Even the novice gardener can find success if she is armed with the proper tools. A sharp, heavy spade, good pruners, a hand trowel, a digging fork, a rake and a hoe are all the tools you need to grow plants. Somehow, we have allowed clever marketing companies to convince us we need bulb planters, lawn aerator sandals and the Garden Weasel rotary cultivator.
Let us begin with the bulb planter. They come in a variety of styles for the myriad of gullible gardeners. My personal favorite bulb planter to hate is the Bulb Bopper, an attachment that fits on your cordless drill, turning it into an efficient planting tool. The stainless steel bulb auger cylinder connects to most standard power drills and creates two-inch diameter planting holes up to nine inches deep. Seriously, what is wrong with a shovel? Power tools do not belong in the garden.
John Costa invented the Badger because he believed there had to be a better way to make a hole in the ground. I kid you not. This guy has been gardening for 50 years and he thinks there is a better way to put a hole in the ground. His website even included authentic banjo music to further seduce the gullible gardener. The Badger is a semi-automatic flower, vegetable and bulb planter. With eight years of aeronautical construction experience, Mr. Costa created this tool to make gardening easier. The Badger requires the user step down on a footrest. A cylinder is inserted into the ground. A plunger plate moves into an upwards position. A knob on the handle sets an Allen screw in place when turned clockwise. When the Badger is removed from the ground, a knob is rotated a quarter turn counterclockwise. The soil plug is discharged semi-automatically. Mr. Costa thinks this is a better way to put a hole in the ground.
Lawn aerating sandals make the user look ridiculous. If someone is willing to march around their lawn like a fool with these strap-on sandals that look like medieval torture devices, they might have a little too much time on their hands...and feet. According to online reviews from those brave enough to purchase them and then later admit they purchased them, the sandals do not stay on very well, are difficult to use, are difficult to put on, too heavy, difficult to walk in and are unwieldy.
The Garden Weasel rotary cultivator boast ease of use, solid construction and it is weatherproof. Considering it is meant to be used in the garden, these are all good things. The one thing Garden Weasel neglects to mention? The Garden Weasel is a piece of worthless junk unless you have perfect soil. No rocks, no clay, just perfect loamy soil like the kind you see, well, nowhere. With a promise to loosen soil and control weeds with half the effort, it is no wonder gardeners throw money away on this tool. Garden Weasel makes other tools as well and does not solely rely on sales of the original tool because if they did, they would have gone out of business years ago.
