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Quality Hand Tools for Better Gardening by Rita Pelczar

OR ANY gardening activ- are coated with a material that ity that involves detailed prevents sticking. Feffort, quality hand tools A new tool from Fiskars make the job easier. Here are a (www2.fiskars.com) called a Bill- few of my favorites. hook Saw is great for removing Transplanting seedlings into tough weedy roots and vines. the garden is best done with The nine-inch, rust-resistant sharp-pointed trowels such as blade has a curved tip, or hook, the stainless steel trowels from for both pulling and cutting. Lee Valley (www.leevalley.com). The opposite side of the blade The 10-Inch Spear Point SS features a toothed edge that fun- Trowel cuts through heavy soil cions as a coarse saw for severing with its long, sharp tip. The nar- TransplantTransplant KnifeKnife fibrous or woody branches. The row-bladed 12-Inch Transplant contoured handle allows you to SS Trowel can dig a bit deeper. Both are in handy for breaking up clumps of soil, hold it in different positions to suit the marked in imperial and metric incre- cultivating along a row of vegetables, or job at hand. A smaller, six-inch Billhook ments to help with accurate depth and digging up deep-rooted weeds. blade is also available. spacing when planting. The Convertible Pruner + Lopper With Fiskars Garden Bucket Caddy, Also from Lee Valley is the Transplant from Corona (www.coronatoolsusa.com) you’ll have all your hand tools available Knife, ideal for dividing houseplants or combines two tools in one package, which when you need them. Wrap the canvas perennials. The thin, stainless steel blade is handy when you need to flexes, so you can slide it along the inner cut branches a bit larger Garden wall of a container to loosen a plant from than expected. The forged Bucket its pot. For dividing plants, the five-and- steel bypass pruners have Caddy one-half-inch serrated blade makes cuts an internal spring, and the through roots cleanly. handles fold down easily A good choice for cut- for additional leverage, ting down annual weeds morphing the hand is the 17-inch-long Mini pruners into loppers Hula Hoe from Planet Natu- for two-handed oper- ral (www.planetnatural.com). ation. It cuts through This short-handled version branches up to one- of the original Hula Hoe is and-one-quarter inch- the perfect length to use for es in diameter. cultivating raised beds. Both For larger jobs, edges of the stirrup-shaped Corona’s Comfort- blade are sharp, so weeds GEL+™ Extendable caddy around any five-gallon bucket, are cut off at ground level Bypass Lopper cuts secure it in place with its velcro tab, as you move the hoe back branches to one- and use the pouches to stash your tools, and forth. and-three-quarter gloves, seed packages, water bottle, bug Also from Planet Nat- inches with ease. It repellent, and other small items. Carry ural is a short-handled has comfortable plants, collect weeds, or gather harvested Mini Hula cultivating tool called the ComfortGEL + grips and the han- vegetables in the bucket. Hoe Extendable Bypass m 3-Tined Rake. It has ex- Lopper, top, and dles extend to 29 cellent balance and sig- Convertible Pruner + inches and lock in Rita Pelczar is a contributing editor for Lopper, bottom nificant heft that comes place. The blades The American Gardener. COURTESYTOP: LEEVALLEYOF TOOLS.OTHERRITAPELCZAR PHOTOSBY

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