Results tagged “tools” from Joe's Dirt Blog

Dear Santa,

As you know, I’m really into gardening, especially the ‘green’ kind, like environmentally friendly things such as not using a gas-powered engine for my lawn mower when a rechargeable model would do. I know you get what I’m talking about. You’re one of the original pioneers of eco-travel, circling the world every year on nothing but reindeer power (or is that considered natural gas)? Never mind, the point of my letter is it’s been a good year for me in regards to getting some cool stuff for the lawn and garden that’s eco-friendly too. So this year, you can skip my house, conserve a little energy and cut down on the packaging. But, if any of my friends have listed lawn and garden gear on their wish list, can you make it the green kind too?

Just in case you need a few suggestions, here’s what I’d offer them if I were you. First, it’s going to be cold and not much gardening is really going on after the holidays, so lets get them a good book on the subject. The Green Gardener’s Guide by…uhhh, never mind about the author. But it is the perfect resource to get them in the right frame of mind for spring.

Next, rechargeable lawn and landscape tools are awesome and these days, they’re a lot more powerful and more like the gasoline burning, CO₂ spewing mowers and blowers. Personally, I’ve been using my engineless push reel mower, made by Brill and it works quite well. Those would make great gifts since they’re pretty cheap and don’t take up as much room in your sleigh. By the way, if you run short on product, I found a neat online store that sells a lot of eco-friendly tools. They’re called Clean Air Gardening and you can check them out for yourself online when you get a chance.

And of course, the greenest tools are people powered. I’ve been having great success with all the neat stuff from Fiskars. You probably use their scissors a lot up at the workshop but I’m telling you, if you want to score points with all your gardening buddies, load them up with their pruners and other cutting tools.

Finally, we all need a good pair of gloves. I recently heard about the newest style from West County Gardener that will be out in early 2009. It’s made from recycled plastic water bottles. For every pair that’s made, one less bottle makes it to the landfill. Now that’s very cool, don’t you think Santa? So, that’s it. I know you have a lot more letters to read and work to do.

All the best and safe travels to you, Rudolf and the others.

Thanks Santa. Your friend,
Joe Lamp’l

Q: What are your feelings about the Fiskars Rear Pivot Grass Shears?

No matter what the task, every job is made easier when you have the right tool. Take painting for example. To me, it’s a monotonous, tedious task. All the prep work required to do the job right is almost more than it’s worth. Thankfully, easy-to-apply tape and special brushes have made my least favorite part of the job a lot more palatable. Another great innovation in the world of painting-made-easier is with ceiling paint that starts out pink but fades to white when dry. I’m glad it’s around today but how many ceilings did I paint and repaint because I couldn’t tell the old from the new!

Thankfully cleverly devised tools for any job are abundant these days, especially in the world of gardening. In fact, some of the most dreaded of chores outside the house, from digging large holes to extracting the most stubborn tap-rooted weeds, have gone from ones I used to put off as long as possible, to chores that I now even look forward to. I wouldn’t be able to make that statement if I didn’t have cool tools like the Fiskars Uproot Weeder that actually plucks persistent weeds out of the ground, and then ejects them with an easy-to-use lever on the handle. In fact, they’ve put this kind of innovation into many of their tools, which is why they’re my first choice when it comes to looking for the best tool for the job.

Finding equipment that’s high quality and easy to use is certainly an important criterion when shopping for the right gear. But where do you begin? I’ve found most of my favorites come from asking people I respect and relying on their advice. But there are many sources. Others include magazine and website articles, television, radio and home & garden shows. I really like the shows since you can see the tool in action and give it a test drive before bringing it home. Just keep the following things in mind; If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; and you get what you pay for. But one thing I know, wherever you find it, life is made easier with just the right tool!

JL