Like many, I have a weakness for spending entirely too much money on tools* and equipment because, in my apparently vivid imagination, it seems like the next tool will be the ones that solves all of my problems. Sometimes I’m right. Sometimes I’m wrong. Let’s talk about those instances in which a tool performs so well and is so useful that one is foolish not to have it.

Things that are awesome:

  • The Broadfork
  • Drip Irrigation
  • 3-Tine Cultivator
  • Hoop Houses
  • Chicken Crate
  • Garden Cart
  • The Scythe

The Broadfork

This is a tool that jams into the soil and, when you lean on it, aerates and fluffs the soil. Minimal tillers feel that this is an adequate alternative to double-digging or tilling. I’m not convinced that the broadfork replaces digging and tilling, but it allows one to aerate 8-10″ below the soil you’ve dug as well as punch through a plow/tiller pan. This is good. And, if you’re tearing up sod or uncultivated ground, the broadfork will tear up the thatch and make digging or tilling easier. I love it. Not cheap, but not easily manufactured or omitted.

Drip Irrigation

So I went to Bainbridge Gardens to investigate drip hoses for our squashes and tom. Why? Because I’m lazy and wanted to water by flipping a switch in addition to keeping sensitive leaves dry. An extremely helpful employee named Steve spent about an hour with me explaining the ins-and-outs of a low-flow irrigation system and showed me how to assemble everything and decide where I needed to run lines. I spent $54 on Tomatoes in a hoophousehoses and fittings and irrigated 40′ of tomatoes, 10′ of cucumbers, and 10′ of assorted squashes. And had spare parts left over. Why didn’t I do this earlier?

Hoop Houses

What do you get when you combine $15 worth of PVC Pipe, $4 worth of plastic sheeting, and some plastic clips? Awesome tomatoes, that’s what. It’s been a cold, raining spring, but our tomatoes are coming along well. The hoop house keeps the hot weather crops several degrees above the ambient temperature, which isn’t far from what an unheated greenhouse would do.

Three-Tine Cultivator

I call it “The Skritcher.” Lauren keeps telling me that no-one knows what that means, but now that I’ve written this it’ll clearly enter the lexicon at large. Why do I like this tool? Have you ever looked at a bed that you wanted to plant and asked for an easy way to fluff up the soil, mix in compost and fertilizer, and kill whichever tiny weeds have taken root? This is how. Plus it breaks up dirt clods. And you can use it to shake the dirt off a wad of thatch prior to using it as an enormous atlatl for hucking the aforementioned thatch at the dogs.

Chicken Crate!
Chicken crate!

It’s just awesome! You fill it with chickens and carry them from their coop to their pen. I showed my mom and she said, “Oh, just like in Egypt!” This is also notable because the wooden, handmade crate from the Amish supply company costs $40 less than the ugly plastic crate from FarmTek.

The Garden Cart

I’ve written about this before. It’s still great. The only thing it needs is a bottle opener mounted to it somehow. It’ll get there.

The Scythe

I am a lazy lawnmower. As a result, the grass is about three feet high. One cannot really deal with this with a reel mower. And I’ve spent the past 3-4 weekends in the equipment shed with battery chargers, starter fluid, and carb cleaner trying to get the string trimmer and riding lawnmower that came with the house running. As the kids on the internets say, FAIL. So I borrowed an electric mower and an electric string trimmer from my Mom and her husband. There have been a couple weekends of grinding away at the grass and, in fairness, some progress has been made. And I like that you can only use an electric tool for a half-hour or so before the battery dies.. I like breaks.

However, I wasn’t getting anywhere and the grass threatened to engulf us all. So I finally broke down and ordered a scythe from Lee Valley Tools. It arrived Friday afternoon and, dang, why did I wait so long?

The scythe is not like the one that hung in my grandfather’s garage as a child. (Actually, I expect it’s still there…) It’s of European manufacture and, blade and all, weighs less than five pounds. As far as performance goes, it’s faster and easier than a string trimmer. Not as even as a mower, but if I cared about that my grass wouldn’t be three feet high in the first place. I’m so pleased with the performance of the scythe on grass that I’m going to spring for a brush blade (scroll down) for hacking up blackberries.

Oh yeah, the name of the company is awesome too.

*(I do have to say that the hammer I linked to *is* entirely worth the money. You’ve never felt a 3.5# hammer that feels so light, makes my elbow so happy, or pushes so much metal around. If you don’t blacksmith, you don’t care of course. I just love my hammer is all.)