Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, July 30, 2007
Ro Ho Ho
...and a bottle of rum. Thanks to Rosengeranium's comment on Carol's post about her new cultivator, I can't remove pirates from my mind. Actually, I'll need a bottle of rum for me, and a bottle of 3-in-1 for the cultivator in order to remove the grime and rust. I started to clean it up for its closeup and decided it was a bigger job than I wanted to take on right now. So here's my grandmother's Ro Ho cultivator, cleaned up just enough to be presentable.
I have no idea how long Grandma had this. This one is not exactly the same as Carol's - the paint colors are different (a fetching DOT orange and pale lime design), and I don't see any indication that there ever was any paint or stamp with the manufacturer's name on the wood.
After reading Natalya's comment, I'm thinking of putting this implement back into use. The soil at my central Virginia garden is a nice sandy loam - this might be just the thing to work up the potager in the spring.
Labels: tools
5 Comments:
I think our Ro Ho's are similar but mine is "newer". The person I bought it from said it is probably 35 - 40 years old. It's in good shape, but you can see where he had to repair the handle, and some of the rear tines are a bit loose and need some tightening. I'll try to use mine in my raised beds, but not in any "unplowed" ground, it would never make it!
Thanks for posting about yours!
Carol: I was really surprised to see your post about the Ro Ho. I'd never seen another one anywhere, although I don't know why I thought my grandmother would have had the only one in the world. ;-) I don't think it would work on unplowed ground either, but I'm going to try it next spring on the beds I dug by hand this year. I think Grandma would have had a tough time pushing it through the clay soil of northern Illinois, and I bet she didn't use it much after Grandpa got a rototiller.
What fun that garden gadget it, especially as it was your grandmother's!
You're gardening on sandy loam? Lucky you, here it is heavy clay all the way.
Yolanda Elizabet: The cultivator is a neat old gizmo - I never intended to actually use it until I read that Natalya actively seeks them out to use in her garden. The central Virginia garden is very sandy - I can hardly believe how fortunate I am to have it. The northern Virginia garden, however, is red clay subsoil - a pain to dig and plant.
What a cool tool! Very suitable for regular use AND decoration, IMO.
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