Re: raised bed organic gardening

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@metalab.unc.edu>]

Lawrence F. London, Jr. -+|+- Venaura Farm
london@metalab.unc.edu   lflondon@worldnet.att.net
http://metalab.unc.edu/london, /permaculture, /ecolandtech
EcoLandTech -+|+- InterGarden -+|+- Permaculture

On Fri, 23 Jul 1999 Permacltur@aol.com wrote:

> 	Why are excessively expensive English digging tools more traditional 
> than a fire-hardened pointed stick or a mattock hoe?   I thought permaculture 
> was a worldwide thing, and not simply an extension of Anglo-Saxon tradition.  

Nothing wrong with extending Anglo-Saxon tradition, Dan. My ancestral
heritage exists there & I'm proud of the gardening hand tools that have
evolved over the centuries in the British Isles. :-) So proud, in fact
that I recently spent nearly $1000 mail ordering a large quantity of them
from Cookson's Hardware in England. The tools were made by Bulldog at
their old factory in Wigan. I was determined to acquire all the tools I
think I'll need for the rest of my life. In past when I failed to buy
ahead the source nearly dried up - witness Smith & Hawken.

All good hand tools are about the same price; the ones I opdered from
England weren't available anywhere else at any price. These were slightly
bigger and heavier than similar ones offered m/o in the USA and Canada.
 
Suffice to say, I'm a tool nut. And I love to dig in the dirt. For
long periods of time, for years on end. I'm making serious inroads on my 6
acres of beautiful red Georgeville silt loam soil. I'm one of those
"digging fools". Add a lot of rock powder and manure as I dig and tilth
and I end up with lots of highly productive raised beds. There's great
satisfaction in this, and security too. I try to do a new raised bed
every few days.

For me it sure is a worldwide thing. I have a passion for hand tools used
by mankind throughout history and in every region of the world. I am just
as interested in African eyehoes as Thai hand scythes, rice harvesting
scythes, Mexican machetes and garrabatos, antique American potatoe
digger/soil cultivator (I have one of these found in a small antique shop
in Pittsboro NC - it is one the most incredibly useful, functional and
ergonomically well-designed tools ever to exist - & I've never seen
another one anywhere) as I am the Bulldog strapped digging fork or the
digging spade, or the old Alan Chadwick tilthing fork (old S&H tool made
by Bulldog) or the spade fork. I have a shop full of these and many others 
and use them all. There are some really fine tool suppliers out there
these days and they aren't overpriced. The Chinese are getting into the
act with copies of the Bulldog and Spear & Jackson tools: digging fork and
spade, & transplanting spade (@ about $17 each!!). These are very nice and
well put together but the fork needs tempering. There are Portuguese
short-handled forged eye hoes for about $17 each that are very well
made and a real bargain.

I have a source list for gardening hand tools (needs updating) at:
http://metalab.unc.edu/london/orgfarm/tools/gardening-hand-tools.faq
 
> :-) > 
> 	I have raised beds but I never manage anything only one way.   I use 
> a two digging implements in raised beds.  I move soil with a $3 shovel from a 
> discount place and I loosen soil and cut small roots with a flat-blade spade 
> that is likely older than most people on this list and the price of which I 
> do not recall.  It is not English.   I bought it when I was 17 for my 
> landscape gardening business.  I'm now 60.  Doubtless it won't hold up as 
> well as an expensive, mortgage-your-house-to-buy English model, but I'll limp 
> along with it.  

I was a landscape contractor for 16 years, started with a bicycle and a
mattock, ended up with a S-10 pickup and a horde of hand tools. 

> 	Try John Jeavons.   He has perfected what you are talking about.

I have his books and his Bountiful Gardens catalog. He and his group are a
mainstay of the organic gardening community, alongside Eliot Coleman. 

> Dan Hemenway

Lawrence