Saturday, March 15, 2014

My New Copper Trowel

My new copper trowel arrived in the mail this morning.
It is truly a thing of beauty. When I unwrapped the parcel and took it out, it positively glowed. As I held it in my hand and admired it, it seemed almost a shame to put it into the ground.

We already had a trowel like this that we bought several years ago. But since we have two gardens—the one next to our cottage and an ‘allotment’ down the lane, in our neighbour’s field—only one of us at a time could use it. So last week, we made the big decision to buy a second one. At £30 for a small trowel, this was no small decision. These trowels are guaranteed for 25 years and in 25 years from now I shall be 102. It would be nice to think that I shall still be out there messing about in the garden at 102, but I think it is a fair bet that this trowel is going to outlast me by decades. But, as the poet said, ‘a thing of beauty is a joy for ever.’ And now we are a two copper trowel family.
The Austrian engineer, forester and wise elder Viktor Schauberger, best known for his discoveries of the energetic properties of water and his design of beautiful, functional flowforms, also did research into the use of copper in gardening tools. He came to the conclusion that cultivating the soil with copper implements rather than steel ones would be more beneficial to the Earth and lead to healthier plants. In his writings, he listed several reasons for this.
§                Minute amounts of copper create the conditions for beneficial micro-organisms
§                Copper tools penetrate the soil easily. Copper has a low coefficient of friction, therefore there is less tendency for clay to cling to the tool
§                Copper is not magnetic so it does not disrupt the electrical fields in the soil
§                Copper tools be kept sharp with a whetstone, file or by peening (hammering the edge against a steel anvil)
You can read a whole lot more about this concept—and about Schaubergerhere
The other thing about the use of copper tools in the garden is that it is said to deter slugs. And here in our damp corner of south-west England, that is certainly a plus.

I carried my shiny new trowel up to the garden and I knelt down and stuck it in the soil. Kind of reverently. But isn't that how gardening should always be? Reverent?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, don`t you just learn something new every time about gardening. I knew about copper deterring slugs, but other than that had no idea about the other ways it was beneficial. I might well now look into finding my own copper gardening tools, so a bit of saving up for it might also be necessary.
With the weather finally having turned better I have made a start with sowing seeds. New beginnings are always exciting in the gardening calendar. Soon, I shall introduce my first granddaughter to the delights of growing veggies, too.

Charles Dowding said...

Marian this is a lovely piece, thankyou and I wish you well as a two trowel family!

Manipartington said...

Where can I get a copper trowel in UK
Love to you and Sky

Elderwoman said...

Hi Mani, I bought mine online from Implementations in Nuneaton - they are at: http://www.implementations.co.uk/
Hugs,
Marian

Susan said...

I bought one about 2 years ago from the same place and it is by far and away the tool I use most. I dig, hoe, plant and sometimes even slash with it. It is a real pleasure to use.