Summer is coming fast and it is time to plant our gardens in many parts of the country. This year I am going to make a suggestion. Every year we get out with our rototillers and other power tools and plant our garden. This is great we get good crops and maybe a false sense of security. The reason for the false sense of security is that we have a successful garden when we use power tools. But what would happen, if you had to dig and plant your garden by hand. Do you have the necessary hand gardening tools?
I am going to suggest that you work at least a portion of your garden by hand this year. I did it a few years ago and it shows you what your weaknesses are, and I am not just talking about the sore back and blister. You may find that you have to purchase some additional gardening tools.
Probably the two most important tools that I found that I needed was a good short handled spade and fork. The spade to turn the ground over and the fork to get the weeds out and break up the soil. Now I am talking about getting good ones. I have been able to bend the blade on a cheap Chinese spade. In addition, you will find that you need good rakes and hoes to help cut the weeds. I like to also keep good long handle square and round point shovels, as well as a long handle pitch fork.
Depending on where you live, a scythe or a sickle can come in handle for cutting down weeds. Don’t forget that you still need to water your garden and most of us won’t have water hoses. You may need water cans or containers to carry water.
Many of these gardening tools can be purchased very inexpensively in garage sales. Some can even be made. My father still uses a Homemade Wooden Gardening and Hay Forks he made himself. Try working a patch of land this year with hand gardening tools and you will find out what you need.
Howard
For reasons too numerous to go into here, I no longer have powered gardening tools. I was determined to have a garden this year however, so decided to tackle it by hand.
I’m in Oklahoma, red clay and grass that hasn’t been touched in three years.
It took me three days to break the soil with a garden fork! And this is only a 13×13 plot.
One item that I found to be indispensable, and not usually considered a ‘tool’ was a plastic milk crate! Once I had broken the sod, I’d dump it in the crate, shake it over the hole, and end up with nicely sifted soil on the ground, and all the grass, weeds, rocks, and roots sitting in the crate ready to be tossed!
(It also doubled as an easy way to carry my smaller hand tools and gloves to and from the site. ..)
Hope this little trick helps someone else or there with a hand-made garden.
I did my initial breaking ground with a tractor mounted tiller. I mixed in a lot of home made compost (we have 200 chickens).
The compost does three main things, it provides nutrients, breaks up clay soils well, and absorbs a great deal more water then soil alone does.
I used a shovel to create raised beds, but now the garden is complete, and I am now hand weeding it to get it ready for planting, and use a flame weeder after I pull the weeds. This will burn the seeds that are on the surface. The compost loosened soil also weeds a lot easier.
I also use a Gardenway seeder to plant, and a stirrup hoe to weed between plants.
Been gardening for 60+ years. Used shovels, rakes, tillers and tractors. Finally found an easy-to-use, no fuel/maintenance required way to a productive garden. It’s called a Meadow Creature broadfork. It does a better job than either my tiller or tractor and is much less work than my tractor. Check it out.
I have all of the mentioned gardening tools. They are amazing, doing a lot of work that without using them it’s hard or impossible to do.
With the tools identified in this article, you can start gardening. And with the help of your hand, it will make it easier to plant. Thank you for sharing this article. Helpful for all the gardeners out there.