Modified standard garden trowel - "snub nosed trowel"

[no_akira]

Sorry to breath life into this old post...

But look what I found on t'a internet

Its called a "Square Head Trowel" and is available in the good ol' USA

[no_akira]

Found a cheap <£3 metal trowel in a leading high street store and applied this mod

Top down view



Underside of modified cheap trowel



Rounded off the sharp edges using metal file

Try not to sharpen too much (safety) as the trowel will naturally sharpened with use.

Note: L shape of sharpened edge, flowing across the top and down the right hand side when looking down at the back of this snub nosed trowel.

Wolf tools are very robust. I’m on heavy clay and they are great, inherited a very well used three prong cultivator and wooden handle (which probably indicates it’s age to you VC) and gradually adding more heads (got a rake and the tiller so far) when they have specials at our locat garden centre on them. Not cheap but you can see where the money is going.

VC what is that head called as it looks like my cultivator with an extra bit which looks a super useful addition.

Might be worth checking out car boots and fairs as well. Most of mine are second hand but there was a bloke that just sold garden stuff at the car boots so a lot of mine came from him.

As has been said Wolf is very robust.

I love the push pull weeder. https://www.wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/m...ll-weeder-10cm

[veggiechicken]

Its the Cultiweeder. https://www.wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/m...ltiweeder-10cm
I've been using it for about 20 years and its still as good as new. Seems pretty tough to me as its been used on all sorts of rough ground without a hiccup.
Its the tool I would take to a desert island.

[Bluenowhere]

Wolf tools are very robust. I’m on heavy clay and they are great, inherited a very well used three prong cultivator and wooden handle (which probably indicates it’s age to you VC) and gradually adding more heads (got a rake and the tiller so far) when they have specials at our locat garden centre on them. Not cheap but you can see where the money is going.

VC what is that head called as it looks like my cultivator with an extra bit which looks a super useful addition.

[no_akira]

VG that wouldn't last 5 mins in my soil unfortunately, looks nice...

[veggiechicken]

Perhaps a new thread "100 uses for your "snubbed nosed trowel!"

Its "Your" trowel - I have no use for it as I use a .

It hoes, weeds, rakes, makes drills, levers out roots, drags and has a long handle or a short handle depending on how far you need to reach. I also have a small hand tool version and they are my go to tools for any occasion. I use a fork for digging out tap rooted weeds and secateurs - and a bulb planter or a broken off spade handle dibber. That's my go to tool kit - nothing else required.

[Bluenowhere]

As for planting spuds - bulb planter. Seriously, I was so please when another grape mentioned it. Talk about making a job easy....

Sorry slight tangent but thanks NG had forgotten about using a bulb planter for spuds.

Already have one of those but not the required tools or desire to butcher my trowel, as I’ve only got the one unfortunately.

[no_akira]

Got a bulb planter NG I use it for my "Jerusalem Artichoke bed".

Always leave my roots in unless there dock or dandelions or other deep rooted weeds. Need the biomass in my clay / sand mix soil.

I always plant my tatters by hand building up the soil around them. Also its because I start my potatoes in pots indoors then transplant them. A delaying tactic gives me a chance to prepare the beds over the spring period. Probably a long winded way but hey why make a job simple when you can make it really long winded and complicated...

If your weeds are that established so not so good for a hoe would you not want to get the roots out? I am rubbish at hoeing regularly and although my soil is just claggy rather than heavy I tend to resort to hand fork to level weed and breaking the ground then hand pulling.

As for planting spuds - bulb planter. Seriously, I was so please when another grape mentioned it. Talk about making a job easy....

[no_akira]

I'll tell you what it is good for, scalping bushy weeds off an old mound of soil.

I've got a mound of soil that from last year that I left to break down and over the year its now covered in 6" high young bushy weeds. Pushing the weeds to one side I get in there with this sharpened snub nosed trowel and stab at the base of this mass. I then roll the mass of weeds across and stab some more, rolling the weed mass up in to a ball. De-weeded the soil mound in about 5 mins...

Also it creates a larger wedge shaped hole for when I planted my potatoes yesterday.

Perhaps a new thread "100 uses for your "snubbed nosed trowel!"

[Bluenowhere]

I’m going to take a stab that I’m younger that some of you fine people and I love my hoe.

Started using my trowel to scrape the weeds on the bed my onions are now planted in, seemed like a good idea until it took ages to clear a small section. Then realised that’s the reason man invented the hoe, cleared the weeds in no time and was far kinder on my back and knees. Quick dig/fork over and remove the perennial roots then bingo onions in.

Each to their own though I imagine it would be good for a very small bed but on my 1x2.5m bed hoe, fork then cultivator were perfect.

[Greenleaves]

I am with VC, I want to look after my back as you only get one!

If you are happy gardening the way you do, then that's all that matters

[no_akira]

Your standard trowel is too curved, I wanted the same profile as "stirrup hoe" but in a handy "stabbing motion" hand tool.

[Jungle Jane]

You could’ve just sharpened the original trowel?