What's your one must-have gardening item?

I have to have my little hand fork. It takes the place of a trowel, a big fork, a hand cultivator, and often dandelion pullers. It can do almost anything except move large daylilies! I am pretty sure it is from Walmart, but you don't see them often. Buy one if you do, they are great! (Usually it lives in my right hand, so it looks awkward in the picture. It isn't.)

Although I'm all for the beer after a day of intense heat, yet my favorite tool is my trusty pair of Felco #13 pruning shears.

Just a trusty old hand trowel and Elvis stops to help weed, too!
The trowel lost it's name 20 years ago but fits my hand just right.

Along with my trusty Felco's I have to say this little tool seems to get more use than any other.The tines on one side and a hefty blade on the other,combined with a handle long enough to generate some leverage make it pretty useful.

Okay, I had to vote for the hat, because I am just about the most photosensitive girl you would ever meet.

If I could vote again, I would be hard pressed to choose. There is always my uber pruners attatched to my little canvas tool belt via a phone cord lookin' thing. (rusted out to many by forgetting) Then there is my garden claw, my "garden chariot" (drink holder, pot holder, place for small/large tools, and good bucket size, love it), and my craftsman 2 stroke tiller. On the other hand, my super trowel and cultivator make me really happy too. Solid construction (so tired of bending trowels), well balanced, rubber in just the right places. Found it at a store of "functional art" here in providence, ri. Couldn't find pics of my metal ones, but they do have the plastic version featured on their site.

http://risdworks.com/product_detailnew.cfm?inv_number=ITEM-003

If its pretty, reasonable in price, sturdy construction AND functional, its perfect. These were just that. Well worth the $16 investment.

I voted "other" since I always have an empty 5 gallon bucket which I use for carrying my hand tools, various containers of fertilizer to throw out, I also use it to collect trimmings or weeds, and mix up liquid fertiler to pour on certain plants. It serves 101 uses during the year. Jenny

My favorite for digging is a tile shovel.Jody

My Oxo Good Grips Gel-e weeder - I need it to do battle with the dandelions and evil thistle!!! :) It has a great fulcrum for leverage that doubles as a scraper to cut weedlings just below the surface. I don't know if they even make it any more, I've had it for a couple of years now.

A good pair of gloves is my only necessity.

I just love my hose and attachment connectors. It eliminates all that trying to unscrew hose attachments with wet hands and not being very successful at it. They are those brass quick-disconnect things and I have them on the sprinklers and watering heads for the hose and even on the hose to house connector and the hose reels so everything is easy connect and disconnect. Saves me time, frustration, and makes me happy!

I voted other for my plant ring from Lee Valley Tools - without it my japanese irises will blow over just before the blooms open, as we always have very strong winds this time of year. I counted 14 buds yeserday.

My ratcheting pruner...don't recall the brand and it's not shown on the tool, but I purchased it from Jackson & Perkins a few years ago.

I couldn't garden without my trenching shovel for digging and dividing prennials and my knee pads. The pads are like roofers pads on the outside and soft comfortable rubber on the inside. Nice for kneeling on stones.

I voted for my kneeling pad! I couldn't do without it..cause it seems I am always on my knees!! But I also have to say I LOVE my little tool garden cart from Walmart. I keep all my hand tools in it...and it's so easy to push around the yard as I work.

How can anyone garden without a cape cod weeder... I have several so I can always find at least one and I've given them to every gardened I know!! One of these days i'll get smart and paint all the handles bright orange!!!

I voted for my "L'il Deere" and its cart that I pull behind.

I have the smallest riding mower that John Deere makes. It is mall enough to go through arches and do tight turns around the many trees I have. The cart is a must for hauling all the stuff I need to take back to my Secret Garden.
I garden on an acre. I wouldn't be able to do without it. These are two of my grandaughters on it.

mine varies, on the time of year right now it is a long sleve shirt and a pair of gloves... the bugs are bad.... and if one bites you on the hand it swells, and I don't want to get west nile...

ely

Couldn't garden without my gloves

One tool to pick? That would probably be my Winged Weeder Jr. http://www.wingedweeder.com If I could have two tools then I would add on my brass quick hose connectors since they save me so much effort and time where I don't have to screw my hoses and sprinklers together.

My DH voted his new garden tractor from Sears. What a great machine it is for him. We bought a lot of the implements for it so we have a bucket that we can carry compost and dirt and other things in, the rototiller will be great when we get our garden expanded next spring. The cart is handy for hauling tools, hay, straw, and all sorts of other heavy or not so heavy stuff. He loves it.

Lani

My hand shovel and hole digger! Denise

My favorite is my Ridley.....he's the man that helps me....LOL

Hap

I LOVE my Mantis tiller!!!!! It makes gardening SO much easier!

I voted other. I must have my gardening gloves. I have arthritis and they make gardening much easier on the hands. I have the rubber coated kind.

Hand trowells are for potting soil, my most useful tool is my pointy shovel! It's great for leverage for popping up rocks to make a hole for a petunia. Sometimes I need the pick-mattock for more stubborn spots. It's a Craftsman, soo Sears replaced it free when I broke the handle trying to dig in my "soil".

This message was edited Jun 17, 2005 12:03 PM

I voted for the potting bench my DH built for me. It has a pegboard where I can hang and organize a lot of odds and ends, shelves for supplies, storage underneath for big bags of 'stuff' and a small area for starting seeds. But most of all, it was a thoughtful gift and makes me smile every time I look at it.

If I had to choose one (or two) items though, it would be my hat and gloves. The hat has a chin strap, but also one that goes around the back of the head and holds it on in all but the strongest winds -- which I use instead.

I love my big floppy gardening hat with a brim that is so big it keeps sun off my elbows... (JK) But really I really love (and own 5) of the hand held pressure sprayers available from FarmTek... I have soap shield in one and kelp in one and messenger in one and copper shield in one and I think Round up in one for the weeds (would never spray this stuff in a garden bed but the gravel around my beds likes it.

Drew

I picked other and that other item is my DG t-shirt...i love it!!!


Char :o)

I have two favourite tools. The first is a Stainless Steel spade-- Westminster" or something--a cheap Chinese s/s spade and fork set that was given to me for Christmas,,but it suits me--perfectly weighted and balanced--a pleasure to use
The second is an item of hardware that I use as a gardening tool. It is a metal shelf bracket. It has about a six inch bit that screws on the watt and at right angles another six inch bit that a shelf goes on.
It's wonderful for digging, mixing, poking ,weeding and throwing(dogs)
Asthetically, it's probably a ugly tool ,but "beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case I am the princpal beholder so I think it's marvelous

Ash

My favorite is my trusty shovel. It's actually a fox-hole shovel that one of my brother's used in the army. I'm short and it is too, so we make a good match. My second choice would be my kneeler pad. I had to buy another one when my DH started helping me in the yard. They are also very handy when you start laying rock for a patio, and pulling nails out of 2 x 4's when you start remodeling your house.

It's a close call, but I probably use my big black rubber bucket with handles more than anything. My most common use is to hold weeds and prunings as I wander around my garden (for later addition to the yard waste recycling bin), but I also use it to collect water when I empty my fountain, I've used it to carry soil amendments or plants from one part of the garden to another, and I just in general love it.

Next to that, it's my hand pruners. I have three or four pairs too, scattered in different parts of the yard so I can always put my hands on a pair.

I wish I could say I can't live without gardening gloves and/or my hat, but the truth is that I am not always very good about putting them on. I just go out to water one thing, and three hours later I'm I dirty, red mess.

I'm with you sh1025! My 5 gallon bucket is the winner! :)

No doubt about it--wouldn't be without my Mantis tiller--my 3rd one (in 20 years) is now electric and I love it even more :)

hand trowel. it's easy to lug around especially since i have a 3-yr old who's with me all the time.

My must have tool is a Weed Ox. It's a hand held weeding tool that I found at Walmart for around 6 bucks. I also found one that has a handle (same brand - Weed Ox) that is great too. I have a boy from down the street who helps me in the garden. We couldn't find the weed ox one day and he was in a frenzy. On my next trip to Walmart I bought him one to tend to his mother's garden with. I also bought one for my mother for mother's day. She called me to say that it was the best present she had gotten.

I have two must haves. My gardening gloves and my garden cart, which doubles as potting bench. I just couldn't do it without them.

Dee

Well, I knew it had to be a hand tool, and voted for that but what to choose? Each time I read an opinion I said to myself, "Oh yes, that is my favorite." The pruners, yes that is the one . . . no, the hand rake or weeder. Could it be the gardening gloves or is it my Mantis tiller. Favorite jeans? My nephew digs excellent holes and works for food. Wait, hard lemonade -- how can I enjoy all my hard work without that? I can't choose; it is way too exhausting. I truly thank the Lord we aren't out working the earth in dresses (with unreasonable amounts of under garments) using oxen instead of power tools during a period of temperance or prohibition where we'd be shunned or worse for enjoying that beer or hard lemonade :- )

Three things: a sweat band, gloves and, most of all, my kneeler/seat. It is an old one and is made completely of plastic (no metal arms like so many have, so it never gets hot).

I voted other....and that "other" is my Japanese farmers knife! I have it with me whenever I garden, weed, or divide. I loosen the soil with it, it gets deep down into the dirt to get out the tough weeds such as dandylions, or thistle weed, without disturbing other plantings, it helps me thin out overgrown plants, and groundcovers that have gone rampent. I couldn't garden without it!! Oh, and of course my other must have is my DG T-Shirt!!

I am torn between my trusy weed diggers and the Weed-Ho that I ordered from Florian Tools site last year. It's great, but I think the hand weed-digger wins out. That's one tool that I use almost on a daily basis.