Master gardener Don Engebretson points out various types of hand tools for gardening and provides tips for maintaining them.
- Use a carpenter's tool belt to help carry hand tools around with you in the garden. It is convenient and relatively cheaper than one of those garden carriers from the store. Another idea is to put a decorative mailbox somewhere in your garden and keep all of your essential hand tools in it, so that you are not running back and forth to the garage or shed.
- There are a lot of things around your kitchen that can be used in the garden, once their kitchen life has expired. A dull butcher’s knife, for instance, can be used for everything from prying out weeds to digging plant holes. A strainer or colander can be used for rinsing bulbs and gravel.
- To make watering easier for larger gardens, attach an old broom handle to the garden hose with four plastic-bag zip ties.
- To make a cushion for your foot and create a wider platform for stepping on your spading fork, simply cut a section of an old garden hose, slit it lengthwise and slide it onto the "spine" of a spading fork. Then just glue it into place with a silicone-based glue.
- Use an old bleach-bottle bottom as a scoop for pesticides and fertilizer. Simply cut out the spout portion.
- Paint your hand tools a bright color so that they can easily be spotted in your garden. his also helps remind someone who has borrowed your tools to return them.
- Use pipe cleaners to tie tomato and pea plants to stakes. The pipe cleaners are soft chenille, so they won' hurt the plants, and they are reusable.
- Spray your garden tools with bug repellent to keep the mosquitoes and black flies away while gardening.
Guests Don Engebretson
University of Minnesota Master Gardener / Garden Writer and Expert
E-mail:
don@renegadegardener.com
Website:
www.renegadegardener.com
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