Christmas in April: New Gardening Tools

While gardening last year in the Germantown community garden, I was introduced to the Japanese gardening knife, sometimes called a soil knife or hori-hori knife. It was love at first sight.  It is a combination knife-planter-weeder that fits comfortably in your hand. I purchased one last fall and it has become my favorite gardening tool, so I decided to buy one to leave at my brother's house, where he and I share a vegetable garden.


These knives are not readily available in stores, so I looked online for a place to order one and came across something I had to have: a knife and pruner carried in a compact sheath. For me, these are the two tools I use for most gardening tasks. They are the tools I wish I had when walking around the garden and having the sheath means no more returns to the garage to get a tool I need and no more searching around the garden for where I left it. So I ordered this combo for myself and decided to dedicate the old knife for use at the vegetable garden.

But . . . while looking for the knife, I came across two other really useful-looking tools. I have physical issues that prevent me from doing gardening work on my knees, so I'm always looking for ways to spare my back and extend my reach. Jack and I have been doing a lot of weeding lately, so I shopped for a weeding tool. This company had a good assortment of tools, and I selected one with an extra long handle that would allow me to sit on a gardening stool to weed. 

Of course, once I found these two nifty things, I thought I should look to see what other treasures I could find. I came across a gadget for delivering herbicide in a very precise way.  (In my last post, I talked about needing such a gadget to apply Roundup to a Mexican petunia that has sent runners into hard-to-treat areas.) Also, we are continually finding sprigs of vinca and Boston Ivy coming up in places they shouldn't be and we need something to treat them without harming adjacent plants. As an added bonus, this tool can be used standing up!


The device I bought is hanging in the middle in this picture. It is basically a sturdy plastic tube that can be filled with herbicide. The tip of it has a spongy applicator that releases herbicide when you press down on it. Jack is always on the lookout for dandelions and other weeds in the yard. I can envision him using this tool rather than stooping down to dig out a weed.

I ordered the tools on Tuesday of last week and eagerly anticipated their arrival. When I saw the package at the door at few days later, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Ah, the joy of new gardening tools. I think my new motto is "right tool, right place."