digitS'
Garden Master
I'm not really trying to expose crime and corruption with it but, ladies and gentlemen, I give to you, my muckrake:
There is a heftier version of this kind of tool: the potato fork. I have always wanted one but have never been quite sure of its usefulness for cultivation purposes.
A lighter weight version is a 4-prong cultivator - I've got one of those. (And, I have the short-handled 3-prong cultivator - a useful tool for weeding that I can use sitting on an upside-down bucket in the garden.
The muckrake may well be known under a different name but I only know "muckrake." Honestly, I'd like to use a more respectable name for it as I'm not raking muck in the garden. Lacking the investigative talents of a true muckracker I'm at a loss . . .
I use this tool for cultivation. To the full depth of 5" to 6", it does an admirable job!
The bed the tool is lying on was trenched out with a spade last fall. The trench was layered with compostables (mostly, frost-killed garden plants) and refilled. The soil is wonderfully soft, there are a few spring weeds but they will be dispatched quickly with the muckrake as I work around the bed, 1st in one direction and then, the opposite way.
By the time this simple task is complete, the bed will be fairly level, any fertilizer sprinkled on the surface will be thoroughly incorporated into the top half-foot, and the bed will be ready for transpants. I can quickly go over it with a garden rake and it will be just about perfect as a seed bed for sowing.
Simple, easy to use, cheap, and efficient - a good garden tool.
Steve
& his muckrake: exposing crime, fraud, waste, graft, and illegal financial practices
There is a heftier version of this kind of tool: the potato fork. I have always wanted one but have never been quite sure of its usefulness for cultivation purposes.
A lighter weight version is a 4-prong cultivator - I've got one of those. (And, I have the short-handled 3-prong cultivator - a useful tool for weeding that I can use sitting on an upside-down bucket in the garden.
The muckrake may well be known under a different name but I only know "muckrake." Honestly, I'd like to use a more respectable name for it as I'm not raking muck in the garden. Lacking the investigative talents of a true muckracker I'm at a loss . . .
I use this tool for cultivation. To the full depth of 5" to 6", it does an admirable job!
The bed the tool is lying on was trenched out with a spade last fall. The trench was layered with compostables (mostly, frost-killed garden plants) and refilled. The soil is wonderfully soft, there are a few spring weeds but they will be dispatched quickly with the muckrake as I work around the bed, 1st in one direction and then, the opposite way.
By the time this simple task is complete, the bed will be fairly level, any fertilizer sprinkled on the surface will be thoroughly incorporated into the top half-foot, and the bed will be ready for transpants. I can quickly go over it with a garden rake and it will be just about perfect as a seed bed for sowing.
Simple, easy to use, cheap, and efficient - a good garden tool.
Steve
& his muckrake: exposing crime, fraud, waste, graft, and illegal financial practices