About 2 months ago I was asked by the producers at Canada AM to review some ‘different' gardening products, which I did. The results of which are listed below:
Weed Dragon ('garden blow torch')
Key points:
- It's a great idea for fast results (having a wedding next weekend and need to clear your drive ? great way to do it in a day…)
- It's fun in a ‘guy/power equipment' kind of way. My wife is afraid of it.
- Downside: It's dangerous! Can't use near anything combustible …wooden fence, vinyl siding, combustible clothing (which just about anything).
- It takes time to get used to starting it.
- This is a miniature fire cannon….. you could start a bbq with it in a minute!!
Grade: C plus
Aerating shoes
Key points:
- It's a good idea in principal….provides a useful service to your lawn while walking over it. They are lightweight and inexpensive.
- Reality: they are awkward, hard on your lower back (what would Libby think?) and only work on wet soil/lawn.
- As a gardener I want to use a ‘plug' aerator. One that pulls plugs out the ground – otherwise I am just squeezing the soil as I push the spikes down to make a hole, which will fill in with the next rainfall or next time that I water.
Grade: D
Mushroom Stool
- Great idea!
- I really like this one – easy on the back, extends the length of time that one can spend in a ‘crouch' position (which is very frequently in most gardens).
- Must useful for weeding, pruning, thinning veggies like carrots and radishes, pruning/weeding/staking tomatoes.
- After using this ‘tool' for a couple of hours in my veggie garden I realized that I could spend much more time doing ‘low' jobs with it than trying to do them in a crouch position……. I have better looking tomatoes for it!!
Grade: A
Premium knee pads
- Good quality/comfy fit around the back of the knees (some others cut off your circulation as you bend your knees) however they need to 'hing' in the middle so that I don't fill them with dirt when I am diggin/weeding.
- I would recommmend smaller with some flex in the middle to conform to the shape of your bent knee.
Grade: B
Heating pad (Gentle heat that speeds germination of seeds and early growth stage of new seedlings)
- I like it and it works. I started tomaotes with it and some without and there was about a two week difference between them (heated germinating/growing that much faster).
- Safe, low heat that comes on only when the air temp demands it.
- Water proof.
Grade: A
Mark Cullen