Garden Tools

This is a picture of the three tools that I use the most in my garden. The knife is my weeder. If there is a particularly stubborn weed, especially if it is a larger weed, I will cut a circle about an inch or so in the ground around the stem to sever the lateral roots. Then it is easy to give the weed a twist and out it comes. Most of the time I can go under the nutsedge and loosen the ground, so that the sedge, and often the nut, will pull out. I also can go under and along bermuda grass stolons (runners under the ground), loosening the dirt and getting most of the grass roots. Notice on these I said "most" of the nuts and roots. It's tough to get it all out in one try, but you can make progress.

These are the pruners that I use constantly. I use them to deadhead flowers, prune shrubs and trees (at least the smaller branches--I have other pruners for larger branches, but don't use them as much); cut old vegetables off at the base (leaving the roots in place to decompose and feed the soil, worms and beneficial microbes); to cut grasshoppers and tomato worms in half (I knew you would like that one!--Sometimes I just get tired of having to deal with them); and cutting off grass seed heads that I don't have time to dig out.

I use the water meter to see if the soil is dry, moist or wet below the surface without having to dig a small hole to check or poking my finger in the soil. You just put the probe down in the soil and it will tell you if you need to water or not. I have used it on houseplants, garden soil (under mulch and around my new fruit trees) and in the plant starts that I seed in little 9-packs. It takes the guess-work out of watering, and reduces the death-rate of plants that may be getting too much water.