Category Archives: Tools

Noted: Garden Tech: An App to Water Your Lawn via Gardenista

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Garden Tech: An App to Water Your Lawn via Gardenista

Garden Tech: An App to Water Your Lawn via Gardenista

What can’t a smartphone do these days? It can buy you lattes, find out the baseball score, and measure how many steps you take in a day. It can check the weather forecast, and turn on your irrigation system. And if you’re using Hydros, a new smartphone app by Simple Elements, it can check the weather forecast and the moisture level in your soil before turning on your irrigation system. We like the idea behind it: saving water, saving money, and helping the planet while keeping the garden in good shape.

The founders of Simple Elements, Christy and Manuel Masri, invented Hydros after becoming frustrated with their old timer for irrigating the lawn. “We could set the days and how long to water,” said Christy. “But if we were out of town and didn’t know it was going to rain, there was no changing it. It would turn on the sprinklers in the morning, even though it might be raining in the afternoon. After that happened several times, we thought, ‘why not create a controller ourselves?'”

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“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts. 

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Summer in the Garden: Reclaim Metal Barrel Trolley

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I am always keeping a eye out for decent products for my own garden — even if they are just for my wish list. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting a series of products that might fit in my garden — or yours! — Douglas

Reclaim Metal Barrel Trolley

Summer in the Garden: Reclaim Metal Barrel Trolley

While I don’t think this wouldn’t quite fit my full-sized whiskey barrel, there are some other large containers that would benefit from being easily moved about the garden and patio. As you know, containers can get pretty darn heavy when filled with soil and plants and you don’t — or can’t — easily move them around. Our friends have a living Christmas tree they move in and out each holiday season and a trolley like this could be just the item for making that a bit easier to do, too.

More plant dollies, trolleys and tools from Amazon.com

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Previously in Summer in the Garden:

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Noted: Cheap thrills: my must-have budget garden tools via A Way to Garden

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Cheap thrills: my must-have budget garden tools via A Way to Garden

Cheap thrills: my must-have budget garden tools via A Way to Garden

I LOVE FINE GARDEN TOOLS: My edger that has lasted more than 25 years with no signs of wear; my stainless border spade; the long-reach telescoping pruners with precision snipping power from a distance. But I also pack my tool tote with cheap stuff—some under $10—that I couldn’t live without. Things like these:

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Some of my favorite gardening tools

Some of my favorite tools

Find more garden tools on Amazon.com

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Noted: The Best Composters for Kitchen Scraps via The Sweet Home

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The Best Composters for Kitchen Scraps via The Sweet Home

The Best Composters for Kitchen Scraps via The Sweet Home

If we were looking for a low-maintenance composter for your yard, we’d get Earth Machine, a composter that’s big enough for most households and often available at a substantial discount from local Public Works departments. It’s easy to assemble without tools, the top opens large enough to stir and aerate the compost (or dump in a whole watermelon), it keeps rodents out of your compost-to-be, it holds together well over time, and it’s made of at least 50% post-consumer recycled polyethylene. The open bottom allows your compost-assisting worms to snuggle into your pile, and you can attach the Earth Machine to the ground with included screws or tend stakes to keep compost-consuming raccoons from knocking it over. Overall, it’s cheaper, simpler to put together, more secure against pests, and more ecologically friendly than other composters.

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More composters from Amazon.com

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts. 

Find more Noted/Shared Gardening items

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Summer in the Garden: Fiskars Garden Tools – Some of my favorites

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I am always keeping a eye out for decent products for my own garden — even if they are just for my wish list. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting a series of products that might fit in my garden — or yours! — Douglas

Fiskars Garden Tools

Some of my favorite tools, I own both the PowerGear Pruner/Lopper and the PowerGear Bypass pruners mentioned below. I’ve also included a couple of other Fiskers tools that I have on my own Wish List. I believe Fiskars still has a lifetime warrantee on breakage. I once snapped the blade on my PowerGear Lopper and the local home store replaced it with no questions asked.

I have found these tools to be great workhorses in the garden. As most gardener’s do I often use them on stems and branches far outside their rated size. (I think we all do it every so often when we are trying to get the work done) Except for the blade break when I, stupidly, twisted the lopper trying to free them from a branch, they have survived everything I could throw at them.

Fiskars UltraBlade PowerGear Bypass Pruner with GripEase | Fiskars 15 Inch PowerGear Super Pruner/Lopper

Fiskars 9124 Professional Bypass Pruning Shears | Fiskars Garden Multi-Snip with Sheath 

Find More Fiskers Tools from Amazon.com

Previous mentions of Fiskars on DouglasEWelch.com

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Previously in Summer in the Garden:

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Summer in the Garden: PHAT TOMMY Elevated Planter Box

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I am always keeping a eye out for decent products for my own garden — even if they are just for my wish list. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting a series of products that might fit in my garden — or yours! — Douglas

PHAT TOMMY Elevated Planter Box

Are you or someone you know, movement impaired? These planter boxes could get you back into the garden again. No bending to plant or weed once they are filled with soil. I could foresee even hanging pots from the side of the box to give you a bit more growing space. There are a host of planters available iike this. You can find more using the link below. If this one doesn’t fit your needs, perhaps another would. Check it out!

Summer in the Garden: PHAT TOMMY Elevated Planter Box

More elevated garden boxes from Amazon.com

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Previously in Summer in the Garden:

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Summer in the Garden: Teak Potting Bench

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I am always keeping a eye out for decent products for my own garden — even if they are just for my wish list. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting a series of products that might fit in my garden — or yours! — Douglas

Home Styles Bali Hai Potting Bench, Natural Teak

Teak potting bench

I would love this potting bench in my own garden. I don’t really need the wheels, as my garden is rustic paths with wood chips, but the storage and work surfaces are excellent. This would certainly be an upgrade from the repurposed door and sawhorses I have now. (LAUGH)

More potting benches and information from Amazon.com

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

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Noted: Planting Seeds Is Easier With Garden Row Markers via Our Little Acre

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Planting Seeds Is Easier With Garden Row Markers via Our Little Acre

Row markers

As a garden writer, I receive a number of garden products to try in my own garden each year, some new, some not. I enjoy doing this because in some cases, it allows me to try something I’d never heard of before and might never, had it not been brought to my attention. When I’m approached with something to review or try, I don’t always say yes. If it’s not something that I think I would actually use in my garden or that I feel that is not well-designed or well-made, I’ll pass.

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“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts. Find more Noted/Shared Gardening items

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Video: In the garden…November 17, 2013: Monitoring automatic watering timers and soaker hoses

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Agn artwork

A quick overview of my system of electronic timers and soaker hoses and how to monitor them so you are sure they are working well and appropriately.

Itg 20131117 thumb

Check out what was happening in the garden a year ago: “In the garden…November 14, 2012 – Tree Trimming Montage“

Check out my collection of gardening essays, “From A Gardener’s Notebook” now available as a Kindle eBook. (You don’t need a Kindle to read it, though. Read it on your PC, Link: http://j.mp/fagnbook

 

Watch all past episodes of “In the garden…” in this YouTube Playlist




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“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.

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In the garden…June 28, 2013: Installing an electronic timer for my soaker hoses

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Agn artwork

Update: June 28, 2014: Unfortunately, none of the 3 timers I installed lasted more than a couple of months. They all exhibited problems opening and closing the water valve. By the clicking noise they all made, I am guessing the gears for the valves failed after a while. Badly disappointed and I have returned to using the manual clockwork timers I originally replaced. These seem to have a much longer duty cycle.

I install the second of 2 electronic water timers on my soaker hoses in the back garden, replacing some mechanical timers. I did this in order to increase the amount of water for certain sections of the garden without having to turn them on manually each day. This will be especially important when we go on a short vacation and leave the garden in the care of our “garden sitter.” (SMILE)

Rainbird R672CT Water Timer

itg-20130628

Watch all past episodes of “In the garden…” in this YouTube Playlist

Please Like this video and/or subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

Your likes and subscriptions directly reflect how many other viewers are suggested this video.

“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related posts:

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