Out of Context: 5 Awesome Gardening Gadgets

1. Honey Badger Garden Digging Gloves

Just look at these BEAUTIFUL claws!!!

I always imagined people who gardened to be little, white-haired ladies with big hats and pastel suits. Then, I became one myself. It is probably one of the best ways for me to relieve stress. Growing up as a juvenile delinquent, I would handle stress with cussing, screaming, clawing, punching, and other acts of general violence. Being the mommy and teacher that I grew up to be, I had to find new methods of handling the stress of dealing with adulting and the stupidity that is referred to as humankind. 

When I am stressed, I claw at the ground, I pull out weeds,  give a full-force foot stomp to the shovel, and throw chunks of dirt into the air. I may not get to cuss and scream, but I grunt and grumble with the best of the gardeners that understand how gardening is really anger management.

Did I mention that these gloves look like they came out of the costume closet for The Creature of the Black Lagoon? Time to upload some '90's thrasher metal on the iPod and start kicking Earth's butt! 

You can find this suburban mom equivalent to "poop" kickers, steel toe boots at http://www.honeybadgergloves.com/. 

Speaking of boot stomping...

2. Ohuhu Lawn Aerator Shoes 

Get Your Own Pair Here

Aerating soil is a must. Basically, the soil gets way too compact, much like my nerves these days; the dirt needs to be loosened up just a bit so the roots get the good stuff that they need. Water, air, and nutrients are pretty important if you want your grass and garden to thrive. Wine cannot be a substitute for aerating. 

I have always used an old-timey push contraption with a roller of spikes. SPIKES OF DOOM!!! That tool has attacked me on numerous occasions. For example, when the evil wheel of spinning spikes hits a rock, it causes you to lurch forward. 

I am a big girl and I lack grace, so the lurching led to falling forward and the dreadful impalement of my shins via the tool that I was using. 

This strappy shoe attachment can enable me to convince one of the children that they get to play Big Foot. Of course, to win, they have to leave their "print" everywhere before they hide. 

That sounds like a perfect day of yard work, right there. 

3. Garden Claw Hand Rake

The boys in our house are old enough to help with yard work and young enough to enjoy doing it. I know this won't last forever, but I am just going to keep telling myself that it will. 

There comes a time of the year where you can't ignore the leaves anymore: the wind isn't blowing them away and mowing over them will probably clog your lawnmower. You have to rake. 

I HATE RAKING!!!!

This is how this will work in my house. "Boys!!! I got y'all something!!!" As they come running excitedly, I will explain to them that we are going to play "The Claw Machine" game and whoever finds the price at the bottom of the leave pile wins. 

This is Mommy Magic at the finest!

Order this "toy" here. Don't forget to make a trip to The Dollar Tree for some kind of surprise for the bottom of the pile. Otherwise, kids will start expecting money or some other compensation the next time you play "The Claw Machine" game. 

4. Worm Compost Tower

I already have one of these, but I want another one. Compost is pretty disgusting and can be expensive. I would much rather deal with compost in the privacy of my own backyard than go to the store and purchase rotted, green waste products. 

I get all my worm composting stuff at Uncle Jim's Worm Farm.

All kidding aside about playing tricks on my boys to get them to do yard work, this is one they really enjoy. The process is highly interactive; it starts with the broccoli that they won't eat and goes all the way to using the compost and worm tea (miracle stuff for your garden).

The day that the yearly worms come in the mail is a REALLY BIG DEAL!!! I am a boy mom, so gross does not faze me one bit. Doing this together provides opportunities to talk about all kinds of scientific stuff like being environmentally friendly, distrubiting waste wisely, providing nutrients to plants, and most importantly, the value of worm poop.

5. DIY Infrared Plant Camera 

This is super cool! After The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Big Foot, "The Claw Machine", and Worm Poop, infrared technology seemed to be the only logical way to end this list. 

This picture was borrowed from Bob Vila's website. 

There are several things that I love about this idea. The primary function is to capture digital images of your plants using infrared technology (No!!! I cannot tell you what that is exactly.) to check the health of your plants. This is another one of those fun projects that most kids will enjoy. 

As an open source, Public Lab provides free DIY instructions for those who are less than mechanically inclined; they also offer an inexpensive assembly kit.

The boys and I will be heading to our local makerspace The Innovation Hub to tinker around with this idea.