Читать книгу The Organic Garden - Allan Shepherd - Страница 22

Before you buy anything new go along to a local car boot sale, ask around your mates and check on www.freecycle.org. Don’t buy anything until you’ve exhausted all these secondhand options. Apart from secateurs – which have to be clean and sharp to prevent the spread of plant diseases – and some specialist tools (of which more in a moment), all these tools are just as effective secondhand. Tools need to be rigorous and tough. Check that handles are strong and that the blade or prongs do not bend easily. Some cheap hand forks and trowels bend easily. Press them onto a surface to test them.

There are thousands of unwanted tools cluttering up sheds all over Britain and some companies are getting into the recycling spirit by reclaiming, reconditioning and selling them on. These ‘vintage’ tools are sometimes difficult to get hold of and have special features not normally available. I curse the day I missed an opportunity to buy a reconditioned Victorian daisy grubber from Wales-based group Tools for Self Reliance Cymru (www.tfsrcymru.org.uk). It was a lovely piece of work that would have made my weeding a lot easier. Buying secondhand tools saves energy and materials and avoids difficult ethical questions about where the tools came from.