The growing popularity of power tools is helping gardeners plant more in less time while giving their plants a healthy boost.
By Kelly Lucia
Sponsored by Power Planter
October 2017
Photo Courtesy of Power Planter
Before the cordless electric drill came to the market in the 1960s, gardeners worked exclusively with hand tools, such as garden trowels and shovels. However, in the last 20 years more gardeners are using earth augers, largely because they are powered by electric drills, which most people already have lying around the house. While many gardeners still choose to do their gardening the traditional way, by hand, power tools such as earth augers tend to get the job done faster and more efficiently than shovels and garden trowels.
If you have experience with an electric drill, most earth augers are easy to use, and the best models have other benefits for gardeners looking to grow healthier gardens. For example, some augers feature a leading cutting edge, which places the brunt of the initial digging force onto the shaft rather than the outside edge of the auger. By diverting this force from the outside edge of the auger, a leading cutting edge will decrease stresses on the auger’s metal while creating a more stable drilling experience. Functionally, earth augers with a leading edge operate much like a field cultivator shovel.
Photo Courtesy of Power Planter
Drill for Growth
One of the best ways to set your plants up for a healthy life is to dig planting holes that are the correct size for the plant. When you use an auger that matches the size of the holes you want to dig, that job becomes much easier. Good initial soil contact for your plants is another important part of growing healthier plants in your garden. Augers break up the soil as you drill your planting holes, which gives your plants excellent soil contact from the start and helps encourage growth.
Backfilling planting holes with soil is an important part of the planting process, too. When you use a shovel, it doesn’t break up the soil while you dig planting holes. Backfilling then requires an extra step. Using an auger makes backfilling that much easier as the soil that’s removed by an auger has already been pulverized.
You can even use an earth auger to get rid of weeds near your established plants more efficiently. They let you get up close to the plants in your garden and get rid of the weeds while you’re digging holes for new plants.
Photo Courtesy of Power Planter
Power tools can open up a world of opportunity to maximize efficiency in gardening and can even allow gardeners to try out new techniques. When researching an auger for your garden, it’s best to use a larger diameter shaft that won’t bend, even in rocky or clay-heavy soils. When you complement this with a powerful cordless drill, you will be able to dig faster and more accurate planting holes, weed beds more easily, mix nutrients and fertilizer into your soil, and so much more.
Photo Courtesy of Power Planter
