The Scottish writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle wrote, “Man is a tool -using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.” There are a number of things I would disagree with Carlyle on, but this isn’t one of them, especially when it comes to gardening.
It’s fun to have a lot of cool gadgets in your gardening arsenal, but there a few things I’d hate to have to live without. One is a hori hori, a long Japanese gardening knife with a serrated edge and a sharp point for digging. The other is a pair of bypass pruners.
The hori hori is perfect for replanting bulbs that have mysteriously worked their way to the surface or digging holes to plant anything that fits in a one gallon nursery pot or even larger. They’re also very good for smashing snails and bisecting slugs. Or you can just pick those slimy critters up with the pointy tip of your knife and flick them far, far away. And preferably not toward your neighbor’s new siding.
There’s always something that needs a snip snip here or a snip snip there, so having your pruners on you when you step out the door is a no brainer. Even if you think you won’t need them, trust me, you will. I once tried to cut a ceanothus root with a shovel and I must have whacked it twenty or thirty times and got nothing but a case of hyperventilation.
Okay, so maybe the shovel was a little dull from working in this rock pile we call Whidbey Island soil, but when I finally went and got my pruners I cut that root once and was done with it.
Another handy tool is a rake with a narrow head for getting under and between plants. It’s so much easier to keep everything neat and tidy as you move through the garden and much better than crawling underneath your barberries to pull out the old dead leaves and that badminton birdie you lost seven years ago.
Come to think of it, there are a lot of things I can think of that are better than crawling under barberries.
If you’re always looking for ways to save space in your garage or garden shed, then buy a telescopic metal rake you can adjust the head size on. They’re actually quite clever devices and not as expensive as you might think.
Finally, you may not need one every day of the year, but you can get a lot done in one day if you have one. I’m talking about a hedge trimmer. They have a multitude of uses even if you don’t own a single hedge. You don’t necessarily need a big gas number; a battery powered one will do just fine for most gardens. You can use it to shear lavenders, masses of cranesbills or spent candytuft, daisies – either just the spent blooms or down to the ground — even shape shrubs and hedges.
And if you do have a laurel hedge? Get a chainsaw instead . And use it. Please.
