and charity events. You can rent a plot for the year and do your gardening there. You can volunteer to help maintain all the ornamental gardens and spend time with and learn from other gardeners. And of course, they take monetary contributions if you just want to offer your support without participating further.
Artwork ranges from a giant watering can that actually pumps water to a Dr. Seuss playhouse and children are not just allowed but encouraged to play. There is an entire area devoted to children that includes friendly scarecrows, a Fairy garden and a fish pond. They light the place up for a special holiday event in December, and they feature works by local artists at various times.
There is a three-quarter acre edible garden that shows you the best vegetables for the area, as well as, new and intriguing vegetables in the International section. A teaching kitchen is located adjacent to the edible garden and thousands of pounds of produce is donated to the local food bank.
Another interesting feature is the xeric strip located between the sidewalk and the street. Designed by Lauren Springer-Ogden, the hell strip features a colorful and interesting variety of plants that will grow with limited water.
There is much more to the garden than is typical of many botanic gardens and I continually discover new things about it. Check it out for yourself…
Planning Your Garden…Tools
03 months ago
Planning this spring’s garden can be fun activity and it can be a bit overwhelming. Those garden supply and seed catalogs have been filling your mailbox and every year the gorgeous pictures in these catalogs give us an idea of what gardens and vegetables look like in the perfect world…you know, that world that has set designers, lighting consultants, make-up artists and I’m guessing someone whose job it is to shine the vegetables or airbrush a little more color on the flowers.
Well, that’s not my gardening world and I’m guessing it’s not yours. What’s in our gardening planning are all those tough jobs that go into making our gardens more beautiful or veggie gardens better producing.
You know what I’m talking about… what do I want to plant this year , does my soil need more amendments, what can I plant this year that requires less water, does this new planting area get enough sun, how will I deal with pests or disease, oh, and what about those weeds. These and hundreds of others are on our mind when we’re planning this year’s garden, but there is probably one thing you haven’t thought about…your garden tools.
I’m sure that at the end of the season last year you took inventory of your garden tools. While you were cleaning, sharpening and oiling your tools for their time off in the shed, you might have thought of a few tools that might make your gardening more enjoyable, but probably not. Well, now’s the time to start thinking about what garden tools you might need to replace or a new garden tool that will make your gardening easier.
Now I’m not saying that we all need every different garden tool out there, because we gardeners seem to find all kinds of uses for a single garden tool, but in your garden planning, is there a garden tool that will make your job easier, more enjoyable and less tiresome?
If you are buying new garden tools this year, purchase the best quality garden tools you can afford. It’s just counterproductive to buy cheap tools. You’ll be rewarded with a garden tool that not only lasts longer, but a tool that works harder and won’t end up in the landfill.
One last note and it’s a shameless one: If you’re looking for some of the finest garden tools made, you may just want to check out Garden Tool Company…quality garden tools and fast, neighborly service.
The Perfect Garden Hose
04 months ago
I absolutely hate it when I am out watering and suddenly the water pressure is gone. Inevitably it is the result of a kink in my hose that I have to go find and straighten out. Thank goodness we recently found the Tuff Guard hose that is designed to be virtually unkinkable. You can even tie it in a knot and the water still flows smoothly at full pressure. They call it the perfect garden hose and they aren’t lying.
We have bought so many hoses that claim to be better, only to find that they are just another problem hose that we spent more to buy. They kink, they crack, they crush, they are hard to roll up or the fitting goes bad, and there we are at the store again buying another one.
The Tuff Guard hose is extremely lightweight and easy to coil – even when full of water. We live in Northern Colorado where the temperature can drop into single digits or below and this hose stays flexible even on the cold days.
I also love the choice of colors. At Garden Tool Company we offer it in green, blue, red and pink and when you buy the pink hose, they make a donation to Breast Cancer. So if you are tired of buying hoses over and over, check out the Tuff Guard hose and see if you also find it to be the perfect garden hose.
