Gardening: Work smarter, not harder, with these gardening tools

I braved the cold last week to survey the state of my tool rack and assess how useful some of my tools are that make gardening easier.

Here are several of my unusual but valuable ones when a challenging job presents itself:

First up is a repurposed dry wall saw I use for sawing roots in the dirt. Made by Shark, the Rockeater Drywall Saw is about a foot long with a 6-inch blade and lightweight enough to be flexible when needed unlike a hori hori knife. Its handle is comfortable to hold, and its aggressive teeth cut on both the push and pull stroke and can easily cut through a 1- to 2-inch root.

The teeth stay sharp even when they repeatedly run through the dirt. It took me more than five years to wear my first one out. Its available at www.sharkcorp.com/rockeater-dry-wall-saw-6-7-tpi/ for around $20.

My second unusual but handy tool is a repurposed tine weeder sold by Johnny’s Seed. I first bought it to do weeding in the vegetable garden to clear the weeds that had come up with my vegetable seeds. Its tines were supposed to disturb the roots of the weed seedlings but not the slightly deeper vegetable roots.

I wasn’t impressed with the results, and it hung on the tool rack unused until last fall when I started raking pine needles out of my beds. I found that the tines would gently pull the needles off the plants without tearing them up. It is also lighter than a traditional grass rake which makes the work easier.

My last tool is a post hole auger that is much more efficient for digging holes than either a clam shell digger or a heavy power-driven post hole auger. It stands about 30 inches tall and is rotated into the ground by its handle to a depth of about 2 feet. The auger efficiently catches the dirt so it can be pulled out of the hole. It fits into tight spaces because its handle is movable.

I bought my original one at a local feed store 40 years ago and then rescued another one from the scrap yard. A recent online search found one made by the Seymour Midwest Co. and available through Grainger (www.grainger.com) or Zoro (www.zoro.com) using the key words “Seymour Midwest soil auger.” The price is around $130 without shipping.

As our weather begins to warm up, it’s time to go through your tool rack and clean and sharpen your tools before you tackle spring gardening projects. Sharp shovels, pruners, hoes and trowels will make your work easier. Sanding down and oiling tool handles will remove burs and splinters and add years to the life of your tools.

If your power tools need service, now is a good time to take them to the shop. The shop can work them into their rotation and have them back to you before you really need them. This will prevent breakdowns when you need the machine most.