Sweet Gum Trees and New Garden Tool Innovations

Ergonomically correct garden tools from www.mygreathomeandyard.com/

By Yolanda Vanveen

I am all about minimalism.  You don’t need Martha’s tool shed filled with shiny perfect  utensils of all types to garden.   A good weeder,  shovel,  pitch fork, hoe, rake,  branch cutter and clippers is all you need.  I seem to break the ergonomically correct tools I purchase and prefer the traditional chunky tools of substance.

In my experience, Fiskars has always been the Mercedes of tools with their long-lasting quality lines.  They are worth the investment for the tools you use most.  They are great gifts for gardeners as are all quality tools.   I misplace my tools often so prefer to go the less expensive route so I don’t feel so bad if I find them next year underneath the rhododendron bushes.  I don’t go dollar store cheap either because those tools will break the first time you use them.  I try to go in the middle range.

Growing up on a cut flower nursery, we always used Corona tools.  We had a booth at the wholesale  Farwest nursery show in Portland each year because we sold Christmas trees and arborvitaes as well as many other plants and then added cut flowers.  Corona always had the booth next to us. They have a great line that is also very dependable and at the same time affordable.

If you could design any tool for the garden, what would be your dream innovation?  What tool would make your life easier?  You would be surprised that it may  already be out there.

A Report from #toolchat on Twitter

New Garden Tool Innovations was the topic of #toolchat on Twitter last week and it was a very informative discussion.

Innovation #1  Tool to pick up sweet gum balls

Tonette, a gardener from Atlanta, wanted an easier solution for picking up sweet gum balls that covered a quarter of  an acre with tens of thousands of these sticky balls impossible to clean up.

Being from the Northwest  I thought she was talking about Eucalyptus because they call them gum trees in Australia. Apparently, it is a different plant all together.  So on #toolchat I learned about a plant I have never heard of before.  Bonus.   According to Wikipedia, Liquidambar styraciflua -

American Sweetgum

is native to eastern North America from New York to Texas and also eastern Mexico to Honduras.

Sweetgum (Liquidambar) is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the family Altingiaceae, though formerly often treated in the Hamamelidaceae. They are all large, deciduous trees that  have a pleasant aroma when crushed. The flowers are small, produced in a dense globular inflorescence  stem.

The fruit is a woody multiple capsule (popularly called a “gumball”),  containing numerous seeds and covered in numerous prickly, woody armatures, possibly to attach to fur of animals.  In more northerly climates, sweetgum is among the last of trees to leaf out in the spring, and also among the last of trees to drop its leaves in the fall, turning multiple colors.

The hardened sap, or gum resin, excreted from the wounds of the Sweetgum, for example the American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), can be chewed on like chewing gum and has been long used for this purpose in Southern United States as a substitute for chewing gum.

Liquidambar styraciflua - American Sweetgum

Tonette from Atlanta tweeted, ” These Sweetgum are driving us crazy.    They make a mess.    They’re spread across 1/4 acre in the front.  I need a tool that would make this job easier. There are probably 10,ooo of them. “

Here were some of the replies:  (Thanks to everyone that tweeted solution ideas)

1.  A tool that sweeps or rakes across a wide area, then vacuums up & shoots into a barrel…like 20 of them.  Here is a plow that could work to put them in piles:

2. An attachment to your riding lawnmower that vacuums up the sweet gum balls:

3.   An attachment/sweeper that drags behind a lawn tractor for the gumballs.

4.   A large scoop shovel:

5.   A giant vacuum cleaner that picks up everything and then shreds it in tiny pieces:

6.    Apparently Sears is planning to come out with a tool that looks like a bingo ball picker attached to a stick that would work perfectly for the job.  It should be available this Spring.

7.  Have a cookout for neighborhood kids… pay them $.10 for every hundred they pick up, and a bonus for the most

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Innovation #2  A weeder that is a cross between a screwdriver and a fondue fork:

Each summer I enjoy sitting in my lawn with a screwdriver and removing the dandelions one at a time.  It goes quickly.  I like to add compost over any weeds and reseed the lawn each spring and fall and that keeps them under control so there aren’t too many in the summer.  I started thinking to myself…….

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a tool that was a cross between a screwdriver and a fondue fork that could be used as a weeder?

Well apparently I am not the only one because there are weeders on the market which are a close combination already.    Here they are:

1.  The Hori Hori Knife Weeder

2.  The Corona E-grip Weeder- Front View  www.coronatoolsusa.com

The Corona E-grip Weeder Side View:
Red Pig Tools Asparagus Fork:   www.redpigtools.com

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What is the best all around tool to have in your garden?

1.   Clippers that are precise enough to cut flowers but strong enough to cut small branches:

#2  Hand Mattox (Pick)-Great for working up the soil and getting to the roots of plants…

Thanks for all of the great tweets everyone involved in #toolchat this week.  Your suggestions and questions made for a great discussion.

#Toolchat on Twitter:   http://twitter.com/#!/search/toolchat

New media is changing the way we learn about plants and gardening.  In one hour of #tool chat on Twitter I felt as though I learned more than I could have if I had taken an all day class.  Many tweets in a quick hour.  I have found by retweeting the important points it is easy to summarize the discussion and not get overwhelmed with the information.

Join  the next #Toolchat on Twitter at  at 11 am Pacific/2 pm EST each Thursday.

Bring your tool innovation ideas and suggestions! It’s fun brainstorming  and learning about the different tools available in the marketplace while discovering new plants and making new friends at the same time.