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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

See for yourself…watch the video here.

When was the last time you had something in your hand that was truly handmade? Probably a long time, right? The days of products being made by a person and not a machine have gone by the wayside…well, not so!

There’s a small blacksmith shop in Boring, OR that still makes garden tools the old fashioned way…with fire, a heavy anvil, hammers and a lot of sweat.

Bob Denman, his wife Rita and an apprentice are all that make up the company Red Pig Garden Tools and they like it that way! Bob handcrafts each garden tool from raw steel the same way he’s been doing it for over 15 years…with fire and muscle.

Red Pig Garden Tool are now available at Garden Tool Company, so please click over to our website for a closer look at what real quality, handmade garden tools look like.

Click here to see more of these Red Pig Garden Tools.

Is it a gardening gift you’re buying or just more garden junk? Gifts for the gardener seem all the rage these days and because of that, it seems that every garden and non- garden retailer wants to sell you the “Perfect Garden Gift”.

So, what is a good gift for the gardener in your life? Well, it’s not another pair of cheap pruners (have 10 already), it’s not a designer resin “Welcome to my garden” sign and it’s certainly not that fake rock with the speaker built into it.

Why not buy them something they can enjoy using while doing something they love and last a lifetime…a quality garden tool.

Not very often does a gardener walk out to the garden without carrying with them that favorite garden tool and if it’s one of good quality, they’ll be thinking of the person who gave them that tool for many, many gardening seasons.

Now where can you find these quality garden tools? Garden tool quality is as varied as the shapes and sizes of the tools themselves, so first look for a good warranty, preferably lifetime. Then look at the company selling you the garden tool; are they going to stand behind that warranty should something go wrong? Find those two qualities and you’re well on your way to making a gardener very happy.

I’m a little biased, but I just happen to know of one such place to purchase quality garden tools:

Garden Tool Company – quality garden tools and fast, neighborly service…when neither seem easy to come by these days!

Tulip Trowel by DeWit Tools

The blade is deep and curved to make nice round holes and provide excellent scooping capabilities. Whether you are planting, transplanting or potting, it will meet your needs.

This awesome garden trowel will make a great gift for your favorite gardener – which may just be you!

OK, OK…I’ll do it!  The weather people are telling us (if we can ever believe them) that our first taste of winter is coming in a couple of days.  What this means is that I really can’t procrastinate any longer about cleaning up the garden tools and putting them up for the winter.

I have patted myself on the back for getting all of my fall gardening chores  done except for this one…well probably not all of them as I seem to find something else every time I go out.  None the less, let’s clean some garden tools.

This is just the way I do it, so if you have a better way…by all means, do it.

• Start by gathering up all your tools and using a putty knife or a wire brush, knock off as much dirt as you can.
• Clean any rust that may be on your tools. You can do this with a wire brush, sandpaper or a rotary wire bush in your electric drill.
• Thoroughly clean all surfaces with warm soapy water or a good blast with the hose and scrub off all remaining dirt with a stiff scrub brush.
• Disinfect your tools – This is optional, but if you have the time, you can kill any fungus and plant diseases on you tools by wiping them with a 20% bleach solution (3 cups beach to 1 gallon water). Rinse thoroughly after.
• Dry your tools – Use an old towel to dry your tools as well as possible and then let them sit overnight. This is especially important on any tools that have wood handles and have soaked up some water.
• Sharpen tools – By this time, you’ve had a good look at all of you tools and probably notice a few nicks or general dullness in some of your tools.  If you take the time now to sharpen any tools that need it, your tools will be as ready as you are next spring.
• Oil your tools – Many gardeners have different ideas on what oil to use, but at Garden Tool Co., we recommend and use linseed oil on all our tools. Coat both the wood and metal liberally with the linseed oil and let it set for about 15-20 minutes, then wipe off excess with a dry rag.

Now it’s time to pat yourself on the back for a job well done…your tools are ready for action when spring rolls around. Well, not really…don’t forget your pruning tools.

• Pruners, Loppers, and Axes – Sap can build-up on your pruning tools after a long season of use, so it’s a good idea to give them a good cleaning as well. Start by removing the sap by scrubbing the blades with a Scotch Brite pad and some turpentine/mineral spirits. Then clean thoroughly with the bleach solution and a rinse, just as you did your larger tools. After they have dried, put a drop of oil on the bolt that holds your blades together and spray the blades with a spray lubricant such as WD-40.

Now with that done I can stock the fireplace with wood and wait on this impending winter blast (because the weather people are always right).

Well, times have changed and some of the better garden tool makers are making specialty garden trowels.  Don’t get me wrong, the traditional garden trowel is and always will be around and there will always be a use for them, but some tool makers have taken a look that the different jobs that a gardener does and adapted the trowel’s shape to fit a particular garden chore.

Good trowel – bad trowel. A good quality trowel should last you a lifetime, but all too often these days the garden tools available today are cheap knockoffs.  A good garden trowel should have some weight to it and made of a good quality steel. Another good measure of the tools worth is its warranty. Is the tool maker proud enough of their tools to guarantee it for life?

So let’s take a look at some of the specialty (and traditional) trowels that are available to gardeners today.  When looking at the different trowels, imagine how the trowel might help you and your gardening needs.

Tradition Garden Trowels – This is the trowel that most of us are familiar with. It usually has a slightly dished blade with a pointed or rounded end.  The traditional trowel is a good all-around digging and planting tool.

Transplanting Garden Trowels – This trowel typically has longer, narrower blade making it easier to dig deep enough to remove a small plant and all its roots.  This trowel could easily be called a potting trowel because its narrow blade makes it ideal for planting in tight quarters such as pots.

Weeding/Rockery Trowels – These trowels have a long slender blade that makes it great for digging deep to extract these long tap root weeds.  This trowel is also great for gardeners that plant in very tight spaces such as rock gardens.

Potting Trowels – This trowel typically has a wide deep dished blade making it good for transferring soil from one place to another such as from bag to pot. Some makers have combined the deep dish with a little narrower blade for planting as well.

Other Trowels – While some trowels have a unique shape that is specific to a particular gardening job, there are others that combine some of the different features of the above trowels…even some that allow you to use both hands.

Like buying any garden tool, it’s up to you to decide which tool will work best for the way you garden. What works for the way I garden may not be the tool that works best for you. All of these trowels can be seen in greater detail on our website at Garden Tool Company or if you have a question, please give us a call at 1-800-830-4019.

The phrase “best garden tools” is a bit subjective. If you’re a “gardener” once a year when spring rolls around, then a less expensive tool from one of the big box stores might be “best” enough. On the other hand, if you’re an avid gardener that depends on your tools to work as hard as you, every time you pull them out of the shed, then you’re looking for a tool that is a bit more substantial…a garden tool built by gardeners for gardeners.

Today, far too many tool companies have to satisfy their stockholders and as a result, the tools are made less robust. It may be a cheaper grade of wood for a handle, some plastic incorporated or stamping the cheap steel a little thinner, but it all adds up to a poor quality, disposable tool and more dividends to the shareholders.

So, what makes for the “Best Garden Tools”?  Well, one might think that as simple as the typical garden tool is, there wouldn’t be too much to it, but there’s more than meets the eye.

First of all, there’s the design. Better garden tool makers have been refining their designs for decades or even hundreds of years. A little more angle here, a little less there can make a big difference as to how the tool feels and performs.  They tinker with the thickness of the steel so it’s heavy enough for its purpose, but not so heavy as to tire the gardener out.  It may be a design change for the way we garden. Today, raised garden beds are popular and some tool makers are making mid-length tools that are easier to work in those smaller gardens. The list of tweaks that these tool makers have made over the years is long and for the better ones, it’s never ending.

Now let’s look at the metal used in garden tools. A tool of lesser quality has thin steel that comes from a large roll, cut to size, stamped to its final shape and counted as X number of units per minute versus X number of units per day for the better tool makers. The best garden tool makers have tinkered with their steel formulas to get the strongest steel available and start out as a block of steel before being heated and hand forged into its final shape.

One of the most important points of a quality garden tool is how the handle is attached. For spades and forks, this is especially important as they are the real work horses of gardening.  Cheaper tools have thin steel that is just wrapped around the handle and riveted or has a tang that is shoved into a hole at the end of the handle…fast, but not very strong.

These best garden tools should have either a socket or a strapped connection.  The strapped connection is by far the strongest. The head and straps are one piece of steel and the straps extend far up the handle where it is riveted. Almost as strong is the socket attachment. Here too, the head and socket are forged of a single piece of steel and the handle is fastened into the socket.

And now handles. Garden tool handles are notorious for breaking and most of the time it’s because of a poor attachment to the metal or crappy wood.  Several manufacturers have gone to fiberglass handles and I’ll be the first to admit that they are very strong, but they don’t absorb the shock of using the tool as well as wood and because they are hollow, they must be glued into the head which is bad news if you ever have to replace the handle. For centuries, garden tool makers have tried different types of wood for handles and have come to the conclusion that Ash hardwood is the best. Ash is not only very strong, but it also has a bit of give to it as well good at absorbing shock. Better tool makers will only choose the straightest grained timber, rejecting 40-50%. Another thing to look for is tool makers that have an eye on the environment and are using only wood harvested from FSC Certified managed forest.

Last but certainly not least…the warranty. When was the last time you bought anything that had a lifetime warranty? Well, the best garden tools come with the best warranty…lifetime. These tools are made to be passed down for generations and are an investment. I read somewhere and is so true for good quality garden tools…”the quality will be remembered long after the price is forgotten”.

Brewing Manure Tea

When we lived in Dallas we had an aquarium and I used the dirty water on the plants when I cleaned the tank.  My roses in Dallas were testimony to the benefits of poop water on plants. But the aquarium did not make the move and I no longer had access to all that “treated” water.  I was really excited to learn that people actually made teabags for brewing manure tea. I mean, come on, we all know that the folks that raise the livestock have access to the best poop and now, you don’t have to buy it by the stinky bag-full. One tea bag makes a five gallon bucket of manure tea and it is so much easier than having to clean the aquarium.

We have used manure tea all over the yard, on our potted plants and we are anxiously awaiting the results in the vegetable garden. Annie Haven makes our tea and you can learn all about the wonderful properties at her website. I will be posting photos of the results in our garden when the time comes.

Annie Haven and her Tea

On a side note, our Aussie puppy Dixie, thinks the bags make a great chew toy, so we can’t leave the buckets where she can get to them and I saw on Facebook that some cats enjoy drinking the tea.  We definitely preferred Dixie nabbing the tea bag to so many of the other things she has felt the need to munch on – like the arm of the leather chair.

Last year, I wrote about the bio v-groove, which is a great little hand weeder that works wonderfully on cracks, but this year I decided to try out a long handled weeder and boy is it heavenly to get to do the job standing up. What a relief to my aging knees and back to get to do this job without bending down or squatting, and the Cadillac of this type weeder has to be the Sneeboer Paver and Crack Weeder. Designed with both a healthy sized pick and a sharp straight side, I can use it both on large, tough weeds or a Cosmo and to get at that grass growing in the narrowest of cracks in our sidewalk and driveway. This baby grabs a spot high on my list of favorite weeders.

Sneeboer Paver and Crack Weeder

Not long ago, we received some awesome pictures that showed children participating in water and dirt relay races using some garden tools that Garden Tool Company donated to their school in the Atlanta area. For the sake of the children’s privacy, we can’t post the pictures, but believe me they had a great Field Day using those garden tools in a non-traditional way.

Children at the Macneil Kids Garden

Another recent example is Taylor Paine, this year’s recipient of the Aggie Trowel. Taylor was honored by the Texas A&M Horticulture Club for her work at the school and for her intense desire to help the disabled through horticultural therapy. It thrills me to see her passion for a career that was unheard of back when I went to college. I think it would have been a great fit for me.

I found more great evidence recently in the Herald-Tribune with the story of Dolly Tomalinas and her work at the Janet Jones Group Home in Punta Gorda, where she and her helpers share the benefits of gardening with residents challenged by a variety of mental and physical issues ranging from autism to cerebral palsy. With training as both nurse and a master gardener, she uses a variety of improvised tools that make gardening possible for those with physical limitations. The article goes on the detail the work of several other gardeners in the Florida area that use everything from moon gardens to boxed gardens to bring the joys of gardening to others with limited abilities.

Accessible Table Garden Plots in Berkeley CA

And today, I read a great post by Stacie Wheeler, detailing the benefits of instilling the love of gardening in children. What a great way to get kids outside in the sun and away from computer games and television, while teaching them the rewards of patience and hard work. Respect for Mother Nature can be nurtured as children dig and plant and are rewarded with the veggies or flowers they produce.

So if you love gardening as I do, I encourage you all to find a way to share that love with others and reap even greater rewards. Whether you invite them to join you in your own garden, help them start a garden of their own or simply share the excess your garden produces with those less fortunate, the rewards will be tremendous and therapeutic, both for you and them.

Here is a link to a great article from knoxnews.com that gives a bit of tomato history, information about some new varieties and some good basic explanations of tomato terminology from an expert at the University of Tennessee.