Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero believed that “if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." We agree, as long as we can throw in a few good garden tools. To celebrate spring's arrival, we're sponsoring a month of contests featuring prizes from Williams-Sonoma's new Agrarian catalog; this week we're giving away a set of heirloom-quality Copper Hand Tools from Austria.
To win, you'll have to do a little dirty work—or describe it, at least. Tell us about your favorite gardening chore. Do you get lost in thought while weeding? Or do you enjoy the biceps workout that comes with trimming hedges? If you're like us, you relish many routine chores of spring.
Here's how to enter:
- Follow Gardenista on Twitter.
- Tweet to us #gardenchores along with a description of your must-have tool for working in the dirt by 8 pm, PST, Sunday, March 31.
- From among the qualifying tweets, the Gardenista editors will choose one winner at random and make an announcement on Wednesday, April 3.
Above: For Gardenista contributor Clemmie Hambro, a spring garden chore is bliss. "It can enrage me and surprise me but ultimately makes me happy time and time again," she writes. "Pruning an apple tree is not only brilliant exercise but also the best therapy in the world (practically like pruning out the dead and diseased parts of oneself), and pulling carrots with your children is the most satisfying thing you can possibly do." Photograph via Mama UK.
Above: You can almost smell the grass, can't you? Photograph by Daniel Fascia via Flickr.
Above: The winner's prize is three copper hand tools from Williams Sonoma Agrarian: the set includes a Hand Trowel ($58.95); Hand Fork ($58.95), and Nunki Weeder ($58.95). Handmade by coppersmiths in Austria, each tool is designed for longevity and comfort. An added bonus: The rust-proof copper coating helps promote water absorption by depositing trace amounts of the element in the soil.
And for those of you who have an aversion to gardening chores, you may find inspiration in A Garden That Waters Itself.