What is your favourite tool or gadget?

At the moment my favourite tool is a short handled hoe with a circular end made by Burgon and Ball (famous Sheffield tool maker). I don't think they have moved to China yet. It is excellent for hoeing round onions and anything you need to get close to and virtually impossible to chop anything off by accident which is one of my failings when I use the Dutch hoe.

And my favourite gadget is my potato rumbler/salad spinner. It is brilliant for cleaning all those small potatoes. Just a few turns of the handle and the water washes any dirt off and the abrasive surface takes off a bit of the skin. I don't peel them totally it is mainly a quick way of cleaning them and then a quick rinse and they are ready to cook.

I've just bought 2 long loppers - the kind that have blades like secateurs on the end of a pole. One is about a metre, unextended and the other nearer 2m. They have helped me clear the driveway of overhanging branches and clean the lime and oak trunks - trees that have been pollarded and the growth has been shooting out from the lower trunks. Also helping me to keep the rampant wisteria within bounds......
Made by Fiskars. I was sceptical about how good they would be but needed something and have been very surprised at how useful they are and what a difference I can make with them.

Do you have a photo of your hoe Pat? I can't imagine anything that would stop me cutting off bits I wanted to keep LOL

Are your loppers the ones you have to pull a cord to clip things off? You've just given me an idea how I can prune the top of my wysteria. I've been standing on a ladder tying long bits onto a pergola I'm trying to cover and when I'd finished and cut off the ones I didn't want I looked down on it from the house and there are loads left poking out of the top, so if I stand on the wall and use the extended pole I should be able to reach them. Mine are some I bought from Lidl last year for about £7, but they seem quite strong and they have a pruning saw attachment too. My problem is that I'm not always strong enough to pull the cord hard enough to cut through thicker twigs, but the wysteria won't be a challenge - unless I fall off the wall!

I've just been to take a photo of the hoe but my camera needs re-charging so I'll do it shortly. I have seen a long handled ring hoe, but you don't have as much control.

Yes, but the cord is attached to a collar which makes it easy to pull. They were a LOT more than £7, but then Lidl always does such good prices and I needed mine in a hurry, so went to the local garden centre.
Don't go falling off that wall!!

I'll be off line for a few days, so don't worry - no urgency for the photo, ut will very interested to see your hoe thanks :)

Hope your trip goes well. I've always had a hankering to get a camper van, but think how many holidays I could pay for with that amount of money. I may still get one one day.

Yes, it's a big outlay. Quite a decision, but it really comes into it's own out here. France is really geared up for 'camping cars' and it's a wonderful way to see this huge country. The roads are much less crowded out here too, so driving is usually a real pleasure.

My wolf push pull hoe.

My potato rumbler ties with my US pressure canner.

XX Jeannine

Not heard about that Resin.

Is your hoe the one with a wavy blade flat to the soil Jeannine? I've got a very old one and don't know what make it is, but the yellow and red colours are the Wolff brand ones aren't they? I agree it is very useful. I wouldn't be without my pressure cooker too - I treated myself to a fancy new Jamie Oliver professional one when I set fire to the rubber seal on the lid of my old one last year. The new one has a timer that bleeps when cooking pressure is reached and bleeps again after the time you have set it to cook for which is great.

I've just answered the door and the postman has delivered my new copper garden tools. Here is a photo while they are still clean. They look beautiful and were very expensive so I hope they do what it says. "Copper assists the flow of nutrients to the plants, does not disturb soil magnetism, and also deters slugs and snails". There are so many this year I might resort to hitting them with it!

There is also my favourite ring hoe which is great for getting between closely planted things. It is very strong and has a cutting edge on one side of the circle, nicely balanced and good to use.

The new copper (bronze) one has a lovely shaped lime handle and the trowel handle is beech and have a good feel to them, so I'll have to get out there and give them a go. They will never look the same again.

Those copper tools look great Pat :) I thought copper is a soft metal though - it'll be very interesting to see how they are in use.
Thanks for the photo of the ring hoe. I understand now how you can hoe and not chop plants you want to keep by mistake.

They are lovely to use, well balanced and with good sharp edges and the trowel just glides into the soil. The info says "The blade (of the hoe) is bronze, a hardwearing copper alloy, which is hammered when cold to harden it further" and the edges are supposed to stay nice and sharp. Sad when you can find pleasure in using garden tools! Still, gardening makes me happy anyway.

I read something the other day about scientists finding that a particular micro-organism in the soil promotes serotonin in the brain, so playing in the dirt is beneficial in ways we didn't understand before. "Happy as a pig in muck!"

Ah, yes, bronze is a very different kettle of fish - they sound really great!

Very interesting that we lift our spirits with the exercise and then augment that from bugs in the soil. Wonderful, didn't know about that Pat. Oink oink.................