Custom-Made Garden Tools

(Page 5 of 5)

January/February 1985
By John Vivian 
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The two-pronged Sweeder with its twin hacksaw blade does a fast job of in-row carrot weeding, clearing soil on both sides of the tiny seedlings in one stroke. My dad swears he couldn't grow his prize-winning salsify without it. You can use the notched tips (where the ends of the hacksaw blades are ground down to the mounting holes at the blade ends) to thin carrots, salsify, or any other tall, row-planted seedlings in one nip if you get them when they're young.

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And I've never found a weeding device that works so exquisitely close to a crop as the little diamond-head Sweeder. It's not particularly fast, but it's sweet. You can set one of the blade points right next to an onion stem and wrist-twist down and away... and out come the weeds.

The steel-strip-strengthened stirrup-blade Sweeder is made from a small bow-saw blade. With the fangs pointing toward the rear, it can remove weeds from the hardest soil, slicing them off just below ground level and right where they live in one quick and almost effortless stroke. Make it with teeth facing forward, and it's a weed pusher.

Well, those are my ideas. They all work great, but I bet you'll come up with your own styles and patterns. If you make one that pleases you, let MOTHER know. Maybe she'll pass it on to the rest of us!

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