Gardening tools have been making the job easier for centuries.
Gardening tools make gardening easier. The right tool for the job means a more efficient gardening process and better yields as a result. Tools have been used all through history, made better, reinvented and still they resemble the originals. Many of the hand tools used today are merely slight revisions of those used by farmers and gardeners for centuries.
Watering Can
The watering pot became the watering can after Lord Timothy George noted the term watering can in his gardening diary in 1692. A container holds water and distributes it through the spout; this device enabled gardeners to water directly. In more contemporary versions, the spout often begins at the bottom of the can, enabling a smoother flow of water until the container is empty. Some cans "rain" through multiple holes; other varieties come out through a singular opening. The Haws watering can, patented in the 1880s, came with a handle that had been moved from a top position to a rounded handle in the rear of the can.
Daisy Grubber
The daisy grubber removes unwanted weeds and overgrowth in the garden. Its short wooden handle extends about 2 inches and splits into two. The weed is forced out of the ground by placing the forked end of the daisy grubber at the base of a weed and with a hard push, slicing through the soil and into the weed's stem. The daisy grubber cuts through the stem, and the weed is removed.
Seed Dibber
A seed dibber makes a hole in the dirt, and the gardener drops a seed in the hole. An antique tool, this device has a conical piece that makes a hole in the earth. The dibber tool has been designed with and without a handle. Some designs have a broader end for pushing the earth gently over the planted seed. A variety of seed dibbers have a handle shaped like a T that works better for hardened earth or hard-pan. Tools like the seed dibber are catalogued in books from Europe and the UK.
Corkscrew Weeder
The corkscrew weeder comes from the British Isles and the early 1900s, common for weeding the many gardens of the period. The corkscrew is an open steel spiral on a wood handle. By holding the device firmly and twisting it into the base of the weed, the roots are dislodged and brought up and out of the soil when the screw is removed.
Pruning Knife
The pruning knife is shaped like a scythe and cuts like it through herbs, vegetables, roots and fruits. Fixed to a wooden handle, the pruning knife has been referenced in gardening books from the early 19th century. In art from much earlier than that, this little knife takes on magical proportions as directions were given for harvesting the right plant at the right time. Roman period knives of this type were found in the dig at the Mosel River valley.
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