Category Archives: The Tool Shed

Your Weeds Tell a Soil Story

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This is reprinted with a thank you to http://www.sundialseed.com. I love this information…

Your weeds are here because of what’s going on in the soil.Every wild weed that sprouts in and around your garden is growing there in response to the current conditions in your soil.

If your soil is rich in nitrogen, you might see Chicory showing up on the scene. If your soil is low in fertility you might see yarrow popping its head out to condition the soil.

You can use this information from the weeds as you would a soil test to help you work with your soil.

The weeds themselves are processing these soil imbalances in an attempt to amend and balance the profile of the soil towards a climax ecosystem. We can read these weed signs and help the natural process on its way in our gardening.

We compiled this table of Weed plants and their associated soil conditions that might be at play.

Weed Plant Indicates possible Soil Condition
Amaranth Rich soil, high in nitrogen
Bindweed Compacted soil
Chicory Rich, sweet soil high Nitrogen
Chickweed Rich, sweet soil high Nitrogen
Groundsel Rich soil
Crabgrass Soil depleted of nutrients and low in calcium
Dandelions Poor soil, low in calcium & high in potassium
Dock Wet, poorly drained soil
Goldenrod Wet, poorly drained soil
Henbit High nitrogen
Knapweed Rich soil high in potassium
Knotweed Compact ground
Lamb’s quarters Rich soil, high in nitrogen
Little blue-stem Dry sandy soil depleted of nutrients
Moss Soggy acidic soil low in nutrients
Common mullein Low fertility & possibly soil too acidic
Mustard Dry sandy soil high in phosphorus
Common wood sorrel Low Calcium
Oxalis (Wood Sorrel) Low calcium and high magnesium
Ox-eye daisy Low fertility in acidic, possibly soggy, soil with poor fertility
Pearly everlasting Acidic soil low in nutrients
Peppergrass Sweet soil
Plantain Compacted sour soil with low fertility and often indicates heavy clay or garden path areas
Purslane Rich soil, high phosphorus
Quack grass Heavy clay or compacted soil
Queen Anne’s lace Poor dry sweet soil
Ragweed Low fertility
Sensitive fern Poorly drained soil low in nutrients
Sweet fern Sandy acidic soil
Stinging nettle Rich acidic soil
Sheep sorrel Acidic soil low in nitrogen, dry sour sandy soil, low in calcium
Yarrow Poor dry sandy soil with poor fertility, low in potassium

 

 

Gifting a Gardener

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    Just like any other passionate hobby, the gardening bug progresses in three stages:

  1. I need. I only need the basics.
  2. I want. The basics are fine but I want more.
  3. I wish. This would be a great gift for me because I can’t justify buying it for myself.

 

 What a Gardener Needs

     The first stage is the easiest. Very little is needed to start gardening on a small scale. The basics are: trowel, pruners, a weeder and gardening gloves. Simple until you try to choose. Buying the best you can afford is key. You can’t go wrong with USA made trowels by Wilcox ($15-$25). The best pruners are by Felco ($60 and up). USA made Diggit is best for dandelion digging ($20) and the Nejiri Gama Hoe from Japan is the best for shallower weeds ($15). Gardening gloves are a personal choice but Nitrile gloves have continued to be a favorite ($7).

Felco #2 Pruner

Nejiri Gama Hoe

USA Made Wilcox Trowel

USA Made Diggit

USA Made Original Cobrahead Weeder

nitrile gloves

What a Gardener Wants

      Stage two delves into the wonderful world of nurseries and seed catalogs or these days…seed catalog websites. Luckily, here in the South Sound there is no shortage of  great nurseries, large and small. Instead of waiting until May, take a few nursery trips in the off season so you can monitor when they start getting the good stuff.  Familiarize yourself with your local nursery. They’ll appreciate that you’re there and will be a big help when May rolls around. Gift certificates are always good.

     Every second stage gardener gets hooked on seed catalogs. Now it’s even more fun because the seed catalogs are all online. You can fill up your cart and hone it down to a reasonable amount. It’s easy to get carried away and it’s one of those gardening “cheap thrills”. Ed Hume Seeds, Territorial Seeds, Renees Seeds and Botanical Seeds are all good websites and you can find the seeds on racks in local nurseries. You can research online and buy the seeds locally.

Hori Hori Knife (original)

     Tool wise, second stage gardening usually includes a Hori Hori Knife ($25), some loppers for heavier pruning ($40-$80) and a spade for digging ($40).

What a Gardener Wishes

      Stage three is a full blown, down and dirty, “don’t bother me while I’m weeding” gardener, one who loves to garden and loves to get garden gifts. Sound familiar?

     The third stage gardener wants things like truckloads of good garden soil, mushroom compost and steer manure… really.  Specialty nurseries take the place of mainstream nurseries because they have more unusual plants (they have gift certificates too).  The tools of the trade go to the next level with Rockery trowels ($25), Potato Scoops ($30), Fruit  Pruners ( $25), Haws Watering Cans ($40 and up), Cobrahead Weeders ($25) and books with more information than pictures. Books like

“The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving”

      “The Seed Garden “ is a fascinating and comprehensive book by The Seed Savers Exchange, the non-profit group that has dedicated itself to preserving heirloom seeds for decades.

    Any gardener who wants to start collecting and saving seeds can find everything needed to collect and store 75 targeted plants, both ornamental and edible. Each plant listed has in depth directions for no fail seed saving. Any gardener would find it invaluable. This is one of those books that will be well used. It’s a practical purchase. 390 pages, 8 ½ x 11, $29.95, Seed Savers Exchange

Full Selection of Burgon and Ball Garden Tools Now Available!

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Sometimes I really wonder if businesses are customer centric. One of the most popular, most beautiful and longest lasting garden tools are the British designed and made. And for some reason, they are hard to find…we found them!!! We’re now selling the full line of Burgon and Ball gardening hand tools. A couple of them are on backorder but we will have them from now on. Burgon and Ball Hand Tools

 

The Tool Shed: Nejiri Gama Hoe

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The Japanese Nejiri Gama Hoe cuts through the top bit of soil to scrape off shallow rooted weeds and mosses. The whole idea behind the scraper is to only go deeply enough to scrape away roots from weeds like chickweed, shotweed and shallow grasses.

NEJIRI GAMA HOE FROM JAPAN has been a bestseller for 30 years. and it’s only $14.

According to Google the literal translation of  Nejiri Gama means “torsion spring”. I guess it is a little “springy”. You grab it and scrape it over the soil. The beauty of the shallow weeding is…you don’t pull up, stir up and mix up weed seeds down below. Cultivating to get rid of weeds pulls up the roots but it also pulls up the weed seeds and gives them a good start.

Nejiri Gama Hoes come in right and left handed versions and are now popular enough to be manufactured by many companies including Dutch and Japanese manufacturers. Stick with those. Others are sad knockoffs. They come in short handles and some that are

DUTCH LEFT HANDED NEJIRI HOE Good for long raised beds and under shrubs.

LONG HANDLED NEJIRI GAMA HOE FROM JAPAN The long handled version of the Nejiri Hoe from Japan

about 18″ long for a longer reach. You can also get a long handled stand-up version but I have found that the angle is all wrong when the handle is long and you’re standing up.

They start at about $14 and go up from there.

 

Best Gardening Gloves

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Gardening gloves… Almost as personal as pruners. But the more manufacturers pump out new colors (lime green to black), new materials (soft and fuzzy “hand girdles”) and new gimmicks (smart phone and claw fingers for example) the more I appreciate good, long lasting normal gardening gloves. Gardening gloves should be functional and washable and fit the climate.

     For my money, there are 4 gardening gloves that serve all of these purposes.

     The very best lightweight summer gloves are Nitrile Gloves and Atlas Super Grips.

     Nitrile Gloves are meant to fit tight, like a rubber glove. They hug the wrist so soil doesn’t creep in. You can pick up a seed with these and you don’t need some special smart phone “finger” on more expensive gloves in case your phone rings…Nitrile gloves work just fine with a smart phone.

I love these for weeding because you can surgically grab the unwanted…I like these for potting up containers and weeding out things like shotweed, chickweed and other shallow rooted weeds. If you slather on some decent hand cream before you put them on you’ll avoid the embedded dirt that comes with wild and crazy weeding. Washable and dryable.

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     Atlas Super Grips are also lightweight but they are better for major weeding and planting. They offer more protection from slugs, stickers and evidently concrete and fish slime.

You’ll see them used on construction sites and fishing boats so you know they’re tough enough for gardeners too. I use them when digging and grabbing. Good for spring and summer gardening. Washable and dryable.

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     The Orange Atlas Gloves are the absolute best for wet weather. They have a soft warm lining so I usually use them when it’s either cold or muddy or both. They have a good grip on tools and a They are very flexible so they’re comfortable. They are oil and chemical resistant so you’ll see these being used for far more than gardening. The longer wrist cover makes them excellent for spreading fertilizer or spraying. I wouldn’t wear any other gloves if I was working around wet stuff. Washable and dryable.

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     The jobs that beg for a special pair of gardening gloves are rose pruning and thorny berry picking. You can add pulling out blackberries to that. You want something that thorns cannot penetrate and you want a protective glove that fits like a gauntlet, a Mud Rose Gauntlet. 

This is the one time that leather is ideal. These are the spendy ones. Goatskin is the preferred material for dexterity and puncture resistance. Your arms will thank you. These don’t wash and dry…you just take good care of them. 

     Avoid the knock-offs for all of these…not worth it.

 

Sophia’s Garden Tools

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Since I am kind of a garden nut, it is only natural that I tried to get my one and only grandchild to get interested in gardening. Sophia has her own little spot between two garages. It’s mostly a mess all the time but I did manage to get a Fairy rose, some sweet peas and a few sunflowers to survive through the spring and summer. I’m pretty sure I get more out of it than she does but I’m not giving up on her. Here are a few of her favorite tools.

 

The 5 piece indestructible plastic little hand tools have lasted 4 years outside hanging up, waiting for any emergency digging.

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She has had these for a couple of years and they just now fit. These are good for 5 year olds. “Ducky Gloves”. Getting all the cute little fingers in the right glove fingers is so funny.

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The little Lady Bug Kneeler is just her size. She mostly uses it to sit on. 

____________________________________________________________________________If this doesn’t teach patience, nothing does. We haven’t actually tried this little Kid’s Flower Press but I think we’ll try it this spring. 

The Tool Shed: Bachi Hoe and Hoso Hoe

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The Japanese Bachi Gata Hoe breaks up soil and gets rid of any political frustrations that might be lingering. It is not light weight, The heavy part is on the business end and the down stroke digs deep. The weight of it does all the work. Lighter weight hoes rely on arm strength. The Bachi Gata Hoe relies on its heft.

Let’s see…chop up difficult clay soil, glide through normal soil, plant bulbs, make furrows, weed and plant and grow your triceps!

Like many of the Japanese tools, the Bachi Gata began is a traditional farmer’s tool. The fact that it is still used means it must be good. 15 1/2″ long with a 3″x5″ head

If you need something a little narrower and longer then the Japanese Hoso Hoe works. It slices deeper  in narrower spaces. I keep reading that this is a “one hand” hoe…uh, yeah.  15 1/2″, a 2″x7″ head

TMI: References to a hoe appeared in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi. The hoe has changed with the times, from stone to wood to copper, bronze, iron and steel. It was considered worth stealing in Colonial times. Hoes were a valuable and prized tool for Colonists. They were needed and stealing one was like stealing a horse. (almost)

The Tool Shed: The Hori Hori Story

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A  collection of Hori Hori knives has been forced upon one of my gardening friends. She has composted, lost or thrown away an embarrassing number of them, so many of them that she tries to always have a spare.

So, what’s the big deal with Hori Hori’s? First of all, they have been around forever in Japan as a go-to farmer’s knife so it is obviously functional.  How do you use it? The list is endless…

1. Transplant bedding plants and large seedlings

2. Cut heavy roots for stump removal

3. Plant bulbs for spring or summer

4.  Make furrows for seed starting

5. Dig out tap roots from weeds like dandelions

6. Harvest root crops like leek, carrots and beets

7. Loosen soil to get ready to plant

8. Bonsai collecting

9. Hunting and fishing tool (?)

10. Metal detecting tool

Deciding which Hori Hori to buy is pretty simple. Stay away from the knock-offs. The most durable Hori Hori’s  are Japanese. Then there are 4 good choices; Long and Short Handled Carbon Steel and Short and  Mini Stainless Steel.

If you are gardening in a lot of mud, it’s worth getting the Stainless Steel Hori Hori. Mud slides off stainless steel blades. Stainless steel can still rust if not maintained. Stainless steel is hard and does not keep a sharp edge as long and is a softer material. Good for bulb planting since the mud slides off. Bulb planting can be a muddy, sloppy job.12 1/4″

Otherwise, the Carbon Steel Hori Hori is just fine. I live in a rainy area and I’m fine with Carbon Steel. It will rust if you don’t clean and dry it but it stays sharper longer. It is hard and wear resistant.11 1/2″

383-1The Long Handled Hori Hori  is Carbon Steel and adds a few inches to make reaching easier. It is helpful in raised beds. Carbon Steel blades stay sharper longer and are harder and more resistant to heavy use. 14 1/2″

Screen Shot 2016-05-27 at 7.58.49 PM The Mini Hori Hori has a stainless steel blade and is more comfortable for smaller hands and smaller jobs.  It’s great for planting minor bulbs like Crocus, Grape Hyacinths and Snowdrops. Mud and wet soil slides off so it’s especially good for the small bulb planting.10″1061-1.gif

Skip the Gym and Dig in the Dirt

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Since I’m lazy by nature and the only real exercise I get is gardening, I was SO happy to see this little infogram on Pinterest and Facebook. I don’t know who posted it first but it was on FB a gazillion times so I don’t think I’m in trouble for putting it here. When I saw this I grew a gigantic grin. Screen Shot 2015-03-25 at 2.00.52 PM

So…To begin with…here are some gardening tools for triceps.