10 Garden Must-Have's

1. Ikea Bag

A friend brought me a big blue Ikea bag from a shopping trip in Ontario. I think you can only purchase these at the cash register in the store. This is my #1 garden must have. I have this bag for about four years now and it has held up to gardening torture. I throw it and a shovel in my jeep everywhere I go and it usually comes back heavily filled with plants and soil, often to heavy for me to lift so it is then dragged around the garden. I also use it daily for weed collection, again when it is heavily filled I take the long handle and drag it to the chickie yard for them to go to work on the collection of weeds. This bag has preformed being dragged through mud, grass and crushed stone for four years and only has slight signs of wear. What’s best is that it is made of a tarp type of material so all I do at the end of the day is hose it out and hang it to drip dry. I’ll be sad if I can’t get another when this tool wears out.

2. Hand Tool Set

This I use daily in the garden for just about everything; weeding, digging bulbs, planting flowers, clawing through dirt. It stays inside my Ikea bag for daily chores.

3. Small shovel

I toss my Small head D-handle in the Jeep to take anywhere for quick light-weight digging.

4. Rock Hammer
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I love my rock hammer for more than building stone walls. It is great for digging through tough dirt and digging large rocks from the ground.

5. Large Shovel

I use this for moving compost and soil…another garden must-have.

6. Good Gloves

I have gone through many garden gloves and the best I have found to stand up to all my hand weeding is the Wal-Mart French Terry Garden gloves. The regain their shape after washing and I get about double the life span of canvas gloves from them before fingers pop through.

7. Rain Suit

Wetskins Ultralight rain suit is a must for me. The hold out in heavy rains, they can easily be hosed off after a mucky gardening day and can withstand countless washes. Keeps me dry and warm on mucky wet gardening days.

8. Steel Shank Wellies

I doubt I will ever come across these again and I fear mine are getting dry rot. I have a pair of 1970’s military wellies marked “made in Checzlovakia”. The steel shank is great for baring down on a shovel, they are fitted and lined so they are super-comfortable and never slip or rub.

9. Fiskars Loppers

Thinning trees and trimming branches is a breeze with my Fiskars loppers. We actually cleared most of the trees on our lot prior to building our home with only a bucksaw and our Fiskars.

10. Dr. Bronners Soap

I don’t have to tell you how much I like this soap. Its great for cleaning the car, muddy tools, the coop and even as a bug spray and it keep the grass lush and green even where the dog pees.

So there is my top 10 garden tools…care to share yours? This way we can all have a list for future garden investments. :D

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20