By Craig Dupée
There are several things that excite me in life, and one of those moments is when I discover a unique plant or a new garden tool. At the Philadelphia Flower Show, some vendors were highlighting wares that I found intriguing, and I thought I would share some of the noteworthy ones with you.
It surprises me how quickly a small Black Walnut seedling can become an unwanted sapling in the garden. No matter how much of a strong grip you put on the stem and pull with all your might, the plant still puts up a fight that would make Muhammad Ali proud. The tool of choice for these tough fighters is The Handy Grubber. This tool can easily remove noxious brush and small trees. The Handy Grubber features a large padded D-grip handle that allows you to get a firm grip on the tool, while the grubber’s jaws use their no-slip gripping teeth to hold onto those plants that your hands would easily slide off of. Jaws open wide enough to handle stems one inch in diameter.
The Amazing Rake is a totally new and unique, ergonomic rake design that truly makes lawn cleanup a breeze. This rake helps eliminate the bending and stooping that is hard on your knees and back. The Amazing Rake turns the chore of yard cleanup into three easy steps: rake, grab and bag. This rake not only rakes and loads debris—it also scoops. This lightweight 3-in-1 tool will efficiently rake, scoop and pick up yard debris while cutting yard cleanup time in half. Plus, when you use the Amazing Rake you won’t need any other tools to get your debris from the ground into your trash container. You will never again need to use your hands to pick up prickly debris. The Amazing Rake is built to last, being very strong, durable and flexible with the rake head made of copolymer polypropylene and a telescopic steel handle with a non-slip rubber grip. A “Twist Lock” mechanism is featured for locking the rake head in multiple positions.
The Jackson Seven-in One Versaplanter Garden Multi-Tool is a trowel/transplanter blade for planting annuals, perennials and groundcovers. It has a serrated edge for the ease of cutting open plastic bags of mulch and soil. The sharpened straight edge is great for cutting sod or roughing up the roots of pot bound plants. The twine cutter is good for cutting sisal when tying up your tomatoes. It has a steel counter-balance and tamper for tamping down plant stakes or to hammer small nails. It has an ergonomic grip with soft over-mold and includes a leather sheath to clip onto your belt or pants for easy access.
Wrotter is an old Dutch word from the Netherlands that simply means “tough worker,” which accurately describes this weeder from the Dutch company Sneeboer. This hand weeder’s unique shape allows you to locate weeds in tight spaces, and easily remove weeds by pushing the Wrotter into the soil at the weeds’ base and pulling and twisting it out using the sharpened barbs on the side of the tool. While pulling weeds, the Wrotter will actually help in relieving soil compaction and aids in the aeration of plant roots.
This next garden tool was one I saw in the Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog and thought was a cool idea. It is a lightweight tiller called the Tilther. It is designed to create the perfect tilth within the top two inches of your seed bed by mixing in soil amenities and chopping up the roots of the previous crop. It was conceptualized by Eliot Coleman and is used extensively on his farm. After one quick pass, the bed is ready for seed planting. The Tilther is 15 inches wide and powered by your rechargeable drill; they recommend using an 18 volt or higher drill.
These unique gardening tools can all be found online and ordered for your garden needs. If you do give them a try, let me know what you think about them. Happy gardening!
“The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem / For that sweet odour which doth in it live.” –Shakespeare, Sonnet 54
Craig Dupée is a garden-design consultant. He lives in Ewing with his wife and daughters. Send him your email questions at hort1014u@aol.com.
