Friday, August 31, 2007

Another New Tool

Last week after my blog post about my new grass clipping tool, Maud posted a comment telling me that she had the same grass clipping tool and really liked it and also that Fiskars has a long-handled dandelion digging tool that she was very pleased with. I checked on the Fiskars.com website and sure enough, there it was!

I haven't bought any new lawn or garden tools for quite a few years and because I liked the grass clippers so well (because I don't have to kneel down to use it), I decided I should try and find one of those dandelion diggers also.

I remembered seeing quite a few of the Fiskars tools at Menards last week, so we made a stop there again today on the way home from work. I had to ask someone where to find this tool and fortunately, there was one left which I promptly grabbed before someone else saw it.


It's about 36 inches long and quite simple to use.

Put the pointy teeth over your weed and push it into the ground (you can use your foot on the black tab sticking out to get it all the way pushed in).

Then slowly pull the handle sideways -- towards the black tab (which closes the teeth around the weed), until the weed pulls out of the ground.


Here's how it worked on dandelions.....how cool is that? Got the big long tap root and everything!
OK, let's see how it handles English Plantain (I hate that stuff!)

Wow, great job!
And now for the true test: thistles. Since our dry spell this summer, I have several huge thistle outbreaks in the lawn.

Thistles were a little bit tougher.

I tried on several plants and only managed to get the weed and the complete root on one of the tries.

Perhaps I'm not getting the whole plant centered in the teeth, or maybe I'm pulling it over too fast. Oh well, I must persevere and continue to hone my weed digging skills with this clever new tool.

Oh yeah, did I mention it was only $24.88? A heckuva deal!

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In the continuing "fun with hummingbirds" saga, I found a small red cap this afternoon that works to hold a few ounces of nectar. I sat out there with this cap in my hand for about half an hour, but the hummingbirds were reluctant to check it out and just went to the flowers nearby.

Finally the "idea light" went on over my head and I plucked a couple of verbena blossoms and floated them in the nectar.


Then the hummers were sipping nectar from that cap in less than 5 minutes (and sitting on my fingers to do it!) I'm fine tuning this idea a bit further and using one of those yellow plastic flowers from an old Perky Pet hummingbird feeder and hopefully my next post will contain photos of hummingbirds eating out of my hand! Stay tuned.....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

New tools and the hummingbirds eating out of your hand, I'm impressed. I'll keep watching to see what new tools you find and the continuing saga on hummers.
MOMq

Maud said...

Glad your dandelion weeder is working! I haven't had a thistle problem, so I have no experience from them.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Whooey! Can't wait to see your hummer pix!

Jayne said...

We have one of those weeder too...not the Fiskars model, but it works wonders!

Mary said...

Good Evening, Tool Lady Ruth! LOL!

OK, more hummingbirds ideas. You'll have me dreaming tonight :o)

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mom,
No more new tools purchased this weekend, but I did look pretty closely at a new Fiskars rake on clearance at Fleet Farm today.

Hi Maud,
Thanks again for the tip on this great new tool!

Hi Lynne,
No luck with photos yet--those feisty hummers keep chasing each other away! I'll keep working on it.

Hi Jayne,
Easy to use and very effective--my favorite kind of tool.

Hi Mary,
It's been great sleeping in the last few days & waking up at sunrise to hear & see the hummers visiting the salvia in the windowbox outside the bedroom window (not a dream!)

Larry said...

Can I use that tool to pull up poison Ivy?-I have lots of it and I'm very allergic.

Robin (Bumblebee) said...

I totally love tools. (That explains a lot about my love life re-husband.) Anway, I just ordered a contraption from Gardeners Suppli that you roll over the fall leaves to collect them.

Please -- no one email to tell me it doesn't work.

--Robin (Bumblebee)

Anonymous said...

That looks like a great tool! Never knew they had anything like this!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Larry,
I'm not sure if it will work on P.I. I did try it on a couple of weeds with tall stems and it didn't pull them out. I would guess you would still have to cut off the P.I. if it's tall in order to get the tool into the ground far enough to grab the root section.

Hi Robin,
You will have to do a post when your new leaf collection tool arrives and let us know how it works (maybe it will also be a wondrously spouse-friendly tool they will beg to use??) :-D

Hi Tom,
Isn't it great? This is another example of something new I have learned about from blogging!