While I was reading the news online last week, I saw an article entitled, “Seventeen Essential Garden Tools”. Wow! Seveneen? What was I missing? I looked through the pictures, read the descriptions and thought they were pretty nifty. Unnecessary, but nifty. If I had a large garage, with a wall of pegboard, and I wanted to impress my neighbors, this would be a great start. But I don’t need them. If you’re gardening in a small space, like a patio, condo or apartment, you don’t either.
The picture above is my entire assortment of gardening tools. Okay, maybe purple gloves aren’t a tool, but they keep my nails clean. Oh, and the bucket, is that a tool? Maybe not, but it sure comes in handy. I don’t have a water supply where my garden is set up, so a five gallon paint bucket (from the home improvement store) takes care of my watering needs for the week. I fill it up with a large plastic pitcher on the weekend.
I used the green garden twine to help my peas climb a trellis when I started this garden in February. I’m using it again to help my pole beans do the same thing. The beans don’t need much help, but the twine fills in the gaps in the metal trellis I placed between the shoots when they first popped up. The two trellises I have are tall narrow arches made of metal. They will outlast all of us. I bought them on sale at a gardening supply store several years ago. They make the garden look tidy. That’s really helpful considering my garden is fully visible to my neighbors.
So that leaves just three essential garden tools: a trowel, a small pair of scissors and a plastic cup. You can find these anywhere. I had the trowel in a box in my storage cabinet. I lifted the scissors from my craft drawer and the cup was used by one of my grandsons at CPK. It came home partially filled with milk. A quick rinse and a garden tool was born.
After cutting up a pair of panty hose with the scissors and placing a piece over the drainage hole in the bottom of each pot, I used the plastic cup to fill each pot one third full of sandbox sand. This type of sand is clean, toxin free, and helps with drainage. I then used the cup to scoop potting soil into the pots. I use Mel’s Mix. This is also called Garden Time and/or Square Foot Gardening Soil. It is organic, doesn’t wear out and never needs fertilizer. It's one-third vermiculite, one-third moss and one-third compost. The compost is a mixture of five types, which gives the plants a variety of nutrients. Although I'll never have to replace the soil, I will add more compost after my crops are harvested. I buy this mixture in bags. It’s easier than making it myself. I’m into easy!
The trowel has been used to transplant the vegetables I buy in packs. I don’t start seeds indoors. It feels way too much like work, and who has room? When I’m planting seeds, like I did with my pole beans, I use the tip of the trowel to make a small hole, and cover the seeds with soil. Or, if I’m in the mood, I just use my finger (in the purple glove, of course). That’s it for the trowel. But the cup and the scissors aren’t finished. I use the cup daily to water each plant, and the scissors to harvest. This isn’t complicated stuff here. The tools are not unique or expensive. Just look at them. Don’t you have something like this in a drawer somewhere?
Until next time,
Elizabeth
