Caring for gardening tools is important by Meredith Lexter

Courtesy Google

I have a dirty little secret. I have been gardening for years, but I am terrible at caring for my gardening tools! I leave them out in the yard, put them away unwashed, and rarely (if ever) sharpen them. This summer I decided to turn over a new leaf and learn how to properly care for my tools. Here is what I found out. 

10 "Essential" Garden Tools

Photo courtesy Zac's Garden

Search the internet, and there are numerous lists of “essential” garden tools. Of course, your list will differ from others, based on the size and scope of your gardening efforts, your experience, the growing conditions in your landscape and your gardening goals. Following are ten of the most common tools that seasoned gardeners have in their shed.

Cleaning Your Garden Tools by Donna Duffy

Photo courtesy country file.com

Gardeners tend to get the mid-winter blues this time of year. Summer seems so far away! We nourish our gardening souls by looking through seed catalogues, feeding the birds, reading our garden journals from last year. But there are some gardening tasks that can be done now so you'll be ready when the ground thaws and the first shoots of spring appear.

Clean Your Garden Tools Quickly and Easily by Gail Wilson

January can be a grim time in the garden here along the Front Range.  Master Gardener Gail gives some good tips for taking on this task and January might just be the time to do that!

Best Garden Tool! by Donna Duffy

When I retired several years ago, a fellow gardener gave me a Hori Hori knife as a retirement gift. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. The Hori Hori was originally used for excavating bonsai in the mountains of Japan. Because the tool is small, it’s less destructive than a shovel and can be worked around fragile bonsai roots during excavation. I’ve heard that it’s also called a “diggy diggy.”

Garden Tasks to Prepare for Spring by Donna Duffy

Are these “warm” days giving you a case of early Spring Fever? Do you gaze out the window wishing you could get your hands in the soil? With the ground frozen, it’s still too early to get out and dig, but here are a handful of outdoor chores you can do to be prepared when Spring arrives.

1.    Add hardscape to your yard. Now is a great time to plan a walkway, add sculpture, or build garden structures. Design your own stepping stones; there are kits available to help you make them. Thumb through your old landscape and garden magazines for ideas.

Garden Tool Care at Its Finest: Oiled Sand by Gail Wilson

I have spent a fair amount of money on my garden tools and I work hard at keeping them in good shape.  One of the ways I do that is oiled sand and I would like to share that secret with you.

I use a 3-gallon plastic bucket because I found it at a thrift store but you can use a 5-gallon bucket or even a large trash can filled only about a third full.

To create the oiled sand I used general all-purpose sand and the most inexpensive motor oil I could find at the local big box store.  You can use mineral oil or vegetable oil but for me the motor oil was less expensive.   The success of the project is not dependent on the quality of the oil.    A 5-gallon bucket requires approximately ½ gallon of oil so for my 3-gallon bucket I used a total of about 1 and 1/3 quarts.  That is enough oil to moisten the sand but not enough to create a drippy mess.

Favorite Gifts for Gardeners by Donna Duffy

Throughout the year, and especially during the winter holidays, I often want to buy a special gardening gift for a friend. So I polled twelve gardeners to see what gift they’d most like to receive. Here’s their list (in random order):

Hori-Hori – You Gotta' Have This! by Donna Duffy

The word “Hori” is a Japanese word for digging.


When I retired last year, a fellow gardener gave me a Hori Hori knife as a retirement gift. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. The Hori Hori was originally used for excavating bonsai in the mountains of Japan. Because the tool is small, it’s less destructive than a shovel and can be worked around fragile bonsai roots during excavation. I’ve heard that it’s also called a “diggy diggy.”

As I’ve been working with my fellow Master Gardeners, I’ve noticed that people who own a Hori Hori use it for almost everything. Need to remove sod, transplant or split perennials? No problem! Need to cut through woody roots? Just grab a Hori Hori. One gardener has even used it as a small axe. It’s especially great for those oh-so challenging tasks like opening a bag of soil.

The Hori Hori is available with a carbon steel blade or a stainless steel blade. The blade is razor sharp and serrated. Some blades are marked to serve as a ruler for measuring depth. It has a large smooth wooden handle and is easy to use with one hand. It comes with a sheath that can be attached to your belt.

But beware – the carbon steel blade and wooden handle are easily camouflaged in the earth. I’ve lost mine a couple of times and found it partially buried in soil. Try one! I’ll bet you love it.