My Tool Secrets

I must admit, I am a tool guy. Consequently, I have a garage full of tools. I have everything from woodworking tools to electrical and plumbing tools. There are screen repair tools. I have drywall tools too. I remember and still have the very first tool I ever bought. It was all I could afford at the time. I didn’t need it then, but I bought it for the future. The future showed up one day! I still use it too. When it comes to gardening tools, I have a secret. I have almost never bought them new. These are the same type of tools that have been used for generations. They are pretty basic. No batteries, no tuning, only an occasional sharpening.

Trying To Keep It Simple

Tools will make your gardening life simpler. You don’t need to go Full Monte either. You don’t even need to spend a lot of money. Tools can be bought cheap(ly for you grammar sticklers!!) at garage sales and flea markets. The world is overwhelmed with used garden tools looking for a new home. It’s surprising how many used tools folks will give you if they know you want them, no kidding. You already own a great tool for finding tools. It’s located directly under your nose. Open it and let everybody know what you need! Let them help you out. How simple can it get??

The Basic Starting Place

A basic start should include a hand trowel, a shovel, a hoe and pruners. It wouldn’t hurt to get some gloves too. Never turn anything down, especially if it’s free! If it’s free, it’s for me!! I have several shovels. Mind you, I never bought any of them. I have a short handled spade tip shovel. It’s used for small digging jobs and for cutting roots. I have a flat shovel and a round shovel that is also known as a digging shovel. Go figure! I thought all shovels were for that. It’s one with a rounded end that comes to a point like my spade except it has a long handle. You will be surprised at how handy a hoe is. It not only clears weeds quickly, but it will move dirt around with less muscle power than a shovel.

My Most Useful Tool

One of my most useful tools is a hand truck.  I chose it instead of a wheel barrow for a couple of reasons. A bad habit I have is thinking about things in my spare time. I often come to my own conclusions that differ from accepted orthodoxy. The hand truck instead of a wheelbarrow is one of them. My hand truck is much easier to store. It takes up less room. It’s more versatile than a wheel barrow. I can use it to move appliances and furniture. You can’t do that with a wheel barrow. I can also haul as much as I could with a wheel barrow by adding a plastic trash can to it.

Since I grow a lot of potted plants and often relocate them in cold weather or during a hurricane event, using my hand truck means much less lifting. I have seen collapsible models (Wish I had one!) that make storage even easier. For moving stuff around, you can’t beat a hand truck!

Even For Gardening, Knives Are Useful Tools

Another useful tool you can get at garage sales are various types of kitchen knives. I’m not talking about butter knives either. Being an incurable tool guy, I love cutting edge tools (knives). I can never pass up a good butcher knife for a buck or two. I even buy big serrated knives. They are usually dull, but I know how to sharpen them! There’s a whole blog on maintaining tools that includes sharpening them. Look for it. You don’t need to be an expert to keep your tools sharp.

Back to knives, I use them for chopping and cutting both in the garden and in the shop. The single most important feature I look for before giving up my buck for a knife is making sure it has a full tang. In plane old American English, this means that the metal blade goes the full length of the handle. Anything less will break, period. It’s important to keep your knives sharp. You will get hurt using a dull knife. It’s easy to learn sharpening. It does not need to be a high skill specialty craft. There are inexpensive tools that make it simple for even the clumsiest of us. Once again, read my blog on sharpening.

Not Quite All About Garden Tools

This is a good start on gardening tools. Let’s call this ‘garden tools, part one’ okay?? I don’t want to make this too long a blog article. Maybe in part two, I’ll get into my garden rakes. They’re different than a yard rake. If you plan on making compost, you’ll need a small pitch fork to turn it.

For some reason unknown to me I attract machetes. I have them in different shapes and sizes. They come in handy too. I have only bought one. After that they started appearing like stray cats in cold weather. Some showed up in nasty condition. They required major cleanup. I can’t stand seeing tools being abused.

So, since this is not quite all about garden tools, BOLO for a part two coming to your fav blog site soon!!