Every product in the catalogue passes through the greenhouse before it reaches the shelf – a season of real potting, pruning, watering and weeding at our own bench. These notes explain what happens there.
A season at the bench, minimum
Every candidate tool works a full growing season with us – spring sowing, summer watering, autumn cutbacks. Pruners are judged on rose canes and green willow, cans on how they pour at full weight, gloves on how they feel in hour three. Gear that only performs in the first week does not get listed.
Taken apart before signed off
We open what can be opened: pivots unscrewed, blades removed, handles checked for how they are fixed to their tangs. If a part wears, we ask the maker whether spares are available – no spares, no listing.
Materials we favour
Forged carbon steel that holds an edge and accepts sharpening. Ash, beech and oak with the grain running true. Unglazed clay that breathes. Waxed canvas and saddle leather that mend and improve. These materials cost more once and less over a decade.
What the notes feed
Returns and repairs land back on the same bench, and every failure is logged by cause. Twice a year the log decides what stays, what changes and what we quietly retire. It keeps the catalogue honest.
