Favorite Tools

The other day, over lunch, my wife, Nancy and I were having a discussion about - what else- daylilies.  We wanted to head to the 'back 40', which is stretching it a bit since it is the back of our almost 2 acres.  We needed to see how many fans we had of a particular variety.  One of us suddenly remembered, we had 'no gator!'  meaning that we remembered that the John Deere Gator was in the shop for annual maintenance.  That meant we had to WALK out to the back of our property.  Only those over 65 or with bad back or knees can sympathize.  We felt almost as though we needed to go to the grocery store but had no car to get there.   

This lead to a discussion of the tools we could no longer do without in the garden:

John Deere Gator -  At our age we only begrudgingly trudge out to the beds when we can't ride out.  Lest you criticize our laziness, the gator hauls a spade, roundup, labeling supplies, tubs, recently dug plants and multiple trays of seedlings.  It also hauls brush that would require many trips to carry.  We just couldn't manage without it. 

Fiberglass-handled spade - Without it, there would be no movement of plants to the observation beds and tree seedlings that sprout up too quickly to be hand-pulled would take over the beds. The current spade has outlasted any wooden handled one I ever owned.  Nancy says I'll find a way to break ANY tool I own. So far, this one has remained intact. 

Garden Knife - So useful for weeding as well as for cutting apart daylily fans that refuse to separate from their 'friends'.  The spade is often too 'ham handed' for this task.

John Deere Tractor - I am not prepared to debate John Deere vs. Kubota or any other brand.  I went with a dealer in town who picks up and services my vehicle.  My point is that I can't hand till the large areas that we plant anymore.  I admittedly have only utilized front-tine tillers, however, and it is possible that a rear-tine tiller would be much easier to handle, but still wouldn't till four-foot sections as quickly as my tractor. We till in the spring to plant seedlings and in the fall to line out plants for sale or for seedlings to be moved to the observation area. So quick and easy!

So, those are our top four 'must have' tools.  What are yours?  

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