John Deere farm tractor with bucket loader, backhoe, wood chipper, 6 foot wide grass mower, post hole augur - PTO attachments.
Kubota RTV (with Heater & A/C) farm utility vehicle with hydraulic dump bed for hauling supplies to where needed.
Walk behind Roto tiller for amending the soil.
Husqvarna 18" chain saw, & Remington 16' high reach electric pole saw (with 10" & 14" interchangeable chain saws) for cutting & limbing trees.
Brigs & Stratton 8 HP leaf & sticks shredder.
Cement mixer (also used for mixing my potting soil)

Lou

Red weeder for applying roundup with zero worry of drift.

Post hole digger for setting plants, pick ax and long-handled ax for cutting big roots in the way, and sometimes a pruning saw if the roots are small but tenacious.

I like Lou's toys better but my place is small so I'll just have to stick with the manual labor :-(

Lou seems to have the best garden tools!

For me my favorite garden tool is the digging pitch that I bought online from Lee Valley Tools. It makes the ones that you buy in the box stores look like toys. I use it in the garden and lawn all the time to loosen up weed roots without disturbing the good plants or grass too much. It can take a lot of abuse without any danger of bending the tines.

karalynn,
I looked on the Lee Vally Tools website, and I can't figure out exactly which one you mean.
Is it the digging fork, or the smaller border fork?
Thanks,
Gina

Lou,
I am definitely getting a cement mixer. :-)

What I have is the forged digging fork with the wooden handle and I love it! The only way it could be better is if they'd had the stainless steel ones with the stainless steel handle available when I bought my fork. It's well worth the cost in my opinion. Now I'm seriously looking at buying one of their stainless steel digging spades with the stainless steel handle. Most of my shovels are very old with wooden handles and I keep breaking them. I think I'd have a hard time destroying a completely stainless steel shovel!

I've bought quite a few things from Lee Valley and everything has been very good quality. For christmas I bought my Dad the Woodsman's Pal that they have listed under axes and he loves it!

Kara

I'd hate to do without my stirrup hoe.

I would be devastated if something happened to my winged weeder hoe.

I like Lou's tools too. But my favorite that I use is a pruning stick, for my "trees". I make trees or standards out of everything and the pruning stick works great for reaching branches too high and for low things to be pruned as well.

Mantis Tiller!

A hand held tool we call a weed popper. It has a metal shaped V at the end. It gets under the soil and cuts off the root of the weed. Makes weeding very easy for just a few weeds. Not practical for alot of weeding. Garden scissors work well for the same purpose if you have an old pair you don't mind sticking into the dirt. I like to use them for containers. Being disabled my weeds get out of control sometimes. It's much easier than pulling them out.

Definately love having the 8hp chipper/shredder for making mulch.A large chainsaw is a must for where I live.I have a long dirt/rock driveway & a weed dragon(the propane torch that attaches to a regular tank)has been awesome for weeding it,as I don't like to use chemicals.Also a good quality steel watering can for applying fish emulsion-I am fed up with the plastic ones that crack in no time.Lastly my utility trailer & a truck to pull it with,as I hauled in 25 yards of topsoil to build my veggie garden & use it constantly for bringing in materials-Chicken tractor is next project.

The mini frig in the garage that holds water, gatorade and beer.

The mini frig in the garage that holds water, gatorade and beer.

Korean weeder.

Here is a link that might be useful: Great tool

My new tool is a Ross Root Feeder after seeing a youtube video of a Georgia extention guy using it on young fruit trees to water. With all the watering restrictions I am hoping to keep my fruit trees and roses healthy with it. They sell different fertilizers to work wtih it and I bought the one for roses from home depot. Home Depot price was best for the too by a long shot, but they didn't sell the fruit and nut tree fertilizer online so I just got two rose fertiizer boxes to meet the no shipping charge requirement.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ross Root Feeder

deep woods OFF...........:)

Gina, I know you asked for beyond-the-basic garden tools, and these are basic garden tools, but it took me a long time to develop/determine my favorites, so maybe this post will helpful to a newbie. (Maybe.) You experts can drive on!

1) This is my method of working with potting mix. I put it in a large, plastic tub. I mix my own potting mix, so it is useful for mixing, but the biggest benefit is that I don't lose potting mix to spillage. When I used to pot directly out of a bag, I would end up losing half the potting mix to the driveway or the grass. Now I pot small seedlings as well as large-potted plants in the tub - and never lose any soil at all. I store unused soil directly in the tub. Just love this method!

2) My current potting mix is a 1:1 ratio of these two bags pictured below plus a good bit of Walmart ground pine bark mulch from the purple bag, also shown below. I mix them all together in the blue tub:

{{gwi:440842}}

3) Over the years, I have accumulated a number of small trowels or shovels. See photos below. I have tried them all, but my two go-to shovels, 100% of the time, are the two pictured at the top of the photo below. The one with the orange tip on the handle is made by Fiskars - verrrry expensive - runs right around $1.00, I think! I don't know the manufacturer of the green-handled shovel. They are made of light-weight plastic, feel good in the hand, and are the right size and weight for me. I prefer them so much that I never use any of the other shovels pictured. Have bought a number of these for friends and family. I will hunt around the yard all day if I misplace either of them. I just love them!

4) Below is a photo of my favorite stipple. (A stipple is a tool used to create a hole in soil for inserting a plant cutting.) A good stipple is important when planting cuttings because A) you don't want to use the cutting itself to make the hole - that could damage the cutting and B) if you use rooting hormone powder, you don't want to to push all of the powder off when the cutting is put into the soil. You use a stipple to make the hole and then gently insert the cutting with the rooting powder on it into the hole made by the stipple.

This piece of plastic came from the signs placed in the yard by the lawn-spraying company. I have a lot of these, as a sign used to be put in my yard just about about every six weeks. The pointed end makes the perfect stipple for most size cuttings. I keep one in the corner of the potting soil tub, as I am always trying to root things from cuttings.

5) Below is a photo of my all-time favorite shovel. The top shovel is my favorite shovel. The bottom shovel is a regular-size shovel. I can use the top shovel to plant just about any plant. With the exception of only a few trees, which required the bigger shovel, the smaller shovel is my choice to do the job. It is my go-to shovel when the two hand-shovels pictured above can't do the job. This small shovel is the perfect size for planting most 1 - 2.5 gallon plants. I don't know from where this shovel came - it was in my Dad's gardening tools and it may have belonged to his father. It is made by "Union" but I don't know where it was purchased or how long it has been in the family. But I love this size shovel and think it would be a good gift for any Florida gardener who doesn't already have one. Just love it!

6) The photo below shows my hands-down favorite spray nozzle. I have owned lots of different sprayers and I prefer this one over all the rest. It is inexpensive - comes from Walmart and runs around $2.50. The official name is "Orbit 7 Pattern Rear Trigger Plastic Hose Nozzle" and here is a link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Orbit-7-Pattern-Rear-Trigger-Plastic-Hose-Nozzle/16332364?findingMethod=rr

The reason I like this one so much more than others is 1) It is light-weight. It doesn't get as heavy in your hand as metal nozzles; 2) It doesn't "klunk" when you drop it. The metal ones hurt if they hit your foot, get all scratched up when they hit the driveway - and you know what happens if you drop them on the car while washing it. The plastic one is great and I only use two settings on it anyway - "spray" and "full". Perfect. Love it!

When I am done using it, I shake it out really, really well - until NO water drips from it at all. If you do that, the inner spring will last a long, long time. These nozzles last me 2-3 years. (If you don't shake them out - any kind, metal or plastic - the inner spring will rust and the water will not cut off. The nozzle will have a much shorter life.)

7) Below is a photo of my favorite rake for spreading soil/manure/peat/amendments/mulch in new planting beds. I use it as pictured, tines facing up. The smooth bar makes it absolutely cake to spread anything across a new bed. Throw down a bag of manure and the back side of the rake spreads it evenly in seconds! Throw down a bag of mulch - again, the back of the rake will spread it evenly in no time, with no effort! Love this tool for spreading amendments in a new planting bed. Love it, love it, love it!

8) My digital camera. I have learned how wonderful it is to have pictures of your yard and garden as they progress. I frequently go back to photos that seemed unimportant at the time to compare to today or check something out. So now I take a walk around the yard three to four times a year and take photos of everything. I try to get photos of the yard from every angle. I take photos of new trees the day I install them. I take photos of planting beds frequently as I get them installed to mark the progress. With digital photos, there is no cost except for hard drive space, so you can take all you want. You will be glad you have them later.

So that is a little tour of my favorite gardening tools! Happy Memorial Day weekend gardening, everyone!

Carol in Jacksonville

Below is a link to the Fiskars trowel. The cost has gone up to $1.59! Yikes! Too funny that my favorite items would be so inexpensive. But price had nothing to do with my choices.

By the way, the spray nozzle comes in blue, green and yellow. (Just so you aren't looking for the 'blue one'.)

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Fiskars Trowel

My favorites have not changed. Thought I would bring this thread back to life for new gardeners.

Any updates? Silvia, you should add your greenhouse!

Carol

This post was edited by love_the_yard on Sat, May 17, 14 at 12:51

The kids.
and then much like Lou:
Tractor with front end loader, box blade, plow, tiller, 6ft bucket, post hole digger, disk harrow and a trowel I sharpened and use to weed the garden

Fly swatter for smashing Lubbers.

I love, loved my bamboo saw. Until my hubbie stole it to use on some project in the garage. So I bought another one.

And my current favorite is my pitchfork, with which I have filled my trailer from the city dump, loaded into my yard wagon, and distributed the mulch all around my yard. On my fourth load. Should take only two or maybe three more until I'm done.

Hitachi 14" chainsaw. I have to trim the bamboo quite a bit and this little workhorse is commercial grade, light, well balanced and has an Oregon blade and chain...very easy to use one-handed.

Tom

No power tools in the garden. Coronas (nothing is better), an old serrated knife for Areca fronds and any other low palms (also works well on Monstera and Selloums), Fiskar loppers (worth the extra bucks, these are 15 years old), and behind them an old bow saw, sharp as hell.

Four other major tools - a 12' pole lopper for the Robelleniis, a 21' Hayauchi three-section pole saw (just replaced the 2-year-old blade - $79), a heavy, straight shovel with a sharp blade ($52 at Bushel Stop), and a 6 foot piece of heavy bamboo with a huge chrome hook in the end to pull dead fronds out of the Arecas.

One other critical tool(?) for the garden - hoses. Man, you can't have enough hose bibs. I now have 4 around the perimeter of the house and I'm still missing one for the entire northeast side of the garden. Every bib has a 50' hose with shutoff valve and heavy brass nozzle.

{{gwi:854272}}{{gwi:854274}}

c9pilot, is your bamboo saw like one of these?
http://www.hidatool.com/bamboo/bamboo-saws
Do you use it to cut bamboo? (That's why I would be getting one.)

Fawnridge wrote, "One other critical tool(?) for the garden - hoses. Man, you can't have enough hose bibs. I now have 4 around the perimeter of the house and I'm still missing one for the entire northeast side of the garden. Every bib has a 50' hose with shutoff valve and heavy brass nozzle.

Fawnridge, tell me more! I have been batting around the idea of adding more hose bibs. I've even bookmarked a few how-to sites, but haven't delved into the project. Are you plumbing them yourself with PVC? Did you use a 4x4 post in the ground or attach to the house? Please give details and a picture or two, if you can. I would be most appreciative. Here are some of my bookmarks. (To easily open a link, quickly click three times, right-click, and select Open Link in New Tab):

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23030205-Adding-a-hose-bib
http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/forum/topics/id-like-to-add-a-hose-bibb-or
http://70.85.43.66/showthread.php?t=171924
http://www.pro-handyman.com/home-repair-articles/adding-a-hose-spigot/
http://www.ehow.com/how_5836579_connect-garden-hose-water-line.html
http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?2388-support-for-hose-bib
http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?25699-Adding-a-hose-bib-to-main-irrigation-line

Carol

When I re-vamped the master bathroom 10 years ago, I had the plumber pop a hose bib through the wall. This is the west side of the garden, it's widest part. I put a Siamese connection on and attached a washing machine hose to the end of 20' of schedule 40 PVC pipe that runs down to the mistbed, where there's another Siamese - one for a 100' hose and the other for the mistbed.
{{gwi:854277}}
{{gwi:854279}}
{{gwi:854281}}

This one was part of the original plumbing. I hooked up a short length of hose and popped a bib through the aluminum frame of the screen enclose to water the plants on the patio.

{{gwi:854283}}
{{gwi:854285}}

Oh Fawnridge, that was beautiful! I know it took you awhile to get all that together - pictures and all - thank you for doing it. I really appreciate it! I am going to monkey-see-monkey-do your set up. I'll post pictures when I get it done. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Carol in Jacksonville

Mine are my Dramm water breaker nozzles. Fell in love with them when I worked at a plant farm, and have put out the money for them ever since. They are well-made and last forever, and there are different sizes for every watering chore. I love the Rose Nozzle, because it lets you water twice as fast.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dramm water breaker nozzles.