Fourteen yards of mulch, one bad back, and the wagon my neighbor talked me into buying.
I picked up the Fiskars 28-inch bypass loppers in early spring to tame a hedge row nobody had touched in three years. Here's what a full season of cutting taught me.
Two loppers, two totally different bites. Here's which one actually belongs in your hands this weekend.
When a branch is too thick for hand pruners and too live for a saw, this is the tool that actually solves the problem.
A backyard gardener's story of an overgrown hedge line, a set of Fiskars bypass loppers, and the weekend it all turned around.
A step-by-step walkthrough for bringing an overgrown lilac, forsythia, or viburnum back into shape, using a good pair of bypass loppers and a little patience.
No hype, no ad-speak. Here's what surprised me, what annoyed me, and what nobody mentions about the Fiskars 28-inch bypass loppers before you hand over your card.
I bolted this reel to my garage wall last May and used it almost every day through the driest summer eastern Ohio has had in years. Here's the honest version of how it held up, price and all.
One bolts to your wall and pulls itself back in. The other rolls wherever you push it. Here's which one actually earns a spot in your yard.
If watering day starts with ten minutes of wrestling a kinked hose out of a coiled pile, the fix isn't a better coiling technique. It's a different piece of equipment.
Ten years of coiling, dragging, and tripping over the same garden hose, and the wall-mounted fix that finally ended it.
A step-by-step walkthrough for mounting and using a retractable hose reel so your hose stops kinking, tangling, and cracking in the sun for good.
No hype, no five-star everything. Here's what installation day, the price tag, and two seasons of use actually taught me about this reel.
I bought the Gorilla Carts poly dump cart last April to solve one problem, too many wheelbarrow trips. Here's what a full season of mulch, gravel, and yard waste taught me about it.
One tips over if you look at it wrong. The other just rolls. Here's what six years of hauling mulch, mud, and firewood taught me about the difference.
Forty bags of mulch and a bad lower back taught me this lesson the hard way, so you don't have to learn it the same way I did.
Fourteen yards of mulch, one bad back, and the wagon my neighbor talked me into buying.
A step-by-step routine for loading, balancing, moving, and dumping heavy yard materials with a dump cart, so mulch season stops being the thing that puts you flat on the couch.
Eighteen months, two winters, and a lot of gravel later, here's what the Gorilla Carts dump cart glowing reviews leave out.
I pulled down an old above-ground pool last April and inherited a ring of hard-packed dirt I had no good tool for. The Walensee bow rake has been in my hands ever since, through raised beds, thatch, and a French drain project.
They look like they do the same job. They don't. Here's how to tell which rake your yard is actually asking for.
From leveling new beds to breaking up thatch, here's why a steel bow rake earns a permanent spot by my shed door.
A homeowner's story of a bumpy backyard lawn, a bad reseeding attempt, and the bow rake that finally leveled things out.
A step-by-step walkthrough for pulling up dead thatch and leveling out a lumpy, dipping lawn before seed or sod goes down, using a steel bow rake instead of renting equipment you don't need.
I almost skipped this rake to save money on a wood-handled one. Here is what nobody mentions about the weight, the welds, and the tine spacing after a full season of actual use.
I clipped the PERWIN hori hori knife to my belt in early spring to divide an overgrown hosta bed and never really took it off again. Here's what a full season of digging, weeding, and planting taught me about it.
One tool digs, weeds, cuts, and measures. The other one just digs. Here's when a classic garden trowel still earns its keep next to my PERWIN hori hori.
One blade for weeding, planting, dividing, and cutting. Here's why it's earned a permanent spot in my garden bag.
A backyard gardener's story of trading a heavy bag of separate tools for one PERWIN Hori Hori knife that weeds, digs, plants, and cuts.
A step-by-step walkthrough for getting dandelion, dock, and thistle roots out whole instead of snapping them off at the crown, using the serrated edge and blade depth on a PERWIN hori hori knife.
Every review I read before buying told me the same three things. Here's what four months of real use in rocky Vermont soil taught me that those reviews left out.
I picked up the Fiskars 28-inch bypass loppers in early spring to tame a hedge row nobody had touched in three years. Here's what a full season of cutting taught me.
No hype, no ad-speak. Here's what surprised me, what annoyed me, and what nobody mentions about the Fiskars 28-inch bypass loppers before you hand over your card.
I bolted this reel to my garage wall last May and used it almost every day through the driest summer eastern Ohio has had in years. Here's the honest version of how it held up, price and all.
No hype, no five-star everything. Here's what installation day, the price tag, and two seasons of use actually taught me about this reel.
I bought the Gorilla Carts poly dump cart last April to solve one problem, too many wheelbarrow trips. Here's what a full season of mulch, gravel, and yard waste taught me about it.
Eighteen months, two winters, and a lot of gravel later, here's what the Gorilla Carts dump cart glowing reviews leave out.
I pulled down an old above-ground pool last April and inherited a ring of hard-packed dirt I had no good tool for. The Walensee bow rake has been in my hands ever since, through raised beds, thatch, and a French drain project.
I almost skipped this rake to save money on a wood-handled one. Here is what nobody mentions about the weight, the welds, and the tine spacing after a full season of actual use.
I clipped the PERWIN hori hori knife to my belt in early spring to divide an overgrown hosta bed and never really took it off again. Here's what a full season of digging, weeding, and planting taught me about it.
Every review I read before buying told me the same three things. Here's what four months of real use in rocky Vermont soil taught me that those reviews left out.
