What's Your Favourite Tool?

If I had a screwdriver with a motor when I was four, who knows what I would have taken to bits.

Favourite tool

If anyone was to ask me what my all time favourite tool was they might be surprised. I have raved on about particular tools recently, such as the hoes from Chillington and the small hand tool I picked up for 2 euro in Lidl that is perfect for getting creeping buttercup roots out. But it’s not those. My all time favourite tool was a penknife, given to me, in hindsight, rather irresponsibly by a friend of the family...for my fourth birthday. The four inch blade was finely forged Sheffield steel and the beautiful tortoiseshell handle shimmered in the sunlight as I took the tool out of its box.

That penknife was the best present ever I thought, as I made my way outside to see what I could carve up. I learnt a lot from that penknife. It showed me that you can’t cut backwards as the knife folded up and trapped your fingers. I learned that you could easily shave slithers of wood from the dining chair backs and also that parents were horrified when you ran down the stairs with the blade open chasing flies. I only managed to keep the penknife for a day, maybe that’s why it was my favourite tool, because it was forbidden for me to have it. It spent ten years in a secret place until ‘I was old enough to use it properly’. I was given a screwdriver instead and this remains number two in my list of favourite tools. The fun I had with that, taking the afore mentioned dining chairs to bits, seeing what happened when you took the screws out of the back of the television and poking it into electrical appliances. I didn’t have that present long either as I recall.

I’m reminiscing because I was recently talking to James Kilkelly from the GardenPlansIreland forum. He has started a weekly questionnaire for gardeners to fill in and I thought I would give it a go. After all I spent a happy year or two asking gardeners around Inishowen questions about their gardens when for the paper. I thought it was time I had a go to see how difficult it can be to think of answers.

Questions and Answers

Your favourite qualities in a garden.
To be practical and edible. I like the idea of incorporating a well to avoid water metering. I also like gardens to be versatile and adapt to different stages of people lives.
Your favourite garden.
Mapperley allotments in Nottingham. There are all nationalities together, some living on the site permanently. There are also organisations set up for people with mental health issues to undertake horticultural therapy.
Your favourite colour.
I like contrast in the garden so it depend on the backdrop. I tend to sway towards natural colours in the hedgerows.
Your favourite tree.
Hazel and willow are great and very useful. I will say the oak tree though. We live on the coast and these hardy trees survive anything, most of them grow sideways because of the wind.
Your favourite shrub.
Garrya elliptica (the silk tassel bush) is a great winter favourite. I suppose it’s because I have never managed to grow one here. For practicality though I would plant blackcurrants, they are easy to propagate and if you don’t eat the berries the birds will.
Your favourite flower.
As a kid it was the white trumpet bindweed flower. As a gardener it’s the cheerful spring flowers of crocus, snowdrops and daffodils. The promise of things to come.
If you could grow only one vegetable, which one would it be.
Curly Kale. It’s both hardy and versatile. You can eat it from autumn to late spring and I especially enjoy the small broccoli like florets.
If there was one plant that you never had to see again, which one would you consign to history?
Leylandii. They are a menace. They grow too quickly taking all of the nutrients out of the soil, no wildlife lives in them, they cut out neighbours light and they go bare on the bottom.
The main fault you come across in gardening/garden design.
Builders don’t put enough topsoil in gardens when a new house goes up. The poor owners spend years digging out rubbish.
Your least favourite part of gardening.
Digging. That’s why I don’t do it. I prefer to work with a ‘no dig’ policy. I add to the top of the soil so that the structure remains intact for the worms to do their magic.
If you were not involved in the gardening trade what would your ideal occupation be.
A presenter on Top Gear. -as long as I could still have time to garden as a hobby.
Your top gardening tip.
Incorporate vegetables into your garden, even if you don’t have vegetable beds. Grow them in the borders as you would ornamental plants.
Your life motto.
Work smart, not hard and leave something to do tomorrow.