If you are serious about worming, your easiest option (not the cheapest, but the most time-saving) is to start the setup before you get worms (my parents buy live bait worms from bait shops…it’s easier than trying to find enough after rain storms. Start the composting before you get the worms…they found that if you start with strips of newspaper (could also use recycled/organic paper if that’s a big deal for you), corn meal, and the usual compost-y stuff (coffee filters, veggie peels, etc.) and dampen it before putting in the worms, you shouldn’t have to wet it at all after that. Also, do not put in citrus or onions or peppers…they can burn your worms. The final note about worming is that you should never put in seeds if you can avoid it…unless you want 3 million cucumber plants coming up from the cucumber seeds that weren’t eaten, or a bunch of rogue cantaloupe plants.

Good luck with the garden! Composting REALLY helps it grow faster.

Moreover, buy quality tools with a lifetime guarantee (like Craftsman)at yard sales and trade them in for new.

Most important — some sort of system so you don’t ‘lose’ the tool somewhere in the garage, go out and buy a new one, then find the original a week later.

Well done, this site is really great. Just wanted to say hello, keep up the good work!

Bye

My father used a Makita 9.6v cordless drill/screwdriver for years in his toilet partition business. It was a real labor/hassle saver for him. He had 2 batteries and they recharged faster than he could use them so he was never without power.

He gave me the same drill ~12 years ago when my wife and I purchased our first house. I was stoked because it is a nice drill and worked great for him.

But it has been 12 years of misery for me. Why?!

I use the drill so infrequently that the batteries slowly drain while sitting in my workbench. So when I need the drill for a quick one-off situation, it’s almost always dead.

The other problem is that without consistently using the battery all the way to complete exhaustion, it develops a memory and does not hold near the charge it used to.

For me, I’ll never buy another cordless power tool because I need the reliability of knowing it’s going to work every time I need it to work.

Then buy as needed – noting that some things are better value in sets. And that tools, being numerous, can consume massive amounts of cash. Most of my time in stores is do-I-buy-the-$10-or-the-$50 dilemma. (Never buy the $1 version). It really comes down to tool lifetime and usage profile.

I used to work with someone who’d call the Snap-On van every time he needed a spanner…geek jewelery (and yes, I own some).

You’ll definitely want a flashlight and a toilet bowl plunger. Focus on what you might need for a middle-of-the-night emergency, or things you know you will need immediately (like a garden hose). Otherwise, I agree with the “buy it as you need it” gang. You will be better situated to make wise choices that way and get quality tools that last a long time.

Good luck!!

A splurge item of sorts to consider for the garden – brass quick-connects for the hose, the faucet, the sprinkler(s), the sprayer. Maybe a buck apiece, they’re a nice time-saver.

2-3 5-gallon buckets. I can’t tell you why you need them, but if you have them, you’ll use them. Honest.

I bought a Toro weed-eater that comes apart and has an edger attachment. There are a couple of other attachments you can buy, but I didn’t because I don’t need them. But I like that I bought essentially two tools for less than the two tools would separately have cost, and I’m betting the other attachments are all cheaper than their standalone counterparts.

I don’t see “utility knife” on your list or in the comments so far, which boggles my mind. You can get a good one for about $9, and the blades are replaceable and cheap.

As for “tool chest”, check yard sales or even local mechanics – folks upgrade and usually want to get rid of the old one because it’s smaller or a little dented, but it can be perfectly good enough for your purposes. I got mine free because a friend replaced his because one of the drawers wouldn’t close. My solution was to rip out the drawer and simply keep stuff in the open space like a shelf, and it works great.

Congrats on the house!

B)

Safety glasses! Keep those peepers in one piece.

They’re expensive, but worth the money. His current DeWalt battery-powered drill is nearly ten years old, and was used very frequently on construction sites. Their warranty is a strong one, and the equipment is rugged. Besides that, you can get a nice set, wherein the batteries are interchangeable; my father’s in particular came with a drill, an excellent saw, and a powerful flashlight with snaking neck, with two batteries (which last quite awhile on a single charge). All packs neatly into the included hard plastic case. They’re solid, powerful tools, and by the time I get my own house, it’s more than likely that my power tools of choice will also be DeWalt.

Corded drills are so yesterday, get a good cordless one and you’ll never be bothered triping over the cord.

What every you get buy quality, good tools can be passed on to your Grandkids.

Composting can be done on the cheap, without a bin, as already described. You can also dig trenches (as needed) in your garden and bury your kitchen scraps (no meat or bones; chop everything up first and crush eggshells). You’ll need a small container for your kitchen to hold your scraps for the compost pile. There are some very expensive ones on the market, but the expense is more show than function. (Who really wants to carry a unhandled stoneware crock from the kitchen to the compost pile for each dumping? Come on!) You want the lid to close, but totally airtight is not essential (and seems to smell worse after a day or two). What I’ve finally found works best for me an itty bitty metal trash can with an attached metal lid and a plastic liner that can be pulled out. It came with my kitchen trash can (suppose they intended it for the bathroom) and is about 10″ tall. I splurge on biodegradable compost scrap bags (100 for $19.95 at http://www.gardeners.com) to make emptying much easier and save on cleanup. I run the plastic part through the dishwasher about once a month, and just rinse it after dumping in between. Am about to try cutting a carbon filter to pop in the top of the can, from material left over from cutting an AC filter to size. Think that will help with the odor when the can is opened to add material.

When this pail rusts out, I’ve got my next one picked out — http://www.gardeners.com/Odor-Free-Compost-Pail/default/30-708.prd

Congratulations, and good luck!