Ramblings of Garden Tool Co.
Posts tagged quality garden tools
A Garden Tool to Save Your Back
02 weeks 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.
Planning Your Garden…Tools
01 month 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
01 month 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.
Red Pig Garden Tools…Handmade, Hardworking and Made in the USA
01 month ago
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.
Garden Trowels – They’re All The Same…Right?
04 months ago
It wasn’t too long ago that if you went looking for a garden trowel, you could go to 10 different places and buy a trowel at each place and you’d end up 10 almost identical looking trowels. And that was fine; I mean, all we used them for was digging small holes, planting, potting and maybe some occasional weeding.
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.
Dutch Hoe – Weeder Extraordinaire!
210 months ago
by Blake Schreck
in Garden Tools
Dutch hoe by Sneeboer
Extraordinaire? Well, maybe not, but there’s a reason the Dutch Hoe is such a popular weeding hoe, it does one thing and it does it well…weeding! OK, you could probably find other uses, such as creating furrows for seeds by turning it onto the corner and pulling, but it wants to weed.
While most garden hoes are pulled, the Dutch hoe with its flat blade that is parallel to the ground is pushed just under the surface of the soil, easily cutting down those pesky weeds. Some, like the Sneeboer Dutch hoe (pictured here) have a sharp edge on both the front and back, giving you weed killing results on the push and pull strokes.
Like any garden tool that has a long history of working well, the Dutch hoe is very popular and there are a lot of companies making their own version of the Dutch hoe, so if you want it to work season after season, look for quality. The best quality Dutch hoes are make from Carbon or Stainless and have a long, straight grained hardwood handle. Another way to find quality is to look for the guarantee. Is it guaranteed a lifetime or does it have some limited guarantee. A lot of manufactures are betting you won’t take the time replace a broken tool. -Click here to see more of this Dutch hoe by Sneeboer.
New Garden Tools at Garden Tool Co.
010 months ago
by Blake Schreck
in Garden Tools
New garden tools…gotta love them. And if you’re a “tool geek” like me, then every time a box full of new tools comes in, its Christmas all over again.
We just received five new garden tools and I thought I’d share what they are…so here goes.
If you’re looking for some traditional straight edged hedge shears, these hedge shears from Berger in Germany are just the ticket. You’ll feel the quality the first time you hold them in your hands.
These wavy edge hedge shears by Berger of Germany are quality through and through. The wavy blades help keep branches from sliding when cutting and has a notch at the base of the blade for cutting slightly thicker branches. Berger hedge shears have a nice balanced feel.
This flower and grape gatherer is a handy little garden tool. These gathering scissors allow you to cut and hold your flowers with just one hand. That’s right…one handed. A spring located just above the cutting blade holds on to the stem after its been cut.
This gardeners knife from Victorinox combines two useful blades in on knife…an all purpose straight blade and grafting blade. A good choice for a gardener that wants an all purpose pocket garden knife.
This Istor Duplex Sharpener from Felco is the ideal all purpose garden tool sharpener. Great for sharpening pruners, secateurs, scythes, sickles, scissors, knives, and even heavier blades such as hoes, brush knives, axes, lawn mower blades and much more.
If you’d like to learn more about these tools and so many more, please visit us at: www.gardentoolcompany.com
Six Characteristics of High Quality Garden Tools
21 year ago
by Anne Schreck
in Garden Tools
1. High quality garden tools are hand forged with few if any welds. A hand forged tool is constructed of a single piece of steel and much stronger and more durable as a consequence. When a garden tool is pressed and welded, those points are weaker and that is where the tool is more likely to break. Pressed metal is often thinner as well which can lead to an easily bent tool. A pressed tool is also a single thickness whereas a hand forged tool will be thinner at the cutting edge for sharpness and thicker at the connection to the handle where greater strength is required.
Sneeboer Hand Forged Garden Tools
2. The best garden tools are made of high quality carbon steel. Carbon steel is the strongest metal due to the addition of carbon and heat treating or tempering and annealing. While companies use different varieties of carbon steel, some of which are proprietary, to make gardening tools, stainless is the most resistant to rust. Any high quality steel will be stronger than other metals used in cheap tools and if carbon steel is bent, it can be bent back without jeopardizing its strength as with a lighter metal.
3. A great garden tool features sharp cutting edges designed to self sharpen with use. Any tool designed for cutting through soil, grass or weeds will work better with a really sharp edge and if it is not designed to self sharpen with use, it should be easy to sharpen or allow for replacement blades.
4. Quality garden tools are designed so that the weight is well balanced and appropriate for the intended task. It is harder to do any job if the weight is either too light, too heavy or if the weight is not distributed appropriately over the tool.
5. The best garden tools feature a quality wood handle that is comfortable to hold. Ash is typically used in the high quality longer garden tools and it flexes without sacrificing strength with your usage, while a metal or fiberglass handle vibrates against your movement when used. The metal or fiberglass handle may be stronger, but the vibration makes your hands tire or hurt faster. The longer Dutch garden tools often feature a choice in grips because some people prefer to work with a T-grip while others prefer a D-grip or a straight handle. DeWit offers a variety of grips for their garden hand tools as well, including a P-grip that can be used with either one or two hands and the drop grip which offers a greater reach.
P-grip handle
Straight, D-grip and T-grip handles
6. And finally in my opinion, the best things offered in a quality garden tool is a lifetime guarantee. Having to spend the money to replace a broken tool is very frustrating and while it is unusual to break a well made garden tool if you are using it correctly (not as a pry bar), it does happen sometimes. It is very reassuring to know that if it should happen, you can get a replacement at no cost.
