The Frugal Gardener

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Compost is best handled with a pitch fork when it is coarse and a spade or broad shovel when it is fine. Compost leads us to another tool for carrying the material from the compost pile to the garden. The cheapest is a bushel basket. You may be able to get one free from a market or restaurant. You will most likely want either a wheelbarrow or garden cart. Barbara prefers the cart, and I prefer the wheelbarrow. I probably think subconsciously that a wheelbarrow is more macho. My wheelbarrow is a construction type, the biggest and best. Don't get anything less. Some tube-metal thing will be junk before you get it home. It's ability to carry any weight is ridiculous. It can't carry a bale of hay without getting wiggly, and I end up dumping whatever I'm hauling. Relegating yourself to wheeling dainty grass clippings or leaves will make you feel foolish.

When I bought a cart I got the largest, but that turned out to be a mistake. It's too big for Barbara to handle happily and so I find myself recruited for a job she would have done alone if the cart had been a size smaller.

...And the Last Two Tools

I like straight rows. It is not just neatness or being a control freak. Straight rows are easier to cultivate. Besides, I do think they look nice. To aid in this pursuit, I have two, old aluminum tent pole sections about four-feet long with 60 feet of really wonderful twine tied between them. I marked the poles at half-foot intervals so I can use them to measure distances between rows. The twine is seldom unwound more than 25 feet, but the garden is 50 by 60 so I can mark a straight line along any side with my device. The twine is nylon (someone gave it to me when they heard me complaining about my garden rowmarker twine breaking all the time).

I like an old-fashioned broad hoe for making furrows for planting potatoes, peas, corn, and beans. The other rows can be made with my hand, or if I don't want to bend over, the handle of the hoe. They are generally no more than a line drawn on the surface of the soil for seeds that will only be covered with a sprinkling of soil. In the absence of a spade, a hoe like this can be used to mix compost in hills also.

That's it. A fork or spade, a rake, two poles, string, a broad blade hoe, and a basket, wheelbarrow, or cart. A good fork, rake, and hoe can be purchased for about $100, and, if properly maintained, they will outlast you. Maintenance is simple. Keep them clean and don't leave them outside.

The hoe will do a fine job of cultivating between rows 10 days after planting and then 10 days after that. It will be good for leaning on the rest of the year when you visit the garden, a prop to make people think you're working. There are a lot of different kinds of hoes, and as the years go by you may be tempted to buy another, lighter hoe for cultivation. I have two I love, but since I can only use one at a time one has become obsolete.

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