January is not the easiest month in which to garden in West Marin. It’s cold and often wet. It is not a time for planting as much as for garden maintenance and pruning; for these chores, it is useful to have a stash of reliable tools to make your work as easy and pleasant as possible. This article describes some of the most useful ones I have found for keeping my garden trim and healthy until spring.
A quick review of garden tools available on the Web produces a stunning array of very elegant and often expensive equipment. I rarely buy something new, so the tools in my collection are worn but functional. My collection is an odd assortment of tools we inherited or acquired over the years. I’ve not been too particular about how elegant or expensive they are, though I do have a pair of clippers (pruners), which I think I bought in Japan, that I treasure. I would have fits if they ever got lost, so I’m careful to keep track of them.
One source I can recommend is Hida Tool and Hardware in Berkeley. You can check their Japanese tools online and then order what you need. I caution to pay attention to sizes: I once bought several hand tools online for my daughter, and learned later that they were designed for a large man’s hands, not her smaller hands. I also warn about the cost of many tools. For that reason, I suggest finding old, well-made garden tools at garage sales.
On the garden shelf in our garage, I have a red plastic caddy with two compartments and a handle. This is where I keep the small tools I use all the time. Here is a list of what is in my tool box: my Japanese pruners and another less elegant pair; two trowels, one wider than the other (the narrow one is mostly for weeding and planting small seedlings); a hand weeder with a slightly forked tip; two hand cultivators, one with curved prongs and the other with straight prongs, both useful for breaking up soil in a garden bed (I also use them for stirring the soil in my pots and containers); a small Japanese pruning saw in its scabbard; a measuring cup and funnel; two small sprinklers and a nozzle to attach to a hose for watering; and two pairs of garden gloves.
My tool box is light, easy to carry and goes with me when I am spending serious time in the garden. Usually, the loppers, too large to fit in the box, come along too. So does a plastic five-gallon bucket for weeds, debris and smaller prunings.
Some years ago, a gardener more serious than I am gave me a marvelous present: a “tip sheet.” It’s a sturdy plastic sheet about five feet square with handles on the corners. Spread out the tip sheet near where you are gardening and toss onto it weeds, debris, cuttings and such. When finished, lift the tip sheet by the corner handles and dump the contents in the compost bin or the green waste container. Very efficient.
In a corner of the garage, a wooden tool container holds four shovels, a hoe, two rakes, a broom, a pitch fork and a long-handled weeding tool; on the wall are two loppers and a tall, expandable tree pruner. In another corner we have a collection of five-gallon plastic buckets and three large tubs with handles. A large wheelbarrow in the basement serves too many purposes to list here. Our garden produces far more greenery than we need or want, so much of our effort, tools and containers help to move out the excess.
Back to January maintenance. This is a good time to inspect, clean and repair your tools and have them sharpened at the local hardware store. It is also, and this is much more fun, a good time to plan your spring and summer garden. When the growing season begins in earnest, you will be prepared in spades.
Julie Monson, an active Master Gardener for 10 years, enjoys designing and working in her own garden. She is publishing a book of many of her gardening articles written for the Light and the Marin Independent-Journal, to be available this spring. This column is sponsored by the Inverness Garden Club.