From the category archives:

Tools and Equipment

Terra Composter: First Look

September 7, 2009
terra composter by algreen

Recently I was sent the Terra Composter, a composting container made by Algreen, a Canadian company. I was particularly interested in checking out their claim that the composter is “designed to withstand a Canadian winter without cracking,” because they guarantee it for twenty years.
I took a lot of pictures with my daughter’s camera as I [...]

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Troy-Bilt Lithium Battery String Trimmer: A Review

September 1, 2009
troy-bilt lithium battery string trimmer

Early this past spring, Troy-Bilt sent me a Troy-Bilt 20-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Electric String Trimmer (model TB57) to review. You should know that in the past, two of my grown sons have been employed maintaining the grounds of the local mental health facility. As a result of this employment, they have used a lot of [...]

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Ethel Garden Gloves: Review and Giveaway

June 29, 2009

I used to think garden gloves were for other people, not me. Oh, sure, I’d put a pair on to deal with brambles, nettles, and wild parsnip, but, on the whole, gloves kept me from feeling the moist earth and from grasping small weeds near precious seedlings. Most gloves didn’t fit me well enough to [...]

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Pruning with a Reciprocating Saw

May 12, 2009
Use a reciprocating saw for your medium size pruning jobs

Carol’s done it. Mary Ann, the Idaho Gardener’s done it. So has Mr. McGregor’s Daughter and Cindy from My Corner of Katy and M Sinclair Stevens from Zanthan Gardens. They’ve all used a reciprocating saw to prune woody plants.
Not only have they pruned with a recip saw, they raved about how easy it made pruning. [...]

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Recommend a Shovel

April 16, 2009

What’s your favorite shovel? One broken, one threatening to. Digging shovel, not spade, recommendations wanted.

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Two Troy-Bilt Tillers

June 30, 2008

We grew vegetables for years without a tiller
I am not the vegetable gardener in this family. My husband, on the other hand, has been growing vegetables since he was a teen. When we finally moved here, a decade into our marriage, he brought along the front tine rototiller he had purchased as a single working [...]

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The Rubbermaid watering can: discontinued but not forgotten

June 21, 2008

Recently someone asked me to recommend a watering can. We have been using this Rubbermaid watering can for over a decade. What I like about it:

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Seven Gardening Gifts No One Will Give Me

May 9, 2008

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and many retailers who normally don’t feature gardening products have potted flowering plants and other quasi-gardening gifts prominently displayed. I thought I’d take the opposite tack and share with you my favorite non-gardening garden “thingies.” Most of them don’t qualify as tools. Some of them, quite frankly, would look like [...]

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Purdyville tools attend May Dreams Gardens hoedown

May 2, 2008

“We considered dressing up for the hoedown, but we’re pretty casual folks, and felt more comfortable in our regular duds. The rock rake is a little unusual, but the rest of us are pretty average. Well, Ms. Ho-Mi is not your average hoe, I suppose. We’ve all been here at Purdyville long enough that we’re [...]

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Getting Past the Hype: Is the Enki Watering System worth the money?

February 24, 2008

I like to try out new gardening gadgets and techniques as soon as they come out, but despite my best efforts I’m frequently blindsided by something new that I haven’t researched. Such is the case with your intrepid blogger, Kathy, who caught me without a quick answer to her question about Enki, that electric [...]

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The Urban Compost Tumber

October 7, 2007

Readers of this blog know I tend to get absorbed in the details of garden projects. But somehow the making of compost has been immune to such obsessions. To my mind, compost just happens. I don’t really give it much thought. It might occur to me in the spring that the piles should really be [...]

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A Bad Year for Tools is a Good Reason to Buy More

September 11, 2007

It all started with that forsythia bush. Collin had barely gotten started pruning out the thickest branches for me, when the blade of the lopper snapped off. I had purchased these loppers from Lee Valley a while ago, but I thought it was worth contacting them to see if the loppers had a lifetime warranty. [...]

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Servicing my watering needs

April 23, 2007

I had a conversation with a gardening friend about watering the other day. We each have strong personalities and the talk was lively and interesting, filled with opinions and advice. When the time came for “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” I did and I’ll share them with you too.
I have spent [...]

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