The tool I undoubtedly use more than any other in the garden is cheapo stainless steel kitchen scissors. Daily I use them for slugs, as snips, on bags, for compost making and many other things. They have the virtue of being cheap and you can leave them outside for years without rust or damage. I have about six pairs in spots around the garden.
Also - I find ex-compost bags terribly useful and I save them. Storing gravel, sand, wood chips etc; making leaf mould; for trips to the dump; for giving away plants; for lining planters; use them as grow bags - they are a resource to hang on to. If I have saved too many I donate them to the local allotment, where they are snapped up. I make sure the bags are opened by slitting the top, so the integrity of the bag holds. For slightly better aesthetics, turn the bag inside out, so the black side shows. They last for years and can be re-used over and over.
Good point about saving old compost bags - I do that too. As well as all your uses, I store my homemade compost in them when I need to empty out the last bin ready for the next lot to be turned. I generally turn them black side out too (also avoids possible mixups with open bags of bought compost).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
A dinner fork is very good for pricking out. Prongs to get the seedlings apart, handle to make the hole
I use a dinner fork like this but also have one with the tines bent to make a small rake for teasing out roots etc. Also have a hoof cleaner hook which also useful for root teasing!
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
I use tweezers to thin out tiny seedlings. Very useful when dealing with minute things that grow very slowly.
Soft cheese tubs are great as miniature seeds trays and you can make dividers by cutting up tubs. Behold, a divided tub and six fibrous begonias from home produced seed.
Many years ago someone threw a tea spoon over my hedge, I found it and put it on the shelf in the shed. When I was potting up some seeds I found the spoon did a better job than any dibber and also doubles up as a mini trowel. Now I wouldn’t even try to set any seeds without my free tea spoon 😀.
I use compost sacks, turned black side out, as gro bags for tomatoes. I punch some holes in one end, stand them in old washing-up bowls as drip trip trays. I have an old pencil chewed by the dog as a mini dibber for seedlings. An old dinner fork and an old large dinner knife are useful for mini jobs. I put large soft green drink bottles on top of bamboo canes and plant them in borders to rattle in the wind to deter moles which are prolific around here. They do not like noise or vibration. It seems to work. I found 3 black B&Q buckets stuck inside each other when walking the dog. After watching them for 2/3 weeks, I wasn't sure if the owner had put them in the bushes deliberately, I finally brought them home, managed to separate them, and now use them to put weeds in, veg. waste on its way to the compost heap etc. Clear plastic fruit containers make lovely mini propagators. I often pick up long lengths of baler twine dropped by farmers to use as ties. I bought a bundle of 5 weirdly shaped loo brushes from the local market, they have all ended up being used in the garden for cleaning scrubbing pots, walking boots etc.
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The students are required to design products as part of their course.
It depends on how robust the plant is which I choose.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Also have a hoof cleaner hook which also useful for root teasing!
Failure is always an option.
I have an old pencil chewed by the dog as a mini dibber for seedlings.
An old dinner fork and an old large dinner knife are useful for mini jobs.
I put large soft green drink bottles on top of bamboo canes and plant them in borders to rattle in the wind to deter moles which are prolific around here. They do not like noise or vibration. It seems to work.
I found 3 black B&Q buckets stuck inside each other when walking the dog. After watching them for 2/3 weeks, I wasn't sure if the owner had put them in the bushes deliberately, I finally brought them home, managed to separate them, and now use them to put weeds in, veg. waste on its way to the compost heap etc.
Clear plastic fruit containers make lovely mini propagators.
I often pick up long lengths of baler twine dropped by farmers to use as ties.
I bought a bundle of 5 weirdly shaped loo brushes from the local market, they have all ended up being used in the garden for cleaning scrubbing pots, walking boots etc.