i've had one for years, and LOVE it!! wouldn't be without it. so handy for all sorts of things, but i mainly use it to whack out soil from clumps of lawn when i enlarge a bed. also for quick edging of some small areas. can't say i've used it for seperating perennials much, as i don't have the hand strength to pry roots apart. it's one of my favorite garden tools!

(along with my SmartCart and my new fab SpearHead spade and my Felco pruners....!!)

I've had one for about 10 years. It's a useful tool. But it's still difficult to dig weeds in Colorado's heavy clay soil.

I don't have one..... :-)

I have (had?) one and don't use it - when I tried to use it, it didn't really do anything (in terms of cutting through roots, which is what I wanted it to do). I wonder if it's somewhere in the garage or whether I tossed it.

Thank you for the reminder. Lee Valley stock them. Another is the Japanese folding, pruning saws. Lee Valley, one of my favorite browsing places.

Sorry, I favor Bahco shears over Felco. And then there is my favorite garden spade - have replaced the handle twice. Couldn't be without it.

This post was edited by boday on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 17:36

Another tool that I would recommend. The short handled San-Kaku hoe stocked by Lee Valley. Shaped like a triangle, the edge is used for shallow weeding, the point breaks up lumps. Great in flower beds, in between plants.

Mine's stainless, gift from my brother, has a little longer handle. I wouldn't be without it. I try not even to venture out to look things over without that knife and my felcos because I'm just turning around and coming back for them if they aren't within reach.

I suspect that, like mxk3, if I had one it would end up in the collection of 'looked like a good idea but not used' tools :-) My favorite multi-purpose tool is a simple J-shaped crack weeder. It is handy for many things e.g. quick touch-up to edging; run the flat blade under grass roots to lift sod when making or enlarging a bed; use the end to pull loose/untangle pot-bound roots; pry loose small rocks; etc. The crack weeder and the 'crash scissors' that Lee Valley Tools used to sell (they now sell a modified version called clamshell scissors...) are the two tools that are constantly with me and well used.

Here is a link that might be useful: crack weeder

I have a hori hori knife. Bought this from Gardener's Supply approx. 25 years ago, along with my Felco pruners #2, both of which are still the basic gardening tools on my belt. (And a Corona folding saw - LOVE my Corona folding saw.)

I use the hori knife mostly for planting or transplanting small plants or seedlings and doing a little weeding or cultivating. It's good for digging down into the roots of say, dandelions. It's still in pretty good shape but the rivets have gotten a little loose.

I have always been interested in picking one of these up. Maybe I will just keep an eye on a second hand one based on theses comments. It seems like a good idea!

The one tool I couldn't live without is my WWII folding entrenching shovel. It has a wide enough head to quickly dig and excavate a hole for any sized plant. It is rugged enough to stomp on with your foot to get down quickly. And when it's used in the axe angle, you can cut through any clay soil they make in no time... Much easier then a full sized shovel. I rarely used my trowel for anything except when planting my seedlings in the spring. It's the perfect size between a full shovel and small trowel.

Here is a link that might be useful: Trencher

Oh, a hori-hori is a wonderful hand weeder, especially on the reviled wild onions and garlic. With its long blade it gets down 7 or eight inches. I've been working on eradicating the onions for 15 years and never found a tool that worked as well.
Mine was found at TJMaxx (a discount store) for half price. It might even be OXO,which makes a huge variety of hand 'tools' with comfortable handles.

UPDATE:

It is rare during gardening season that a day goes by where I don't reach for this tool. It is excellent.

I just bought one a few months ago, this thing is a champ for tackling weeds - I wouldn't use anything else!

Have had it for years and could not live without it. The Lee Valley one is slightly different. Love it, use it all the time.

Yep, I have one, had it for donkey's years from Lee Valley a very useful tool indeed. I think the blade part is made of stainless steel now? mine isn't.

Annette

Rouge, I was just thinking a doing a post on this very item!

I just bought one a few weeks ago - a stainless steel model from Amazon and I wonder how I survived without it. It makes digging planting holes in my rocky moderate clay soil a breeze. And I weeded an entire huge area in about 20 minutes. I even used it to deadhead a few plants as my Felco pruners weren't in reach.

On the other hand, woodyoak, I just bought a long handled crack weeder and it doesn't seem to work for me at all. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Or is a crack weeder only good for small weeds? I've got some pretty tall crab grass coming up through various cracks between the street and my driveway.

I just have an old paring knife, which does a lot of things for me. This looks quite a bit bigger, and curved, but there are bigger knives at the Salvation Army.

Probably the tool I use the most, definitely well worth what I paid for it!

I agree with aseedisapromise - my favorite and most indispensable garden tool is an old chefs knife. Good for removing deep rooted weeds, good for dividing or cutting through roots, good for disemboweling slugs, good for planting small starts or digging up seedlings. Next to my Felcos, hand rake and three pronged cultivator, this tool is always in my go everywhere garden basket (together with gloves, stretchy tying tape and cheap scissors).