Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: Christine on January 06, 2021, 12:04

Title: Useless garden implements
Post by: Christine on January 06, 2021, 12:04
I wonder why this came in my mystery box from Suttons Seeds - rubbish compressor (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elefoot-Handheld-Waste-Compressor-Storage/dp/B01M2V0PYW).

So - what else has the team seen that strikes you as something that would be hard to use in the garden/on the plot. Probably designed by those with not a lot of experience.

Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: snowdrops on January 06, 2021, 13:58
 :lol:obviously everyone else thought they were a waste of money & didn’t buy them, might be useful when you’re filling a bag of leaves or something, but tbh by the found I’d located it on the day I could have transported said leaves to the allotment leaf cage  :D. Those little things for helping you sow seeds thinly, I’ve been bought a couple over the years & never used them successfully, could be just me though?
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: GraciesGran on January 06, 2021, 16:26
I've had a couple of those seed sowing gadgets, as far as I know they are still at the charity shop I donated them too.  Never had much success with those plastic caps you put on canes to stop you from poking your eye out, use empty containers that those little yoghurt drinks come in.
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: rowlandwells on January 06, 2021, 17:35
i must admit all the implements or garden tools we have  all serve a  purpose or job when i recently re-vamped our tool shed i thought where the hell did all these implements or tools come from but as i said you need to know how and when to use them because they all come into play when gardening

but some of those things you mentioned are better in the dust bin than the tool shed and some if not all my tools or implements are  hand me downs some probably 70 or 80 years old some planting tools blacksmith made for the job

i expect when I'm not around anymore my kids will skip um but to me there my part of my heritage tool collection  :D
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: Growing Weather on January 06, 2021, 19:08
Could you use the compost compressor for pushing down the rubbbish in the wheelie bin?
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: Growster... on January 07, 2021, 10:08
The edging tool for a Mantis!

It cost around £50.00, and is utterly useless, as all it does is muck up a normally clipped edge!

I wrote to them to ask if they'd thought of making a 'scissor' action, but they said no! And anyway, Mantis machinery now comes from some remote part of the universe, so this lot will have to see me out!
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: Goosegirl on January 07, 2021, 14:29
A clip-on tool by Wolf that has a hoe combined with a tined wheel thingy to break up the soil. The hoe is ok but all the tines on the wheel immediately get clogged up which then makes it bounce up and down over the soil.   
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: wighty on January 07, 2021, 17:44
A tool I inherited, I don't really know how to describe it other than it has four prongs and an offset handle which you then 'insert' into the soil and twist.  It's supposed to break up the surface but is bl.......y useless.  All is does is stir the soil up, it doesn't break it up at all.   It's been sat in the shed for about twenty years now and never been used again.
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: GraciesGran on January 07, 2021, 18:08
I've got one of those, sits in the shed being ignored.
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: mrs bouquet on January 08, 2021, 14:56
Garden Trowels, that bend in half the second time you use them  :ohmy:  Mrs Bouquet
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: jezza on January 08, 2021, 19:28
Hello Goosegirl if the Wolf soil Miller isn't working correctly check that one set of tines aren't out of alignment, I had the same problem with one and the middle set was wobbling I had a new bush made for it and a wallop with an hammer tightened it up    jezza
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: Stewarty on January 08, 2021, 23:41
Yes, I find the Wolf Garten soil miller really effective. To look at it appears to me to be the sort of thing that couldn't really work - but it's very solidly engineered, using high class metallurgy, and does a brilliant job of spike-assisted hoeing. But in the same big bundle of Wolf Garten tools I got from ebay very cheaply a few years ago there was one of those rotating-wheel seed dispensers, with different size holes for different size seeds. I certainly couldn't make that work!
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: rowlandwells on January 09, 2021, 12:34
within  my many tools I've got 3  wooden handle scythes probably older than me now why would one need scythes well i actually used a scythe last year to cut down my mustard crop before ploughing it in

the lads down the allotments called me the grim reaper  :D but it did the job and it just goes to show some of these old tools and implements are still handy I painted all the wooden handles before I stored them to protect them from the woodworm but i have to say using a scythe really keeps you fit  :D :D
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: jaydig on January 09, 2021, 13:32
The edging tool for a Mantis!

It cost around £50.00, and is utterly useless, as all it does is muck up a normally clipped edge!

I wrote to them to ask if they'd thought of making a 'scissor' action, but they said no! And anyway, Mantis machinery now comes from some remote part of the universe, so this lot will have to see me out!

I fell for this one too, Growster.  It is still reposing in the corner of the shed where I threw it in disgust.  What a waste of money!!!
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: jezza on January 09, 2021, 14:12
Hello I inherited a left handed scythe,my dad could use it but it wont work for me I'm right handed   jezza
Title: Re: Useless garden implements
Post by: jezza on January 09, 2021, 16:32
Hello Stewarty is the Wolf seed sower the German version with the hopper on top or the one on a handle that's like a saucer with a cover on,the seed goes in the middle  I have the Seet Maister  the german version it had 3 or 4 different sowing rings for carrots ,peas beetroot etc, it sows well    jezza