11 Wackiest Yard and Garden Products

Sure, they’re odd, but these products are also handy in the garden 😉

Old School Weeding

It’s an oldie but a goodie—place the two iron prongs of Grandpa’s Weeder around a weed, step down on the foot lever, tilt the tool in toward the lever and out comes the weed, root and all. Invented in 1913, the 39-inch-long tool went out of commission during WWII and has recently been rediscovered for all you whippersnappers.

Aerate As You Ambulate

Rather than renting and wrestling a big, heavy aerator, just strap these spiky soles over your shoes next time you mow the lawn. Twenty 1-1/4-inch spikes penetrate through the turf, opening up the compacted soil beneath and exposing roots to air and water. Of course, when they cost a fraction of the price of the real thing, they only do a fraction of the work.

Arachnophobia Made Easy

To some, it’ll seem ridiculous; to others, essential. The Long-Handled Spider Catcher, a 2-foot shaft with a pistol grip at one end and a ring of soft bristle pincers at the other, grabs a spider from a safe distance and releases it unharmed. The package includes a plastic spider for practice.

Rolling With the Roses

Take it easy on your back and knees this spring with the Garden Scoot, a steer-able stool that lets you roll from plant to plant. The comfy tractor-style seat adjusts to your preferred height, and an accessory tray mounts beneath the seat to hold tools, seeds, plants, and gloves.

I, Mow-bot

Adolescent entrepreneurs, beware: The Automower from Husqvarna, “designed to operate with the absolute minimum human interaction,” may severely limit your lawn-mowing income this summer. Working a random pattern between the boundary wires around your yard, the robot mower automatically shuts itself off or returns to its charger when finished. It cuts the lawn rain or shine and handles hills less than 35 degrees.

Psychedelic Mushrooms

Regular watering spikes are for squares—give your flowers some serious power with these hand-blown glass mushroom spikes, which deliver up to a cup of water to a plant’s root zone during the day. At night, phosphorescent speckles inside the glass begin to glow, giving off up to 4 hours of trippy illumination.

Strap-On Stool

Originally designed as a milking stool, the Wearable Garden Stool straps on like a pig tail to let you squat and spring from plant to plant. Save your back and knees from bending, keep your hands free for picking and planting, and adjust the nylon straps so you can comfortably walk while wearing the device. Just don’t expect to look cool.

Chainsaw Lasso

For those limbs even the pole saw can’t reach, consider tossing the High Limb Chain Saw up there to do the cutting. This 48-inch chain saw blade cuts in both directions as you pull it back and forth with a pair of ropes. The trickiest part is getting it up there—we recommend an underhanded lob.

The Rakish Hoe

You need a rake, you need a hoe, and you usually need them both at the same time. The inventors of the RakeHoe decided to save you a step and just stick them on a single handle. Chop weeds and break clods with the hoe, then turn the soil and grade the ground with the garden rake.

No Flyaway

It could be the Aqua Net for leaves: Sprinkle Toro’s Leaf Lock on a newly-raked pile, and the corn-based powder forms a thin shell around the leaves to keep them from blowing away. Shower the pile with water to activate the granules, and suddenly they’re surrounded by a crunchy shell—think dipped cone at DQ, and you get the idea.

Clean Clippers

Not only are power hedge clippers dangerous in a sweaty palm, they also make a mess of clippings at the base of your hedges. Solve both problems with the Garden Groom, a kind of Dust Buster for bushes. The smaller “Junior” model concealed blades cut branches less than a half inch in diameter, shredding and storing the waste for the compost pile.

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