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Tools For Market Gardeners
The range of high quality tools that we use in our market garden.
If you are growing vegetables or flowers (or both!) on a scale up to 2 hectares (5 acres) then here is a list of things you will find it difficult to live without.
- 2-Wheel Walk Behind Tractor
Go Straight To The Importer (Vine Rowe) for these essential small tractors.We use the following attachments:
Reciprocating spader
(but the rotary hoe is good too)
Rotary Plough
Flail Mower
Power Harrow - Silage Tarps
Again we don't sell these. They are big bulky things so try and source them as close as possible to where you are farming. Even better see if you can get hold of some second hand ones.
At Allsun Farm we use both chickens and pigs, contained in an Electric Netting Fence to both open up new ground and remove spent crops and weeds. However, in a system without animals like the one we are currently managing Stepping Stone Farm then tarps have been an essential tool to create clean seed beds ready for planting. - Wheel Hoes
A complete cultivation system for large areas.
Yes wheel hoes seem expensive and they are for very small gardens. However, unless you are using a no-till system, you will find them indispensable once you have used them. They are so fast and efficient and so much easier to use than long handled hoes. We have tried lots of different ones including an old one we made ourselves but we keep coming back to the steel handled Glaser Wheel Hoes from Switzerland. Superb engineering, spare parts are no problem and looked after will last for generations.
The basic models come complete with one oscillating stirrup hoe.
Hillers/furrowers, three tined cultivators and a range of different sized oscillating stirrup hoes can be purchased separately. -
Large (7 tined) Broadfork
Manufacturing Broadforks was where Gundaroo Tiller started. After many years of improving and refining the design we passed on manufacture to Wade Neumann, contact him to buy one. They are used to dig over your garden without damaging your back.
Made in Australia with properly tempered, replaceable tines this is just the best, ergonomically sound, deep digging tool suitable for heavy clay soils and places with limited top soil. It penetrates easily allowing water and air into the soil without soil inversion. The larger version of this tool is the one for market gardeners. Use it to dig over your beds without damaging your back.
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Ho-mi
Apart from the usual knives and secateurs this is the only hand tool we use. Ironically it is the Mini Homi that is used the most. When gardens get bigger weed control becomes more and more important. It should be very rare indeed to have to get on your hands and knees to weed a large garden. This light, comfortably angled version of the Homi is perfect for transplanting and weeding the occasional close spaced plantings where stand up hoeing has become difficult. -
Wire Weeders & Collinear hoes
Light-weight, accurate hoes designed for removing small weeds, quickly and accurately.The action is shaving not digging or chipping which will bring more weed seed to the surface. With practice, concentration and regular use weeds should never become a problem. -
Oscillating Stirrup Hoe
A push-pull hoe that comes in 3 sizes. Accurate hoeing for row spacings of 100mm, 150mm and 190mm. We stock replacement blades. -
Floor Soil Blockers
Larger soil blockers that can make 12, 20, 30 or 35 blocks at a time.
No pots
High quality seedlings
No transplant shock -
Seeders
Used to distribute seed evenly and efficiently.
Hand seeders are used in the nursery for sowing soil blocks, plug trays and pots.
Row seeders sow seed directly into prepared garden soil. We were the first company to import the amazing Jang Seeders into Australia. Since COVID-19 we have had difficulty getting supply at a competitive price so you will have to go to ActiveVista to buy one. We do still have some rollers and spare parts. Email us for information. -
Wide Bed Rake
These light, wide, plastic rakes have tines on one side and a scraper on the other. The are a must for any gardener or market gardener. -
Protective Covers
We sell larger rolls of both Frost Cloth (a spun polyester horticultural fleece) and Vege net. -
Low Tunnel Options
Poly pipe over deformed steel bar is a perfectly good/cheap and readily available solution for low tunnel construction. However on a larger scale the more expensive New Zealand made Redpath Cloche Systems are much more efficient and do a better job of holding down long lengths of cover of any kind. -
Electric Netting Fence
If you are interested in incorporating animals or poultry into your horticultural system Kencove Electric Netting Fence is the best solution. It provide a quickly erected pain filled barrier that makes animal containment practical even in dry or difficult situations.