Survival gardening can be hard work, but that work can be made easier with the right tools. To that end, we at Survival Garden Seeds have been on the search for high-quality, durable tools that would be an asset to any gardener. Our search led us to these must-have tools from Mindful Farmer. We are so excited to offer them to you!
Our garden supplies section now offers broadforks, cultivators, and soil blockers. You are probably familiar with shovels, hoes, and rakes, but if you are new to gardening the names of these new garden tools might not be familiar to you. Let’s explain the purposes of these tools so that you can learn why they might be a valued addition to your garden tool shed.
What Is a Broadfork?
The first step in planting a garden is preparing the soil, and this is where the broadfork comes in. The broadfork is a tool with two handles attached to a crossbar with tines. While you could use a noisy rototiller to break up sod and soil, the broadfork is an environmentally friendly way to break up and aerate the soil. It is designed to make it easy on your body, as well. This tool does not require the kind of bending and lifting that a shovel or hoe might.
To use the broadfork, stick it into the ground with the tines straight up and down. Press your feet on the crossbar to push the fork into the ground. Once all the tines are in the ground, rock the fork to loosen the soil. With your feet still on the crossbar, pull back on the handles to lift the tines and break the soil. Using the leverage of your body weight, this should be almost effortless. Repeat this process across your garden until you’ve tilled your desired planting area.
What Is a Soil Blocker?
The next step to having a garden is sowing some seeds, which is often done indoors. If you are looking for a way to start seeds without little plastic seed trays or making some sort of recycled container, try using a soil blocker. This is a handy tool that compresses seed starting mix into handy blocks that you can plant seeds in without the need for a pot.
Sowing seeds into soil blocks provides many advantages to the traditional seed tray; the foremost being the minimization of transplant shock. Touching and damaging the roots of seedlings too much can lead to stunted growth. With soil blocks, you do not run the risk of damaging roots by forcing the seedlings from a container, because its whole container can be planted. In addition, roots will have more oxygen than if they were in a container. Soil blocking allows “air pruning”, meaning the roots will stay within their soil block without becoming twisted and “root bound” as they would in a container.
In addition to the soil blocker, you will need some sort of tray to place your blocks in that has drainage holes and a tray that does not have holes to hold the drainage tray. You will also need a high-quality coconut coir or peat-based seed starting mix. Moisten the seed starting mix thoroughly until it will hold together if you squeeze it in your hands. Tightly fill the cells for the seed blocker and then press the blocks out into your seed tray. Most seed blockers come with attachments that will make an indentation in the top of the block where you can place your seeds. Keep the blocks moist by adding water to the tray, not watering from above.
There are sets of soil blockers available so that you can transplant smaller blocks into larger ones as your seedlings grow until you are ready to move them into your garden.
What Is a Cultivator?
Once your garden is established, it requires regular maintenance to keep it free of weeds. A cultivator is a bladed tool that has multiple uses including removing weeds, harvesting crops, digging rows, and more. The version that we offer comes in two sizes, one with a short handle and one with a long handle. It has a unique shape that gives the tool exceptional versatility and you may find it replaces multiple gardening tools.
We want our customers to be successful gardeners, and we are so excited to offer such durable, high-quality gardening tools to you. If you want to take your gardening to the next level and want to do so in an environmentally friendly way, we think you will find our new garden tools of immense value. Explore the entire collection yourself in the garden tools section of our online shop.
