Essential Garden Tools

Last fall I went to Walmart looking for a dandelion digger but I guess it was too late in the season and they were not carrying them at the time. When we went to Tractor Supply Company to get the chickens I picked one up for about $3.49 and it is quickly becoming my most essential garden tool. If you have never seen a dandelion digger it is a long handled tool with a sharp forked end.

As you can probably figure out by the name it is made to dig out dandelions by the root. You just stick it into the ground right next to the dandelion pry a little and Tah dah!

there's no way that thing is coming back. I've been using this little tool to help me weed my strawberry patch which for some reason was looking more like a dandelion patch than anything. This tool makes weeding so much easier I was actually wishing that there where more dandelions. It works really well to weed the strawberries because for some reason the weeds and strawberries grow very close together and it was sometimes hard to pull the weeds without damaging the strawberries. I was also using it to punch a hole for my starter onions, lettuce and broccoli. Love it.

This is another essential garden tool that we recently added.

It's just a simple pie plate attached to a stake but it helps to deter birds and other critters from the garden. The slightest breeze will make the plate move and turn and the glare on the plate along with the noise scares the birds. all the Mennonite gardens around us have these and I was pretty sure they knew what they were doing so we decided to give it a try this year. I've also heard that a plastic bag would have the same affect but I would think it would get filled with water if it rains.

you must know, however, that while they deter the critters they tend to attract toddlers.

A couple minutes after I chased this one away another toddler(belonging to the neighbors) had to be chased away as well. So you really need to decide which is more important; preventing your plants from being eaten by hungry birds or preventing them from being walked on by curious toddlers.
Spring has definitely started showing it's colors around here. Yesterday was just gorgeous and I spent the whole day outside weeding and enjoying the day.

The neighbor kids came over in the afternoon to play with Chase. He had been helping me. I was using a small weed bucket and having him dump it into this big bin when it was full.

He was really proud of himself for helping me and had to show his friends what he was doing. Of course they all wanted to help then.

Joanna was having fun too. She really liked pulling all the weeds out of my bucket after I put them in, also she liked eating the dirt and grass and sticks, yum.

Even Mishti was helping. The strawberry patch has a lot of clover in it and she was munching away on that for me:)

I still have a bunch to do today. Weeding is hard work! My back, knees and feet all ache, but it feels good to get out there again.

Look who got a haircut!