Gardening Sampler 2023

With National Gardening Day April 14 officially ushering in the season, we’ve found a range of gadgets and devices manufacturers are showcasing to add a welcome new twist to this year’s horticultural crops, chores, and pleasures.

Head Start
Plantlings
From Asters to Zucchini, healthy young three-inch seedlings, greenhouse grown with strong root systems are delivered in three-inch Baby or four- to six-inch Plantlings Plus sprouts ready to go right into their permanent soil. Choose from over 100 varieties of fruits, flowers, herbs, shrubs—specify cascading, deer resistant, bi-colored, full sun, and other variables.

Multi-Moisture
Spray Sprinkler Watering Can
Moisten plants top to bottom with a convenient spray bottle/sprinkler multipurpose watering can. The simple functional design is convenient indoors and out—and comes in a dozen cheerful colors.

Buzz Cut
Garden Groomer
Inserted into a portable drill, the high-strength steel Groomer attachment with three notched blades rotates to dig holes, till soil, destroy weeds, mix soil components and other garden tasks.

Deft Digger
Hori Hori
A tool that originated in Japan, where the word “hori” means “to dig,” the versatile pointed steel blade, sharp on both sides with a stable flat wooden handle is handy for extracting plants, weeding, cutting roots, transplanting, sod splitting perennials—combining functions of a trowel, spade, digger, and hoe. The built-in ruler allows measuring appropriate depth of holes.

Pet Pollinators
Rent Mason Bees
Boost pollination in your yard by adopting a batch of bees for the season.

The company sends a pollinator package with a black box containing a block of nesting holes along with a tube of bee cocoons. Hang the box in a sunny spot and open the tube allowing the cocoons to hatch producing Mason bees, non-aggressors since they are solitary nesters and have no queen to protect. Also unlike honey bees, which merely collect pollen on their hind legs, Mason bees bellyflop into plants collecting the precious powder on their whole bodies.

The hatched bees lay their own eggs sealing them into the nesting holes and completing their lifespan by mid-summer. (At this point, optionally the project can be repeated with a nesting block of warmer-weather leaf cutter bees).

Out of sight, the eggs hatch into larvae which form their own cocoons to weather the winter. In autumn, the blocks of dormant bee cocoons are mailed back to the company to be extracted, cleaned, and replaced into tubes which are returned to participants in spring for a new “crop” to hatch for the next summer season.

Excellent online videos illustrate every step of the process.

Shearly Convenient
Stihl Battery Powered HSA 26 Cordless Shrub Shears
With two interchangeable grass and hedge cutting attachments, Stihl’s battery powered device adapts to trimming and shaping, running up to 80 minutes per charge. Lightweight and compact with rubberized grips and a non-slip control handle, it is easy to manipulate and maneuver. Comprehensive, precise directions describe safe usage step by step.

Floral Feet
Muckster Lite Clog
Bedecked in blossoms, light weight clogs are easy to slip on and off. Multi-surface traction provides stable footing and there are side vents for draining and breathability. Durable and easy to clean, they are biodegradable and also come in less fanciful shades of black and green. 

Garden Garb
Summer Gardening Trousers
The kneeling, bending, stretching of all-weather gardening is less challenging in quick drying multi-pocket trousers. Adjustable, designed with breathable padded knees, the pants are sewn with pockets galore including a waist-back zipped phone compartment and stab resistant slots on the legs to protect against clippers, knives, and other sharp tools. Women’s and men’s sizes come in earthen colors – midnight, iron grey, dusky green, rich grape, deep tan.

Clean Sweep
Q-Swiper BBQ Grill Cleaner
In this two-part cleaning system, a bristle-free grill brush with stainless steel side scrapers is wrapped with a tough wipe infused with grease absorbing natural cleaning agents. Multi-directional nodules on the wipes lift and remove burnt food particles and grime from the grate eliminating bacteria without steel brushes, soiled pads, and dirty wood scrapers. The grooved side scraper helps clean between grill ribs.

Decorative Domiciles
Tiny Treehouses
In two or three hours, do-it-yourselfers can craft fanciful four-six inch decorative lodges, pavilions, hideaways, outposts to nestle in trees or outdoor sites. Wooden model kits include just over a hundred pieces to assemble and a full-size line drawing to indicate the actual model size. Difficulty levels are indicated, multiple hanging options are suggested, and LED lights are included for a nighttime glow.

Mosqui-go
Thermacell Mosquito Repellent 
Standing about five inches tall, the pot bellied device doubles as a mosquito repellent and glow light. Once powered up with a USB cable, it heats a cartridge of repellent diffusing its effect in a twenty-foot zone of protection. A status indicator tells when the rechargeable device is active and a dimmer switch operates the optional light.

Moisture Minder
Hydrous Watering Sticks
Relieve daily routine with hydrous watering sticks. Porous hollow earthenware sticks are soaked, filled with water, and inserted into plant soil to regulate moisture release. Large or small sizes accommodate different size pots.

Sheep Soap
Nana Lanolin Kitchen Soap Block 
Grass stains and grime are washed away with a utility soap tough enough to scrub pots and pans but infused with moisturizing properties of skin soothing lanolin. Sourced from local sheep, the citrus scented soap is created from olive oil, coconut oil, water, lye, essential oil blend and colored with French green clay. A product of New England-based Herd Supply Company, the three-square-inch blocks are named for owner Leah Beckett’s grandmother.

Soap Sheets
Eco-strips Laundry Detergent
Wash soiled gardening clothes and laundry with pre-measured strips of detergent. Devised to eliminate the need for boxes of powder and single-use jugs, premeasured soap is compressed into flat card-like squares which are easy to carry and ecologically friendly. Ultra concentrated, the hypoallergenic detergents are free of paraben, 4-dioxane, and phosphate. Six formulations are fragrance-free or scented lilac breeze, baby, fresh linen.