Ard (plough) The ard (or scratch plough) is a rudimentary plough that is light, without a mouldboard, symmetrical on either

side of its line of draft, and fitted with a symmetrical share that traces a shallow furrow but does not invert the soil (as opposed to a turnplough). Use Rather than cutting and turning the soil to produce ridged furrows, the ard breaks up a narrow strip of soil and cuts a shallow furrow (or drill), leaving intervening strips undisturbed. The ard is not suited for clearing new land, so grass and undergrowth are usually removed with hoes or mattocks. Cross-ploughing is often necessary to break the soil up better, where the soil is tilled twice at right angles to the original direction (lengthwise and across). This usually results in square or diamond-shaped fields and is effective at clearing annual weeds. The ard's shallow furrows are ideal for most cereals, and if the seed is sown broadcast, the ard can be used to cover the seed in rows. In fact, the ard may have been invented in the Near East to cover seed rather than till. That would explain why in Mesopotamia seed drills were used together with ards. The ard is most useful on light soils such as loams or sands, or in mountain fields where the soil is thin, and can be safely used in areas where deep ploughing would turn up hardpan or would cause salination or erosion. Ards may be drawn by oxen, water buffalo, donkeys, camels, or other animals.

Berry-picking rake A berry-picking rake or berry picker is a tool for collecting berries. Berry-picking rakes can be used to collect lingonberries, bilberries, currants, and other berries. The rake may damage softer berries, and introduces some detritus, requiring cleaning of the berries afterwards. It may also damage or uproot the plants, reducing next year's yields. However, despite these drawbacks, a rake has much greater efficiency than picking by hand, and is thus used in all commercial berry picking.

Billhook The billhook (also bill hook although this more usually refers to either a metal or plastic hook used to hold bills, common in the US, or a part of the knotting mechanism on a reaper binder) is a traditional cutting tool known and used throughout the world, and very common in the winegrowing countries of Europe, used widely in agriculture and forestry (in other parts of the world where it is used, it was both developed locally, e.g. China, India and Japan or introduced by European settlers, e.g. the North and South Americas, South Africa and Australasia). It is used for cutting smaller woody material such as shrubs and branches. Design The blade is usually made from a medium-carbon steel in varying weights and lengths, but typically 20 to 25 centimetres (7.9 to 9.8 in) long. Blades are straight near the handle but have an increasingly strong curve towards the end. The blade is generally sharpened only on the inside of the curve, but double-edged billhooks, or "broom hooks", also have a straight secondary edge on the back. The blade is fixed to a wooden handle, in Europe usually made from ash due to its strength and ability to deal with repeated impact. Handles are mostly 12 to 15 centimetres (4.7 to 5.9 in) long and may be caulked or round. Longer handles may sometimes be used for heavier patterns, making the tool double-handed. The blade and handle are usually linked by a tang passing through the handle, but sometimes a socket that encloses the blade. Some styles of billhook may have scales[1] of hardwood or horn fitted to the handle.

Broad Fork In farming and gardening, the broadfork, or U-fork is a tool used to manually break up densely packed soil, like hardpan, to improveaeration and drainage.[1] It consists of five or so metal tines, approximately eight inches long, spaced a few inches apart on a horizontal bar, with two handles extending upwards to chest or shoulder level, forming a large U-shape. The operator steps up on the crossbar, using full bodyweight to drive the tines into the ground, then steps backward while pulling backwards on the handles, causing the tines to lever upwards through the soil. This action leaves the soil layers intact, rather than inverting or mixing them, preserving the topsoil structure.

Brush hook A brush hook (also called a bush hook, ditch blade, ditch bank blade, or ditch blade axe) is a gardening instrument resembling an axe with a 12-inch (30 cm) curved blade and a 36-inch (91 cm) handle. It is commonly used by surveying crews and firefighters to clear out heavy undergrowth from trails. Brush Hook (Bush Hook/Ditch Blade/Ditch Blade Axe): For removal of brush too heavy for a weed cutter and too light for an axe, consider either the double- or single-edged brush hook. Swung like an axe, the brush hook's long 36 inch handle and heavy head give it a powerful cut. Their curved blades also pose extra safety hazards. Always maintain a firm grip with both hands on the handle. Cut with a slicing rather than a hacking motion and pull back on the handle at the end of the swing to utilize the 12 inch curved blade. Carry brush hooks with the head forward like a shovel.

Weed Cutters Weed Cutters (Grass Whip/Swizzle Stick/Swing Blade/Weed Whip): Weed cutters are used to clear trail corridors of succulent vegetation (grass, light brush, briars, and tree seedlings). It is meant to be swung back and forth with both hands. There are two varieties: the L-shaped weed whip cuts grass and weeds but is unstable for use on larger growth, the triangular-frame weed whip cuts briars and woody stems up to a half-inch in diameter. Screws holding the serrated double-edged blade in place can work loose, so check them often. Safety tip: Avoid the golf swing. Swing tool no higher than your side.

Dibber A dibber or dibble is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so that seeds, seedlings or small bulbs can be planted. Dibbers come in a variety of designs including the straight dibber, T-handled dibber, trowel dibber, and L-shaped dibber.

Straight dibber This is the classic dibber. It is anything from a sharpened stick to a more complicated model incorporating a curved handle and pointed steel end. It may be made of wood, steel or plastic.

T-handled dibber This dibber is much like the classic dibber, but with a T-grip that fits in the palm to make it easier to apply torque. This allows the user to exert even pressure creating consistent hole depth. The ideal T-handled dibber is fashioned from the remains of an old fork or spade handle, retaining the T, and with the shaft whittled to a point.

Edger An edger (also known as a lawn edger or stick edger) is a garden tool used to cleanly separate a lawn from a walkway or other paved surface, such as a concrete sidewalk or asphalt path. Edgers may be manual or automated, typically employing a small two-stroke gasoline motor or an electric motor. An edger enables a user to create a clear separation between the lawn and the walkway. It helps to impart a finished appearance that is neater than can be achieved by merely mowing over the border of the lawn and walkway (which frequently permits tufts of lowgrowing grass to hang over onto the walkway, resulting in an irregular or ragged appearance). In operation, a manual edger usually includes a broad hemispherical blade attached to an elongated handle, which the operator uses to drive the blade into the turf directly alongside the hard surface. In addition, the blade may have a flat top to allow the operator to step on the blade, driving it deep into the lawn and turf in order to clear a space between the lawn and the hard surface. In contrast, powered edgers may operate on any of a variety of methods, such as rotating wheel blades or thrashing wheels, which also operate to define a clear separation between a lawn and a hard surface.

Flail A flail is an agricultural tool used for threshing to separate grains from their husks. It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the other to strike a pile of grain, loosening the husks. The precise dimensions and shape of flails were determined by generations of farmers to suit the particular grain they were harvesting. For example, flails used by farmers in Quebec to process wheat were generally made from two pieces of wood, the handle being about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long by 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter, and the second stick being about1 m (3.3 ft) long by about 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter, with a slight taper towards the end. Flails for other grains, such as rice or spelt, would have had different dimensions.

Foot plough The foot plough is a type of plough used like a spade with the foot in order to cultivate the ground.

Garden fork A garden fork, spading fork, digging fork or graip is a gardening implement, with a handle and several (usually four) short, sturdy tines. It is used for loosening, lifting and turning over soil in gardening and farming. It is used similarly to a spade, but in many circumstances it is more appropriate than a spade: the tines allow the implement to be pushed more easily into the ground, it can rake out stones and weeds and break up clods, it is not so easily stopped by stones, and it does not cut through weed roots or root-crops. Garden forks were originally made of wood, but the majority are now made of carbon steel or stainless steel. Garden forks are slightly different from pitchforks, which are used for moving loose materials such as piled hay, compost, or manure. Garden forks have comparatively a fairly short, usually wooden handle, with a "D" or "T" end. Their tines are usually shorter, flatter, thicker, and more closely spaced.

Hoe A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural tool used to move small amounts of soil. Common goals include weed control by agitating the surface of the soil around plants, piling soil around the base of plants (hilling), creating narrow furrows (drills) and shallow trenches for planting seeds and bulbs, to chop weeds, roots and crop residues, and even to dig or move soil, such as when harvesting root crops like potatoes. Types There are many types of blades of quite different appearances and purposes. Some can perform multiple functions. Others are intended for a specific use. For example, the collinear hoe has a narrow, razor-sharp blade which is used to slice weeds by skimming it just above the surface of the soil with a sweeping motion; it is unsuitable for tasks like soil moving and chopping). The typical farming and gardening hoe with a heavy, broad delta-shaped blade and a flat edge is the Dego hoe. The Dutch hoe (scuffle, action, oscillating, swivel, or Hula-Ho) is a design that is pushed or pulled through the soil to cut weeds just under the surface. Its tool-head is a loop of flat, sharpened strap metal. It is not as efficient as a chopping hoe for pulling or pushing soil. Stirrup hoes are designed with a double edge blade that bends around to form a stirrup like rectangle attached to the handle. Weeds are cut just below the soil surface as the blade is pushed & pulled through the area. The back and forth motion is highly effective with cutting weeds in loose or breakable soil. Widths of the stirrup blade typically range between three to seven inches.

Spade A spade is a tool designed primarily for the purpose of digging or removing earth and spreading the soil.[1] Early spades were made of riven wood. After the art of metalworking was discovered, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the advent of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth, with picks being required to break up the soil in addition to a spade for moving the dirt. With a metal tip, a spade can both break and move the earth in most situations, increasing efficiency. Designs of spades Spades are made in many shapes and sizes, for a variety of different functions and jobs. There are many different designs used in spade manufacturing. The term shovel is sometimes used interchangeably with spade, but shovels generally are broad-bottomed and better suited for moving loose materials, whereas spades tend to be pointed for use as a digging tool. The most common spade is a garden spade, which typically has a long handle, is wide, and is treaded (has rests for the feet to drive the spade into the ground). An Irish spade is similar to a common garden spade, with the same general design, although it has a much thinner head. A sharpshooter is a narrow spade. A turfing iron has a short, round head, and is used for cutting and paring off turf. A digging fork, or grape, is forked much like a pitchfork, and is useful for loosening ground and gardening. There also can be toy spades for kids.

Pitchfork A pitchfork is an agricultural tool with a long handle and long, thin, widely separated pointed tines (also called prongs) used to lift and pitch (throw) loose material, such as hay, leaves, grapes, dung or other agricultural materials. Pitchforks typically have three or four tines. Other similar types of fork may have up to ten tines with different lengths and spacing depending on purpose. They are usually made of steel with a long wooden handle, but may also be made from wood, wrought iron, bamboo, alloy etc. In some parts of England a pitchfork is known as a prong[1] and, in parts of Ireland, a sprong refers to a 4 pronged pitchfork.[2] The pitchfork is similar to the shorter and sturdier garden fork. The pitchfork and scythes has frequently been used as a weapon by those who couldn't afford or didn't have access to more expensive weapons such as swords, or, later, guns.[3] As a result, pitchforks and scythes are stereotypically carried by angry mobs or gangs of enraged peasants. In Europe, the pitchfork was first used in the early Middle Ages, at about the same time as the harrow. The pitchfork was originally made entirely of wood; today, the tines are usually made of hard metal.

Rake A rake (Old English raca, cognate with Dutch raak, German Rechen, from a root meaning "to scrape together," "heap up") is a broom for outside use; a horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used to collect leaves, hay, grass, etc., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, removing dead grass from lawns, and generally for purposes performed in agriculture by the harrow. Large "mechanized" versions of rakes are used in farming. They are usually called hay rakes, and are built in many different forms (star-wheel rakes, rotary rakes etc.) Where farming is not mechanized various forms of hand rake are used. Types of rakes Modern hand-rakes usually have steel, plastic, or bamboo teeth or tines, though historically they have been made with wood or iron. The handle is often made of wood or metal. Some rakes are two-sided and made with dull blades in the shapes of slight crescents, used for removing dead grass (thatch) from lawns. When rakes have longer teeth, they may be arranged in the shape of an old-style folding fan.

GARDENING TOOLS
Submitted by: Wiljohn Ford Sumakay

Submitted to: Mrs. Evangeline Dapuyen