One of the most important steps in having a good vegetable garden is breaking the soil and preparing it for planting, and you need a few tools to do it right. The only hand tools you really need are a hoe, a steel garden rake, a garden line with sharp stakes at each end, a measuring tape or wooden measuring stick, and a spade or spading fork.
A putty knife and a trowel are handy to have if you grow your own transplants. For a large garden, consider investing in a rotary tiller. Take care to buy good-quality tools.
There are many types of hoes. Besides their use for weeding, hoes are handy for opening furrows and transplanting hills, covering seeds, and loosening the soil. Hoes are meant to cut, not chop, so keep their edges sharp; a dull hoe is almost useless. Purchase a hoe that is not too heavy and has a handle long enough that you can stand nearly straight when you use it. Wheel hoes are very good for larger plots. Buy one with sharp, thin blades. Those fitted with cultivator tines don’t do nearly as good a job, are harder to push, and disturb the vegetable roots a bit more.
Vegetable Gardening - Tools Of The Trade
A steel garden rake with strong, straight teeth is great for smoothing the soil and covering very small seeds. You can also use it to root out small weeds.
A garden line helps you keep the rows straight, and a measuring tape or stick enables you to space them properly. I like to use a wooden measuring stick instead of a tape because it’s easier for one person to manage. Rip a scrap of 1-inch pine 1 inch wide and 8 feet long. Then mark it with an indelible marker at 6 inches, 1 foot, 18 inches, 2 feet, 3 feet, and so forth. (I use it again in the fall for measuring my stacked stovewood.)
A flat-tined spading fork is handy for turning small plots. It requires less effort than a spade and breaks clods more easily. Be sure to get a flat-tined fork, since those with round tines are not meant for turning soil.
A good trowel is strong and narrow, with a strong shank. Don’t waste your money on a cheap one with thin metal that will bend. A trowel comes in handy for lifting transplants from flats and making transplant holes.
A narrow, strong-bladed putty knife is useful for blocking plants for hardening and for lifting transplants from flats. It’s also helpful in removing caked soil from tool blades. Keep your putty knife sharp.
A rotary tiller is almost a must for a big garden. Those with rear-mounted tines are sometimes easier to handle, particularly over hard ground, than those with front-mounted tines. They’re often more expensive, too. Tillers with 3-horsepower engines are fine for tilling clean ground that has been worked in previous years. But if you’re turning new ground or turning under a cover crop or other refuse, you’ll be better off with an engine of at least 5 horsepower.
Tool Care
Take care of your tools, and they’ll last a lifetime. Keep wooden handles smooth with fine sandpaper or steel wool. Those that have been varnished or polyurethaned will give you blisters in no time. Sand off the finish and rub the handle down with a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil.
Resand and recoat the handles each year before putting the tools up for the winter.
Remove paint or varnish from metal parts, and brighten them with emery cloth. Keep cutting tools like hoes and putty knives very sharp. Keep digging tools, like spades, slightly duller, since they my become badly nicked if too sharp. Rough out the blades with an 8- to 10-inch flat file, then finish with a medium-sized whetstone or scythestone with both coarse and fine sides. Avoid putting the blades onto an emery wheel. If used incorrectly, it can take the temper out of the steel.
Clean your tools after each use, and store them in a dry place. Scrape the soil from the metal, and wipe it clean with an oiled rag. If your tools have rusted, soak them in kerosene for a few hours, then use a wire brush or emery cloth to remove the rust. Give the metal a good coating of motor oil before storing the tools for the winter.
Remove, sharpen, and oil the blades of your rotary tiller each fall. Let the engine run until all the gasoline has burned, then remove the spark plug and put a teaspoon of light oil (10 W) into the cylinder. Turn the engine over a few times to distribute the oil. Drain the old oil from the crankcase, and replace it with new. Store the tiller in a dry place.
