Greetings to all I am a Student enrolled in a Design school. We are currently working on a design project to design "garden transportation." The subject is very vague and we are looking for as much input as we can find. So I would like to ask all of you: How do you carry your tools to and from the garden to your place of storage? Where do you store your gardening tools? (shed, garage, etc.) What frustrations do you have with gardening and transporting what ever it is that you carry back and forth? What sort of things do you transport? (tools, dirt, plants, tell me everything!) What sort of actions are hard for you, in the lines of load, bending, kneeling, etc? We appreciate any kind of information that you can provide. Thank you all
OK, here goes. I'm a pretty hardcore gardener in the tropics, and I have 4 hectares of garden and orchard. For normal jobs, I have a canvas apron that I made myself that holds my pruning shears, mentholated spirit spray, insecticidal soap spray, water bottle, trowel, hand-claw, machete (this is on a loop) and has assorted little pockets and suchwhat for plant tags and cuttings, small knives, and the odd fruit. This has sufficient space for about 5 pairs of assorted pruners, and loops for the more awkward or large tools. Full, it weighs about 4-5 kilos. For big jobs, I resort to the wheelbarrow. This normally means I'm using an axe or saw and a mulcher. I have a special shed for my tools, where they all hang on their own little pegs. It's divided between construction tools and garden tools, and big things like the mulcher and the generator live on the floor under the workbenches. I'm most frustrated that I generally want access to absolutely all my tools (ie I might want a hammer but only have the garden toolbelt on and forgot it) all the time, but with 4 hectares it's just not practical. Especially given that they number in the several hundreds. And I hate forgetting my gloves when it's time to harvest the Prickly Pears. I move the following things around the gardens: tools, dirt, stones, sand, concrete, water, hoses, plants, fruit, trimmings, compost (pre and post decomposition), mulch, and lunch. If something breaks down, I carry things like empty 5000L plastic cisterns or several thousand feet of 1/2" hose. I'm young so bending and kneeling and suchwhat aren't such a huge problem. I have difficulty carrying an entire raceme of green plantains without the wheelbarrow; same goes for the full harvest of the citrus trees when they come into season. I strongly dislike trying to haul a cistern uphill, since I only have cut paths though the acacias to up there. And I occasionally have difficulty cutting down banana plants, especially the very tall ones. This has more to do with my saw, though. Hope this helps!
Hey this information is great! Is there anyway you can take pictures of your crazy canvas thing and post them or send them to my email which is gaff@att.net?
How do you carry your tools to and from the garden to your place of storage? Carry them by hand. Where do you store your gardening tools? (shed, garage, etc.) Shed What frustrations do you have with gardening and transporting what ever it is that you carry back and forth? None What sort of things do you transport? (tools, dirt, plants, tell me everything!) Tools, plants What sort of actions are hard for you, in the lines of load, bending, kneeling, etc? Digging up large plants with deep roots
That would be a little too much like doing your design work for you.... I'm a professional designer myself, and I wouldn't want to short you on your process. You can imagine it as a canvas apron similar to a carpenter's work apron, but adapted to carry garden tools.
How do you carry your tools to and from the garden to your place of storage? I used to throw them in the bucket of the tractor when we had 9 acres. Now that we have 1.1, we no longer have the tractor so big tools go in the wheelbarrow. Small tools go in my back pockets, I've been wanting to get a tool belt and probably will. Where do you store your gardening tools? Shed on hooks, I hate it when they fall down or when the hooks get overcrowded and then I always want the tool in the back. What sort of things do you transport? (tools, dirt, plants, tell me everything!) Everything! What sort of actions are hard for you, in the lines of load, bending, kneeling, etc? Everything! Seriously, getting heavy trees from the truck down to the garden cart comes up a lot and is difficult. An inexpensive winch/pulley solution would be attractive to me. I have three different wheelbarrows. One my husband bought for concrete. It's just your standard 1 wheel metal wheelbarrow with that bar near the wheel to assist in dumping. One has two wheels (nice fat ones) and then the dumping bar. I just bought a new "wheel barrow" that's different. It's wood with bicycle tires because bigger diameter tires go over obstructions easily. Something that comes ups with any of the three wheelbarrows I have is the protrusions from the wheel get caught on gates or other things. It's hard to see down there when you're carrying a big load. Something that comes up with 2/3 is that darn dumping bar. I'm constantly catching it on things. And then when its time to actually dump the material it's not that effective. That is a main reason why I bought the new wheel barrow - besides the bigger diameter tires. It has a board that comes out the end that supposedly makes it easy to dump material. Unfortunately, getting that board in and out of its grooves is a monster pain. And I'd like those bigger tires to be fatter. Hope that helped.
Usually, it's in my hands - LOL But often, I put stuff in my big two-wheeled wheelbarrow. Also, I enjoyed using a cart like the one below. Someone could put small tools in one of those pocket gadgets that slips over a bucket, and put it in a wagon like this green one.
