If you could have only one garden tool or accessory, what would it be?

My favorite garden tool would have to be my hands!

Favorite piece of garden art that I wouldn't want to be without would have to be the vegetable garden gate, thanks to a dear friend who sent the piece of cast iron and our carpenter who saw the vision.

Hmm, if I could have only one tool, I guess it would be hand loppers. (Digging tools are more useful, but I could fashion those out of rocks or sticks, whereas I would have to find an iron ore deposit and build a smelter to be able to make a blade for clean cuts.)

I'm pretty sure we'd all manage to garden, no matter what...

I voted for my compost pile. Right now its brand new as this is my first year gardening in Kentucky. So I've had to start all over and put together my garden and compost pile.

Fiskars big grip multi-purpose planting tool

I love my Trake.

couldn't garden without my old aluminum feed scoop. it's like an old friend that has been around forever and is by my side every day. i use it to scoop soil and birdseed (not at the same time!).

This one keeps an eye on the front door. It is cast iron most likely circa 1900 or earlier.

Don't even think of separating me from my long-handled shovel!

Sylvain.

My trowel. It doesn't have the long skinny piece connecting it to the handle so this one is much sturdier and can handle digging in just about anything. Gotta have it.

My hand pruners, without question! I have all sorts of trowels and rakes and shovels that I use interchangeably, but I put in the extra time to hunt up my favorite pruners.

My second favorite would be my Atlas gardening gloves. I was never much of a glove person; couldn't stand not being able to feel things! I can even plant and weed in my Atlas gloves, and no more dirt caked under my nails!

My Fiskars digging knife-- I would have said my Japanese digging/weed knife, but the wooden handle blended in so well I lost it. The Fiskars has bright orange on the handle--ideal for the absent minded.

Mantis, hands down.

Doug

I have an old Dutch hoe, similar to a two inch beet hoe. I can whisk through my gardens with it in a very short time, loosening soil, weeding and removing weeds ~ no bending, kneeling or gloves required! Don't know what I would do without it!

Hand priuners. I have two in my greenhouse, one in each car (3), the sunroom, next to the front door, in my apron at tork and a few others floating around.My favorites are the Felco hand pruners the owner of a nursery I used to work at gave all of us, along wit the belt holster. My husband bought me several of them as gifts.
second would have to be my gloves, they're the kind that you can do small tasks with. I have almost as many of them, in similar locations as the hand pruners.
I can dig with my hands (and usually do) and I don't own any shrubs that require hedge trimmers.
Barb

I guess my best garden tool is my husband, I could not do without his help.

Each spring he tills and fertilizes all of my shade beds ready for planting, connects all of the underground watering systems and helps plan new features to my gardens. If not for him I am sure my gardens would not be as healthy and beautiful.

This is a collage of before and after this springs project, new deck on front of house.

We love our little garden wagon. We have moved an amazing quantity and variety of stuff with that wagon. We would still be hauling cinder blocks and dirt for the raised beds if we had to carry it all by hand.

My favorite tool is my 22" bulb planter with the pointed end (white flower farm). I just put in my spring bulbs this fall (remodeling all of my landscaping). It has been such a help. I am disabled in a scooter chair and I can still plant with this tool! What a blessing. I have enclosed a photo of it.

Is it possible to garden without a shovel? May be the most prosaic of the tools, but it seems to work well for just about any task except possibly carrying water.

Mine "travels."

OTHER...................I have a family of tree folks that keep an eye on critters that would do me in. I will show you the mother in labor, the father and the youngster being born. Look closely.

.........THE FATHER

.......A NEW ONE BEING BORN. POSSIBLY A GRANDMA KEEPING AN EYE ON THE DELIVERY.

I'm sneaking to PA and cutting that down and bringing it home!!!!!

Doug

Ha! You better bring a big truck with a pea picker of beefy construction. They abide on three different trees......mature white oaks. I have two other family members but they are sleeping. When sleeping they relax and become more difficult to see or locate. While taking down one you are like as not to be bitten in the butt by one of the others. There is no antitoxin known for tree critter bites.

garden map

Seems kinda silly to pick one - especially given the number of tools that we use that we have forgotten are even tools. I'll pick two:

1) Gotta get water to the plants, so a hose is the most general and useful. Often the "hose" can be rather sophisticated with several openings and attached to another tool that controls the timing of water flow, but that is another tool and not as generally useful. Much better than a watering can too, 'cept indoors.
2) Gotta get plants in the ground, so a shovel. I suppose a larger shovel would be more useful overall than a trowel. A twig is nice for seeds.

The rest is just gravy.

Nope, my hori hori knife is the best. I use it all the time. Don't go to the garden without it.

My Felco hand pruners, can't garden without them. Of course, they don't come out full time till things start growing, so until that time, my trusty trowel is always in my back pocket. Meanwhile, my trusty shovel and hoe are also by my side.

How can we choose just one? ha.

I use cheap steak knives purchased at the dollar store. They are wonderful for getting in between cherished plants and the weeds we want to remove. I should get a good one, but I would probably lose it. When they get dull or break, well, they were cheap. Were 4-$1.00 now 3-$1.00! The price is right! sometimes I find one buried somewhere, so yes, better stick to the cheap ones.

My strong back and never tiring energy. Need both to get my many, to many, projects started. It will take years to finish.

Second is my worms. Best soil around thanks to my worms.

Seems I am not alone, my hand pruners go everywhere with me. And just in case, there are more everywhere. Including my purse and the van! Secondly though, I'd have to say my long handled shovel. I can do some mean shovel work, especially when one has some steam to let off. Just grab the shovel and get to work. My motto is, why pay dues at a gym to work out when the garden out there will get you working up a sweat in no time!

Hand pruners without a doubt

Because I work a lot with cacti & succulents, my favorite hand tool is my Joshua Roth angle tweezers.

http://www.shbonsai.com/dev/productdetails.php?productId=178

I agree that husband is the most valuable, a very knowlegable gardener & heavy work specialist. I bouth a 'weeder' ( not sure what it is called). It has an eromatic (sp) which really has helped my hands these last 2 yrs.

Was 'ergonomic' the word you were looking for? I love handles that form-fit to your hands. Makes everything so much easier on you. I wish my DH were more knowledgable. I point, he does. That's as far as his knowledge goes. LOL

I can't live without my Felco Pruners! I've come to the conclusion (don't flame me!) that you can't really be a gardener without these things!

I also love my sharp shovels, Atlas gloves, soil knife, wagon, and wheelbarrow. How can ANYONE pick ONE thing???


The Perfect Garden Seat

The thing that is REALLY important to me is a good gardening seat. Right now I have that green garden rocker thing but it's not perfect. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect garden seat. I'm fairly young but have bad knees and can't kneel (I'm known to sit on my derrière in the dirt instead of kneeling!) so I need a really good seat. The "tractor" seats are too tall and the one I use (best I've found so far) will cave in all around the edges if you sit on it on the ground where it slopes the wrong way. If anyone knows of anything better, please share!!

This message was edited Nov 10, 2010 10:51 AM

My "go-to-tool" would have to be my Japanese Farmers Knife (Hori Hori) -- with an orange handle, as others have mentioned. Everyone that I've let use it (at volunteer projects) loves it too.

I wasn't asked for #2, but it would be my Felco pruners, which I've had for more than 15 years. They seemed pricey at the time, but that cost made me keep up with them! And they are great performers.

Ergonomic is the word I needed, thanks. I also use my garden kneeler, as once down, I can't rise without it.

I have an old green hand trowel that is quite thin and I love it and use it all the time. My Dad bought it in the 1930's and it reminds me of him when I use it ... very nice!