tools

Yesterday I also bought a new shovel. I've had cheap shovels. I've had expensive shovels. They've had wooden handles and fiberglass handles.

Handles break.

This time I bought a cheap shovel. I need it for putting out my last big batch of spring bulbs. I also have a couple of bulb tools that pull a round core of dirt out. I got those when I was younger and idealistic about bulb planting. Given that bulbs need mass, and that the easiest way to plant mass is to dig out spots, or patches, or small trenches, I don't have time for cute little plugging devices.

The most essential tool for me is my spading fork. I use it to work in organic materials, to weed, to loosen soil, or the roots of volunteer trees that sprout in difficult places. It is excellent in loosening up sod for weeding and new bed preparation.

The other essential tools include a hand pruner, a limb pruner or lopper, a hoe ( -- my $3.00 Martha Stewart hoe from K-Mart has a smooth wooden handle, and the metal head is a color of sage green that Martha used a lot in the 1990s. I've weeded a lot of beds with that hoe and am getting a little sentimental about it). And a wooden handle trowel. A wheel barrel or cart is nice, too.