I was out in the garden the other staking tomatoes and realized that I needed some garden clips. Don’t know what those are? Well they are the featured image for this article and pictured below. Garden clips have become one useful tool in the garden that we can’t function without. Can you see why?

Do you garden? Are you a farmer? If so what “tools of the trade” do you use? What makes your life so much easier and enables the time you spend in the garden to be productive and efficient?

Now if this is your first time here, then let me tell you that we are not a large scale farming operation. We are an urban farm. Meaning we live and farm in a community. So you won’t find any tractors or backhoes here. We don’t even have a riding lawnmower! What we do have are a few tools that for us have become invaluable. Let’s talk about some of them….

Raised beds: Having had a back injury which sometimes likes to rear it’s ugly head to send me a reminder, having raised beds is a must! Just the slightest elevation helps me to not have to bend or stoop as much. We have them in all shapes, sizes, and heights.

Garden Hoe: Lifesaver! We used to hand pull all weeds, but not anymore. This tool has liberated everyone. From time to time we do have to get down there and get our hands dirty, but not so much. We use it hill potatoes, clear weeds, and mix up dirt or compost.

Pickaxe: This tool is for the guys of Hawkins Homestead Farm. They are the ones responsible for digging rows and this is their preferred method.

Diatomaceous Earth: Having first learned about this for use with our chickens, we were absolutely thrilled to learn that we could use it in the garden. Being organic means that we have to find different ways to combat bugs and this is one of them.

You guys know that the list could continue, but these are just a few that for us make farming so much easier. If you have a special tool or something that makes a hard chore seem like light work, please share in the comments below. We’d love to hear about it!