Two Garden Product Reviews

that Make Gardening Fun!

By N. R. Mallery

I love gardening, but when the weed’s get ahead of you, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. It can seem like you are fighting a losing battle against the persistent weeds.

When you grow organically, chemical weed killers are not an option. So in our quest for a natural way to bring the fun back into an otherwise grueling chore, we called two companies that had some tools that looked interesting: Cate’s Garden and CobraHead LLC.

We received two items from Cate’s Garden, garden knee pads and a compost thermometer.

The knee pads are great. They are light and comfortable. It’s easy to forget you have them on. Now I can work in the garden just after it rains, without getting my knees wet. The pads stay right where you put them and don’t slide a bit. They are now on my must-use list and get me out in the garden in all kinds of weather. There is a problem though: remembering to put them on or take them off! And clearly, they will help to make the knees in my jeans last longer! I really appreciate how different these kneepads are and use them nearly every time I go into the garden.

Cate’s Garden’s compost thermometer is very light-weight. At eighteen inches long, it can reach deep into the compost pile to check the inside temperature. The temperature readout dial is graduated from 40° to 180°, but the zones are marked “warm,” “active,” and “hot,” to simplify what the temps mean.

It is vitally important for a compost pile be at the right temperature in order to kill weeds. Since I have several compost piles, this is a great aid, helping me plan which one to turn and when it is ready to use.

It’s a must in a worm bin, I would think and may also be helpful to determine when the soil is the warm enough to plant in a greenhouse or cold frame, for instance.
NOTE: Cate’s Garden is offering G.E.T. Readers a 30% off discount for any of their products at Amazon.com. Use the coupon code “greent30” (if that doesn’t work, try “greene30” – ed.) for any Cate’s Garden product at checkout. The Amazon page is at bit.ly/Cates-Garden-at-Amazon. Their website is catesgarden.com. 1-877-959-1817.

Our second garden tool company we called was CobraHead LLC. They have a hand tool and a long-handled tool for weeding.

I would understate things by saying I am impressed with the CobraHead hand tool, and recommend it HIGHLY. If I had to pick a single tool to use in my garden, this is it. It takes a bit to learn ALL that you can do with it. My hand now feel empty without it.

There is nothing like the satisfaction of getting to the bottom of the long roots of quack grass that comes back again and again after notoriously breaking off and multiplying. I think there’s a good chance of eliminating nearly all of them with this incredible tool. They just can’t hide from the CobraHead! You can dig deep and around without disturbing your wanted plants. You can swipe across broad areas and just cut through the chase and say good-bye to massive amounts of spreading weeds in no time at all. I LOVE THIS TOOL!

I need to work with the long tool more, but it’s hard to pry the original CobraHead out of my hands. However, to keep weeds down, the long tool does make it easy to pick off even the tiniest weeds while walking through the garden. Both tools are versatile for gardeners. With use it becomes more apparent. It would be a valuable tool for those that find it hard to bend down and get up.

Watch their videos and find out more at cobrahead.com. 866-962-6272.