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The Down And Dirty Weeding Tool List

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The Bare Essentials

Some essentials when brand new
I’ve done a lot of tweeting and writing about weeding this season. There are a couple of reasons for that including the unusually wonderful weather (from my perspective, anyway), and my desire to have my yard look like I actually garden, despite many trips to visit the children and grandchildren.
The weather: It has been a cool summer with plenty of rain. That means everything stayed in growth mode and I was able to continue working outside. When heat and humidity skyrocket I hide in my airconditioned room ( we have 1) and write.
The desire: For years I said I would declutter and renovate my gardens. This has been the year it is happening.
So I thought that would record in my blog the essential tools I drag around with me when doing a marathon of weeding. I have many, many specialized weeding tools, but there are a few that are the most useful for certain jobs.

Before The List

Weather conditions make a difference in how easy it is to tackle certain weeds. Some are best hoed out when the days are hot and dry, others pull easiest after a rain, some cling to clay soil that is damp. Take notes on times when weeding is easiest in your garden. Days been dry and sunny? Grass pulls out easier, small weeds are best scuffle hoed (cut just below the surface). Rain yesterday? Many roots are loosening and can more easily be pulled.

The List Of Best Weeding Tools

weeding tool
Cape Cod Weeder, for right handed people.
  1. Almost always, I want my Cape Cod Weeder . It is wonderful for tight spaces between plants or cracks in the walk, etc. sharp blade makes quick work of dislodging roots.
  2. Garden gloves are  more important to me than I ever realized. I have many pairs now, and can grab thistles, rose canes, and grub out hand pulled weeds better than I  possibly could if without them.
  3. I keep bypass pruners close by, and if I think I will have to grub out an overlooked Mulberry tree- I have loppers with me. but always haul along a cutting tool of some sort. Have poke weed? Cut the cane off at the ground level.
  4. Nurseryman spade. Admittedly I don’t always grab this particular tool, but if I don’t I usually end up going back to the shed for it. Any shovel will do, but a narrow Nurseryman spade will work better in perennial beds and get just the roots you wish to dislodge. This is best for removing Burdock, and other deeply rooted weeds. Simply scoop out the crown of the Burdock- no need to get all of the taproot.
  5. Dutch hoe is a hand hoe that works like the big one, but with more finesse and sharp tip can hack out stubborn weeds. When I don’t need the Cape Cod-der for tight spaces I often go for the Dutch hoe. (Seen in the beginning photo).
  6. Weeding Adze which is sometimes called other names, is the best for large areas of deeply entrenched weeds. The claw end pries, while the blade edge cuts. A most efficient combo.
  7. Dandelion Weeder  might seem specialized, but this narrow, strong tool with the little fork at the tip is a whiz at sliding down alongside taproots and levering them out without disturbing the neighbors.

For Clean-up

Garden Carts and Rakes

I try to keep the garden cart and a leaf rake nearby, so that when finished with the mad weeding I can tidy up right then and there. If put off, a pile of weeds can smother grass, and it delays the feeling of satisfaction from getting your flower beds all cleared away.

What I Did Today: Cleaned and Sharpened My Tools

Every once in awhile you need to take care of your tools to keep them in good working order, especially cutting tools.
After viewing some tutorials (yes, my Dad taught me how to sharpen tools, but I needed a refresher), I followed some of the advice. Today I got out the isopropyl alcohol to clean off the blades, and used a Bastard file to sharpen my loppers, pruners, and hedge shears.
The alcohol cleaned the surface and sterilized the edges, the file sharpened the edges quickly. I simply followed the manufacturers edge to know where to sharpen.
It made a world of difference in the pruning and trimming results.

Another thing that is new for my gardening this summer was a solution for my most hated garden task: watering during hot and dry periods. Sure, this is not the year which best tests my new found FAV garden tool, but I am ready for those years when the weather is more normal with late summer droughts. I loved it so much I couldn’t wait to write a review on it. Enough suspense…what is it? One of those “advertised on TV” garden hoses that are so light that even wimpy, aging me is able to water the containers and the borders with ease. I am so happy!

I had a review for the Flexable Pocket Garden Hose, but though I loved my first one, they proved to be short-lived . They aren’t very expensive, and the amount of grief and work it saves is worth it. How long do they last? I found that the first one lasted for two seasons, but the replacement only lasted a few weeks.

What does this have to do with weeding tools you ask? Well, consider this: when trying to pull out those unwanted plants from dry hard ground or soft moist earth… which is easier? Yes. You may wish to add the humble garden hose to your list of “weeding tools”.

Do you have tips to share? How do you handle pesky “garden thug” plants or what way do you sharpen your tools?

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Visit Ilona’s Garden Journal on facebook: Click here
© 2014 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

New Weeding Tools

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Lost and Never Found 

Cape Cod Weeder

 

I’m not blaming anybody. The Lord knows how many times I have misplaced my tools, and how often I have left something thinking I will be back, but couldn’t manage to return. How often I’ve found a trowel, my pruners, etc, et al, left to weather until I happen back to that spot. So no, I’m not blaming anyone, but I lost my favorite weeding tools for long enough that I said “I don’t care- hang the cost! I’m buying some new tools.”

And so I did.

The weather has been ideal for weeding and all sorts of gardening in the first part of the month. I am no longer enamored by the “nothing so rare as a day in June“; no, for me it is this rare day in August, when it feels like June. That is truly rare. I have taken perhaps not full advantage, but certainly advantage of these fine days and accomplished loads of garden chores.

But without my favorite tools. That is certainly a liability to both ease and efficiency. Becoming extraordinarily determined, I had been searching the nooks, crannies, and hidden places of my property for lost or misplaced tools. Some were found- rusted beyond words or recovery, others were not badly harmed by their term in the rough, but some such as my Dutch hoe weeder simply have vanished.

Galvanized by the thorough and time consuming searches, I went to the garden store. Several, in fact. I discovered that my preferred weeding tools are becoming a rare find.

Years ago I had purchased the little Dutch hoe from a selection of Martha Stewart garden tools at K-Mart. It wasn’t terribly expensive, but decent quality. Painted her lovely signature green, comfortable in the hand, and quite efficient at removing weeds… it became a favored weeder. Fast forward many years to the future and there are no K-Marts that I can think of, and I don’t think Martha Stewart is still providing design and quality for them anymore, at least in the garden department (but I really don’t know).

However, the specialized weeders that I’ve come to rely on and enjoy working with are not to be had locally. At least, without looking diligently. They are readily available on Amazon, which is a good thing for gardeners, but I was in one of those moods where I wanted my tools, yesterday. Waiting for even a quick order seemed too much- time was “a-wastin” when rare June days appeared in the middle of an August midsummer.

I found what I wanted at Oakland Nursery. Pricey, yes, but they are excellent Holland made tools. And I promise I will take good care of them this year, perhaps in the coming years, too, if I can remember how much I paid, and how nice and sharp they are when well cared for. I think I’ve learned my lesson.

Here is exactly the tool that I bought:


In the past couple weeks I bought a new pair of loppers, new pruning shears with an ergonomic action handle, a Dutch hoe and Cape Cod Weeder. Yes, I’m a Happy Gardener.

The Entire Stash

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Visit Ilona’s Garden Journal on facebook: Click here
© 2013 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

Impulse Buying

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Gardener’s Impulse Buying

Leadwort
Leadwort or Plumbago brings blue to late summer

I posted elsewhere what I am doing in the garden driveway area. It was a long post. My Midwest Garden

I have some other garden work as well. I need to put in one replacement shrub of a Shasta Viburnum, a couple Iteas, and a Kerria that I bought on impulse. That means I don’t really know where to put them

I bought a replacement Blue Clips campanula because I lost the other one due to stupidity and it was doing so beautifully and I don’t want to be without it.

Also bought a leadwort plant that is new to me. I have never grown it before. It has bright blue flowers on a groundcover type of plant. Nice spreading foliage.

Now I have to think.

The worst thing is for me to procrastinate. Then I lose the plant to neglect, etc. Just need to stick it in somewhere. Theoretically I can always move it, but often I don’t.

That is why I take so much time thinking.

Sort of a circular sort of thing.