Hello

I'm a product design student in Portland, OR. I am currently working on a project to improve the gardening experience for those 50 years and older. Here is my question. Out of all the tools you use for gardening, which one is the worst to use and why? Is one of your tools painful to use or not work as it should? Basically, what is your least favorite gardening tool/product and why? Any feedback you can offer me will be useful.

Thank you for your time!,

Andrew

Any tool with a wooden handle that loosens with time is highly annoying.

Shovels that lack rivets that go all the way through...the bowl of the shovel comes off (or breaks off) much too soon.

Big ratchet loppers that don't ratchet properly for pruning branches.

Any gardening tool that is green in color and gets lost in the vegetation. My favorite color may be green but there are times when a bright orange or yellow is the better choice.

A dibble. We all need one. We all have one. But buy one?? It's a STICK!!

dib·ble
ˈdibəl/
noun
noun: dibble; plural noun: dibbles

1.
a pointed hand tool for making holes in the ground for seeds or young plants.

verb
verb: dibble; 3rd person present: dibbles; past tense: dibbled; past participle: dibbled; gerund or present participle: dibbling

1.
make (a hole) in soil with a dibble.

This shovel is the worst tool I have ever purchased. It is marketed as an ergo tool.

Well it might be, but it is so heavy that I never use it. I leave it not on the fence line to clean up dog dung:)

Shadegardener said:Big ratchet loppers that don't ratchet properly for pruning branches.

I have two of these that often do not work properly.

Garden tools also have to keep smaller, weaker women in mind when being designed. I am short 5' 3" and have never found a hoe that is truly comfortable and easy to use for any length of time.

I agree with Greene! No green handled tools! Make them orange, and glow in the dark.

Cheap plastic hand tools that fall apart.

Cheap hose sprayers and wands that fall apart.

Gloves that fall apart.

Expensive wheel barrows that fall apart.

"Kneelers" that are too flimsy to hold my weight.

(There is a theme: cheap tools fall apart quickly and never work well. But many people buy the lowest price item. Every year! I understand that manufacturers would rather make the cheapest thing they can, and then make $10 profit on it every year when people have to buy new ones every year. if they made a better, more expensive model, they might only be able to make $9 profit on it ... and only sell it to me every ten-twenty years.)

Irrigation tubing and fittings where every manufacturer makes them a FEW thousandths of an inch different from every other manufacturer, hoping that everyone in the world will be "trapped" into buying only their parts forever.


Black and Decker String Trimmer Model # NST1018. That ding-dang furshluginer model number is totally WELL-HIDDEN inside the very long, ultra-fine-print "Caution" warning. (can you tell that I recently needed to figure out how to re-string a trimmer that was given to me without any Owner's Manual?)

OK, I'm old and my eyes stink. But maybe a LOT of customers are old.

I forgot to add something to my earlier post. This post is not political; it is about survival of families.

The tools should be made in the USA, of materials from USA, assembled and packaged in the USA and the workers should be American citizens.
Why should we all be skimping and saving to grow our own high quality food just so some manufacturing company can save 3 cents per unit?
Each country should be able to employ its own people before sending any jobs overseas. When the USA has 100% employment then, and only then, should the work be done elsewhere.

By-pass pruners never work as advertised. Junque!

Front-tine tillers are only slightly faster than a fork and many times more noisy.

Those itty bitty floating triangle hoes, forget what name they have. Mine is in the garage sale pile.

"By-pass pruners never work as advertised. Junque!"

I'd like to find some that will hold an edge for more than 15 minutes ! Even the high quality ones have to be re-sharpened before I finish a pruning session. A real PITA.

The worst for me might have been the "Garden Weasel." But in all fairness, that was because our soil was so heavy and full of rocks... I suspect it would work pretty well in my garden after working on the soil for the last 25 years.

And, as Frank said (more or less), heavier is NOT better -- we bought a rake a couple of years ago that I absolutely refuse to use, the thing is so heavy that I'm worn out by the time I carry it from the shed to the garden !

Of course, there are also the cheap hand trowels that bend when you try to dig... I have a couple now that are made of (I think) cast aluminum, with a coated handle, that I've had for years; if I ever lose those I am going to be devastated!

Oops, almost forgot to say Welcome to All Things Plants, @ajfdesigner !

I also agree with the handles on the small tools; especially my hand pruners (which are usually black coated). I would like to see a vivid color that I can readily find as I'm apt to set them down in the garden bed while pruning and after I've put the stuff in the bin, I sometimes have to waste time looking for them. I know I should carry them on my person -- but that's not always practical. Again -- Bright Colored Handles !!!

Elfie - I agree with you: if we all carried every tool we'd be using, we'd be weighed down with all of them and be unable to do a thing. Seems like a great idea to wear tools on a tool belt but highly impractical. They do need a GPS locater so we can find them without all the hunting.

GSP for each tool. A most excellent suggestion! That would also help if we loan a tool to a neighbor/friend/relative who 'forgets' to return it.

You're right!

But even more confusing for me would be explaining to our neighbors what gardening tools are and why we use them.

We painted some of our garden tool handles a bright red to make it easier to find them when we lay them down, works good for us and doesn't take much paint.

There is a product, like paint, to dip handles. I bought a can in yellow but haven't tried it yet.
http://www.usplastic.com/catal...