Our Favorite Tools

I was thinking about what to write about today and thought it would be fun to share Endeavor Farm's top 5 favorite tools. Having the right tools in your garden is so important in making work more efficient and easier for you and so here are some things that may help you out!

#1 - Hand Seeder

This is a very inexpensive and simple tool that has helped Terry out greatly when seeding trays or directly into the garden. Some of the seeds we plant, like lettuce or carrots, are so small that they are hard to plant one at a time in your hand. Using this tool, you can plant more efficiently by placing one seed in a time by lightly tapping the container making your seeds go further and eliminate the need to thin the seedlings once they grow.  There are many variations of this tool so whatever one you feel most comfortable with is just fine!

#2 - Dibble

Although this tool has a funny name, it is very helpful when transplanting. 

This tool allows you to make a hole in the ground that is just the right size for a seedling. 

#3 - String Line

This tool can be made by you and do not underestimate the effects of planting in a straight line! If you take an extra moment to plan out your rows, and lay this string out to plant along, you can plant in a much more efficient way. Not only can you maximize space in your garden but when it comes time to weeding, it is much easier to work in a straight path with either a hand cultivator or a rototiller and you end up damaging fewer plants.

#4 - Hard Rake

Preparing the beds is an often tedious but necessary task.  Removing rocks and large clumps of hard dirt from the beds and smoothing them out before planting will make a huge difference in the success of your vegetables.  This kind of rake is also very helpful in mounding soil to create raised beds. 

#5 - Rototiller

Last but not least for sure is the trusty rototiller. All of the tools above are hand tools but this is one machine that is imperative for the success of our garden.  If you don't have room to have a tractor run through your beds, this is a very good option.  Rototillers are instrumental in tilling up grass to make new beds, loosening the soil deep down for success of plants like carrots, mixing organic matter into  the soil, and adding oxygen to the earth.  This year we designed the width of the beds to accommodate the rototiller so that we can do more weeding with it and save time and our backs from hand weeding. 

I hope these are some helpful tips and although there are many other important things we use in the garden, these are our top picks (especially around this time of year when we are doing a lot of planting)!

I am in love with the cold frames and couldn't pass up showing you a picture of the beautiful lettuce and radishes.  We enjoyed our first salad from the garden this weekend and it was absolutely delicious!