Want to fasten your fall climbing plants or keep your indoor herb garden from exploding outward like a Tina Turner wig? Soft Ties are simply aluminum wire core covered in soft rubber, which means it can easily be cut with scissors. You can use them for supporting climbing plants or anywhere wire or nylon ties might cause damage.

AeroGarden sells the Soft Tie wire in a 25-foot spool for about $13. When the growing season is over you can save the ties and reuse them for many years.

Soft Tie [AeroGarden]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

A handful of weeders exist that are designed to extract the entire root with the weed, but this cork screw weeder made in Holland by DeWit has got to be one of the strangest.

To use the weeder, you screw the corkscrew into the soil around the weed and pull up to remove the entire weed, root and all. Dewit manufactures two different versions of the weeder; one measures 22″ long and weighs 15oz, the other extends 40″ and weighs 2-1/2lbs. Both weeders feature a wooden T-handle.

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How many times do you run back and forth setting up sprinklers before you get the coverage just right? Normally, if you’re not looking for a soaking, you can go all the way back to the spigot on the house, try kinking the hose, or try to outguess where the sprinkler is spraying next. A better way might be to use the Floa Constrictor.

Made in Canada from PVC, the Floa Constrictor clips over any 1/2″ or 3/4″ garden hose and uses a wide screw which squeezes the hose to restrict or stop the flow altogether. It’s easily placed, moved, or removed anywhere on the garden hose.

You’ll pay $7 for the Floa Constrictor before shipping charges.

Floa Constrictor [Corporate Site]
Floa Constrictor [Lee Valley]

You’ve used a pole saw to trim a branch, but it’s still stuck in the tree — now what? Using a tool like Wolf Garten’s Tree Hook you can grab the branch from the ground rather than climbing into the tree to get it down. You can also use it to shake fruit tree branches or hang Christmas lights in trees.

The S-shaped hook works with any Wolf Interlocken handles, the cheapest of which run $12. The Tree Hook itself runs $16.

Branch Hook [Wolf Garten]
Via Amazon

Halloween is coming up fast; it’s time to scarify your lawn in more than one way. Fertilizing, aerating, de-thatching, and raking are some of the tasks you can do in the fall to get your lawn ready for winter. Wolf Garten’s new Scarifier Rolling Rake will at least help you de-thatch and break up the topsoil.

As you pull the rake toward you the sharp blades move in an oscillating motion. They are hardened so they don’t require resharpening. The wheels keep the rake at a consistent height while you work over a 11.8″ swath.

Pricing for the Wolf Garten Scarifier Rolling Rake starts at around $50. However it comes without a handle (that’s scary too) so you’ll need to purchase one separately.

Scarifier Roller Rake [Wolf Garten]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

We’ve discussed the Felco model 20 lopper before, but what is different about their model 29 loppers is that they’ve added a spray device to help control disease — especially those caused by bacteria and fungus. Every time you cut, a spray is directed at both the blade and the wound.

Felco doesn’t give much more information about their model 29 lopper, but it looks like the sprayer is a simple handle pressurized container. The sprayer container also looks like it has a belt clip so you can keep both hands free to use the pruning shears.

Unless you do a ton of pruning, you’ll probably want to stay with your modestly-priced loppers and can of disinfectant/sealer rather than pay almost $300 for Felco’s Solution.

Model 29 Lopper [Felco]
Model 29 Lopper [Felco Store]

There’s a scene in the film Battle of the Bulge where Telly Savalas siphons gas from a drum to fuel his Sherman tank and winds up spiting diesel. Every time I’ve ever siphoned anything I remember it and think to myself, there’s a real man. Me, I’m a big sissy; I’d use something like the Drill-Powered Pump from Northern tools.

Jack a drill into the side to crank up to 650 GPH through a standard garden hose up to fifty feet. The pump is 5 1/2 in. from inlet to outlet, 3 1/2 in. thick x 3 in. high and will require a few band clamps to fit to either end of the section of hose you’d like to use, but other than that just add a 3/8″ or 1/2″ drill.

For us, $5 -$10 is worth it not to have to suck down non-potable liquids the three or four times it would take to get a steady flow going — and we’re not as cool as Telly Savalas anyway.

Drill Powered Pump [Northern Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

You’d think there wasn’t much more you could do to improve the trusty old round-point shovel, but Gemcor, maker of the One-Shot Shovel, thinks they’ve found a way. They start with a basic round-point shovel and give it wings — the “wings” provide extra carrying capacity and extra support for your foot when you step on the shovel, and the extra edges cut the ground quicker.

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Meteor’s Spark Doctor is yet another multi-tool, but this time they’ve specialized it for working with spark plugs. This multi-tool boasts eight different tools for removing, tuning, and cleaning your plugs.

As always, we’re skeptical about the number of tools a multi-tool packs — sometimes marketing departments like to be sneaky and claim a lanyard hole or carrying case as a tool or function. So let’s enumerate the tools, shall we?

• 5/8″ socket
• 3/4″ socket
• 13/16″ socket
• Brass brush
• Metal file
• Metal pick
• Gap gage
• Gapping tool

The metal file and metal pick are part of the same tool, kind of like the wire stripper is part of the flat screwdriver blade on Leatherman and Swiss Army Knives. If they can get away with it, why not Meteor? All these tools fold into a soft-grip handle.

The Spark Doctor can be had for less than $20 before somebody tries to gouge you with shipping.

Spark Doctor [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Spark Doctor [Sears]

Today you can buy a mower with a guaranteed start on the first or second pull — a huge improvement over my old 10+ pull mower — but why does it still come with a cheap plastic T-handle which can be hard for some people to pull? If this bothers you, replace it with the Start-Me-Up handle from Meteor.

Available in red, green, or gray, the Start-Me-Up D-shaped plastic handle is covered in a soft-grip rubber material that’s more comfortable than a hard plastic T-handle. Included with the handle is 84″ of Duratuff starter rope in case you also need to replace the pull cord. Pricing for the handle starts at $7.

Start Me Up [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You could use a couple of hand stretchers to stretch chain link, but where’s the fun in that? Instead hook this A-frame fence stretcher from American Fence & Supply Co. onto the tension bar and then pull the stretcher with a Come-A-Long.

Use this 30″ stretcher for 4′ chain link fence. It runs $30, but unfortunately you’ll pay $25 in shipping charges. If you’re a Texan you also get hit with tax too.

A-Frame Stretcher [American Fence & Supply Co.]

It’s a verifiable fact that working with concrete sucks. The lifting and the mixing, followed by the pouring and smoothing, all while being rushed and worried that the mix isn’t right. I can’t think of much that’s physically more demanding and that has such a big potential for a hard-to-clean mess — which is why we tip our hats to reader Jmillerid and his new front stoop.

This had to be an afternoon of fun and adventure followed by copious amounts of Advil and a nap. In his caption Jmillerid tells us that this great-looking brick and concrete monster has 1,200 lbs of mixed and poured goodness in it. We cringe at the thought but will be the first to say that it looks absolutely great. Well done, sir.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Pole-mounted loppers let you safely prune trees from the ground without having to work from a ladder, but most loppers are fixed on the pole in a way that only lets you cut branches that are relatively horizontal to the ground. While you can come at the branch at an angle, you’re never going to cut the branches sticking straight up. With Wolf-Garten’s adjustable angle loppers, the head swivels 180° to reach troublesome branches.

The loppers’ anvil cutters are operated with a 4-fold pulley mechanism. The mechanical advantage this gives you means you can prune longer with less effort. Wolf-Garten precision grinds the non-stick blades to give you thousands of clean cuts. The loppers can cut branches up to 40mm (1-1/2″) and they work with Wolf-Garten’s Vario handles, up to 5.7m (18.5′).

The loppers alone will run you at least $40 — then you’ll have to spend at least another $15 on one of their extension poles.

Tree Lopper [Wolf-Garten]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you have an odd-shaped yard or certain plants that need more water than others, the Noodlehead Flexible Lawn and Garden Sprinkler allows you to point 12 “noodles” to precisely the right place for optimal watering. Product literature indicates that the three holes in each noodle give you six feet of coverage, up to 20 feet away, under normal water pressure. (more…)

Northern Tool offers this $30 propane torch kit for burning weeds and melting snow and ice. With a six-foot hose and a two-foot handle, you’ll need to figure out a way to haul around the (minimum) 20lb propane cylinder.

The torch kit has a manual igniter, so be sure to pick up a proper ignition source as well. Your cigarette lighter is not recommended.

The trick to getting these work right is to singe the weeds, boiling the moisture in the plant cells above ground to dehydrate the weed to a point of no return. It doesn’t take much to terminate — just a second or two — and you must absolutely be careful when using this in drier fields to prevent flare-ups.

In the winter, once you’ve melted all your snow, make sure to sweep the water off the driveway. Otherwise it’ll just end up refreezing, forming your new skate rink, which will amuse your kids but won’t make the 6:00 am departure for work any easier.

Propane Torch Kit [Northern Tool]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The Eagle has landed — in your backyard. Well, okay, if you don’t believe the black sphere pictured above is spaceworthy, maybe you’d believe it’s a giant hamster ball for your dog? It turns out that it’s actually the ECOmposter, a compost bin.

The ECOmposter is constructed from recycled materials. The spherical shape maximizes the ratio of surface area to volume, which in layman’s terms means it’ll hold heat better. This shape, coupled with the dark color and the 16 integrated air tubes, helps the compost decompose faster, possibly even in as little as 4-6 weeks. The spherical shape also lets you roll the bin in any direction, mixing the compost more evenly. There are openings on both the top and bottom for adding or retrieving compost.

The ECOmposter comes with either a short plastic base or a taller tubular metal base with rollers that lets you rotate the ball in place. It looks like one of the best prices comes from Sam’s Club, where it’s just $150. If you’re not careful you could pay up to $300.

ECOmposter [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon

Rather than get down on your hands and knees to remove leaves around your plantings and trellis work, pick up a steel adjustable-tine rake like this one from Bond Manufacturing. I used to dread cleaning out the garden every spring until a few years ago when I picked up a similar rake. It’s not something you use to rake the entire lawn, but the variable-size head lets you clean out areas where your normal rake won’t fit.

The head of this particular model expands from 7″ to 25″ wide and can be locked at any width in between. By contracting the head back down to 7″, you can store the 69″ rake in much less space than you would need for a full-sized one.

Shipping on this rake runs about $15, or you could probably pick up a knock-off for under $10 at a local store like I did.

Bond Manufacturing [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]