There really is no value in cheap tools. They are a false economy. In fact, quite often, the cheaper they are, the more they cost. In terms of function, and durability that inexpensive, foreign spade can cost you hours if not days of grief in your work. Twice recently this has been driven home to me as both a garden fork and mattock handle broke while working in the garden. In the later instance there was merely the convenience of having to stomp over to the shed and borrow another handle from a pick-axe. In the case of the fork my work had to be suspended until I could make it to a shop selling the right sort of replacement handle and then find time to fix the fork properly. Not only was it days before I returned to digging my spuds but I had to fork out for another handle for a tool which was less than a year old, and it cost me the price of another, better made fork which is what I should have bought in the first place. . . .

A well-made, useful tool is like a partner in your enterprise. Selecting the right tool for the job not only leads to less wear and tear on the tool, but also on yourself, after all you would no sooner select a sledgehammer to crack a hazelnut than you should an axe to split kindling or a garden spade to lever free a stone. Speaking of this later activity, one of the most useful tools in the garden is an iron bar. They usually come in different lengths, weights and configurations. Some are a round or octagonal piece of steel which is pointed on one end and plain on the other. My current bar is about six feet long and weighs as much as a guilty conscience. It is wedge shaped at the business end and opposite the wedge is a nice two inch round flat bit. You can beat on this flat end, or use it to tamp soil around a post, or for knocking a hole in a door. . don’t ask. . . The edge is great for prying free the stones which seem to grow in the ground during the winter, and when sharpened just a bit is fantastic for chipping away at roots which always seem to be exactly under  where you want to place a gate post. It may not seem obvious by the iron bar is by far one of the most used tools about the place from dibbing holes for the pea racks to stabbing in the ground for something to tie a sprinkler too to get above the  beans it’s value for money. Just remember to stab it in to the ground somewhere meaningful, or better yet put it away in the shed. Just don’t lean it against the shed, or lay it down or you’ll end up with a lost bar, or worse. . .a sore head when it falls on you as you stomp into the shed to repair your mattock handle. . . .

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