THE MODERN MINT BLOG

May15

Which Copper Trowel Is For Me?

Which Copper Trowel is Best for Me?

MIRA gallery image

At Modern Mint we offer three copper trowels – the Mira, the Musca and the Castor.

Each has a uniqueness in shape and feel, as well as how they can be best utilised by the gardener. As we often get asked what is the difference between them too, we have written a short, handy guide on the different places in the garden we use them.

Hope this helps you decide which copper trowel is best for you!

1) Musca – our favourite at the moment, we have been using this non-stop in the garden since March!

Great all-rounder. Because the blade is deeper you can use it for potting up and moving compost from the bag (or barrow) into seed trays, but it is also sharp enough and long enough to use in the garden too.

We used it this week for putting out cosmos into the borders, clearing goose grass from a vegetable patch and dandelions from between the paving. The ‘Musca’ gets well used…!

MUSCA featured image

2) Mira – this is slim, sharp and long and we really like it because you can trace back roots of perennial weeds.
If you have bindweed, ground elder, nettles etc this is wonderful to use. It is so sharp it also works well slicing into pots, so if you are trying to take a plant out that is pot bound it can get in along the side.
We like using it to divide hostas, daylillies and sedums, as the tip of the Mira trowel is easy to place into the section you want to divide the plant at. This was our original copper trowel, the copper tool that got us onto using this metal around the garden and it still holds a firm place in our tool bag – for us, it is also the most beautiful.
MIRA featured image
3) Castor – if you do a lot of potting up and growing from seed, this wider trowel is best. It can scoop a lot of compost into pots.
It is a favourite of the brilliant market gardener Charles Dowding (we have tasted the food he grows – he knows what he is doing!) but we think this trowel is better for use in the greenhouse than the garden.
Stefano, our Italian designer who helps with products at Modern Mint, thinks of this as a design classic.
100 Castor 300 dpi pksbronze new size
What else do we need to tell you about Copper Trowels?
They are all sharp, light and great to use, so you can’t go far wrong.
For most people the Musca will probably be the best choice to buy, as its versatility means it can be used anywhere in the garden.
Of course, different people will like different styles and what suits one will not have the balance and tactility enjoyed by another – so don’t just take our word for it, get yourself a copper trowel and see how much easier gardening is with a sharp, beautiful tool to use!
May 15 th 2016
Sep11

Holiday For A Week!

We now have everything back in stock on the pruning tools front – hurray! Take a look at what you might like for doing any cutting and clipping this Autumn…. Also, please note the following: We Are Away From Wednesday 12th September, Until Thursday 20th September, So No Orders Will Be Sent Out During This Time! Is that ok? If you do make an order and then realise we won’t be sending it out, then we will send you a refund when we get back. Just let us know via email what you prefer. Otherwise, we will send out the …

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Sep08

Running Low

Sorry to people asking for some of our pruning tools, but we have run out of a few items and are waiting for more to arrive. I did a number of garden talks this week and demonstrated the quality of some of the tools. This led to a run which I hadn’t anticipated! So apologies again if you are missing out, but everything should be back in stock by next week. Many thanks for all your support here at Modern Mint! Darren

Aug20

A Very British Garden – New Garden Talk For 2019

A brand new garden talk for 2019? My, what exciting news! Having had a busy summer, with the topiary work exploding after the Guardian article, I have plans to write a new garden talk for next year. So far I have written 6 different talks in the 4 years I have been running Modern Mint, 4 of which are still available for you to book. They are: What Do I Do With This Space? A garden talk that looks at how other cultures treat their outdoor spaces. A mixture of funny stories and practical advice, it shares techniques people from …

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