Which on-line garden supply companies or websites do you use and recommend (or not)? I buy some items from Amazon with great success, but Amazon does not always have what I want, so I am looking at other sites, too.

Thanks!

Lee Valley for their stainless steel shovels and pruning tools (including a fabulous pruning blade for my reciprocating saw).

A. M. Leonard's for just about anything -- good prices, too, IMO.

Gardener's Supply seems a little $$ to me, but they have very good quality items, including beautiful, sturdy planters.

Collections Etc for garden decor, from gnomes to wind spinners to bird feeders. Their resin ornaments, in particular, are well-made (although I do always put a coat of clear poly on anything like that to help preserve colors). I've gotten a few lemons (hummingbird solar lights that never lit), but mostly a lot of bang for your buck. Also, my MIL loves their pretty tops!

Thanks for the tips, critterologist.

Now that you mentioned it, I think I have ordered from A. M. Leonard via Amazon. Product was as described and shipped fast.

I also bought from Greenworks via Amazon. I am sorry to say I have mixed feelings about them. Their products seem good, but the customer service is appalling. I messaged them via their website over a month ago about replacement screws and never heard back. I belled them and held for over 30 minutes and just gave up. You mileage may vary, though.

Never ordered from Collections that I can recall. I think I know someone who received their catalog, though. They looked pretty hit or miss to me.

I am seriously considering buying this "Grounds Keeper Rake" for small areas I cannot reach with the electric dethatcher (bought a Greenworks Dethatcher that works very well in pulling up thatch from the lawn). Anyone use one of these? I screened some YouTube videos on it. It has a lot of positive reviews. Many reviewers say it is the best rake they have ever used.

https://www.amleo.com/groundsk...

Not sure how it would be for dethatching, but I love a little rake for getting leaves out from around shrubs and large perennials.

Great thread topic, btw

You can mostly figure out items to "miss" at Collections by reading the reviews or even by reading the description.

Thank you, critterologist.

I did buy this leaf rake a while back. I love it for cleaning out between my shrubs. It would not work as well for dethatching, but it is a pretty well made little rake for a decent price. Feels very balanced in the hands and has a long reach. Recommend this one to anyone looking for this type of shrub rake. It reaches into a lot of tight spots for me aside from behind the HVAC unit which requires either a broom or a leaf blower. In any case, I am very glad I invested in this little rake.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IYXKHLM/

I stumbled upon this site today whilst looking for Haws watering cans. Looks like they have some pretty nice things on offer.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-u...

Lee Valley is awesome. They were the first company I thought of when you asked for recommendations! Anything they highly recommend usually really is the next "best thing since sliced bread." That makes them an excellent gift source, also. Last year everybody got kitchen scrubber thingies. Other things I've gifted from there -- stainless steel border shovels, water warblers (make remarkable bird sounds), peelers (red & green, and the serrated one is the bees knees), jar openers (perfectly bent piece of metal that easily releases vacuum so you can open lids), compact manual can opener that doesn't leave sharp edges, tick removal "keys," and I'm sure there's more. I've bought some "old timey toys" from their xmas catalog also.

I usually put in a pretty good order around Thanksgiving. They seldom (never?) have totally free shipping, but they will often ship free with orders over $30 or $40 -- and I have a wish list going, so it's not hard to reach that minimum if there's something I need to order in April.

By the way, A. M. Leonard has the perfect garden knife, with a belt sheath if you're so inclined. They are also one of the cheaper sources for nursery pots, shade cloth, row cover, and so forth. Under the "growing" tab on their main page, look under "nursery supplies" or "greenhouse supplies."

Both amleo and leevalley have great folding pruning saws... just looked up the Lee Valley one, looks like the one I bought 10 years ago, priced nicely at about $20. I actually have 2 of them because a handyman misplaced one... and I found it 8 months later, submerged in water... and it was fine!!!

Adding, I don't use my pruning saw much lately, because I got a reciprocating saw a few years ago (like a sawzall) and found an amazing, sturdy pruning blade for it at Lee Valley.

Sorry, I totally forgot you mentioned Lee Valley before! I am going senile! Well, I agree with you. They have a really nice site with a lot of great looking stuff. The watering can I wanted is out of stock right now, but I hope they will get it back in stock before the end of the year. I must look into the other items you mentioned, too, critterologist! (I can already hear my wallet groaning! )

You sound well stocked on all sorts of stuff. Wish you lived next door!

I heard back from Lee Valley. They said Haws has been having horrible production problems, and they (Lee Valley) do not expect the watering can to come back into stock before the end of February '22.

I have a metal Haws can, don't like it better than my $3 plastic one. However, they also make a little plastic "indoor" can with an interchangeable spout (that clips on so you don't lose the extra tip). Indespensible for "watrering in" transplanted seedlings... although to be honest I know some people use a squeeze type condiment dispenser, and I bet that's similar in giving a small trickle that doesn;t knock tiny plants over. One christmas everybody got plastic watering cans, evem if they had just a couple of houseplants LOL.

Neighbors sharing tools does work well! (I guess that can depend on the neighbors) I like kitchen and garden gadgets. But really, how often do I get out my sawzall or my pressure canner? But when you need it, how great to have the right tool for the job!

Here's the Haws indoor plastic can on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EBULX0Q/

Used to have an angled tip as well as the rose tip, but honestly the angle one is only a teeny bit different than watering without a tip. If you have a few african violets ot grow from seed, it's worth the $13. (If you have hundreds of AVs as I did at one time, you'll be using other watering methods)

^^^ I know!! It is so nice to have a needed tool on hand. I have seen so many gadgets over the years that I thought "gee, that would be great to have on hand for ____," but I have avoided buying 99.9% of them because I knew I would use them pretty infrequently, and perhaps more importantly, I simply do not have enough room to store stuff.

I have no experience with the Haws brand, but the larger can is something I wanted to spoil myself with one day. If it comes back into stock by March, I will probably order it. Funnily enough, I have developed a fondness for watering cans and hand tools. I purchased my first DeWit hand trowel a few years ago and loved it so much that I purchased several more of their tools. Now, I find myself on the lookout for new DeWit tools and watering cans. I am told Haws is very, very collectible.

Some of the watering cans I see are just so cute that they make you want to purchase them just for their looks, e.g. there is a little elephant can that stole my heart a couple of years ago. I still have not purchased one but for one reason only. They redesigned him a little bit and now the hole on his head is too far forward, and many reviewers say the water spills out over his head as much as from his trunk. I have adored elephants since I was a tiny child, so I may end up purchasing one just for decor because he is just too cute.

Anyway, I do plan to buy a Haws....and, for anyone looking for hand tools, I highly recommend DeWit. I purchased all of my DeWit tools on Amazon, but I am sure they must be available on other sites, too.

As something of an aside, I started looking for reviews of and how-to's on YouTube on anything I may potentially buy. I am amazed at how much there is there! Bless all of those folks who take the time to unbox, build, compare, and review products. They have helped me so much.

I came across this site today. Never mind the name, they do sell a lot of relatively inexpensive garden stuff. A search for "garden" pulled up 6 pages of lawn and garden related items.

They list prices on all of their items, but you cannot order on-line. You have to search for a shop near you. Unfortunately, they do not have a shop in my area. Your mileage may vary.

https://www.christmastreeshops...

That little elephant was designed by the same guy who created the iconic lawn flamingo! Don Featherstone

I came across the elephant cans at a clearance price years ago and bought a dozen, gave them away to various kids in our family and neighborhood. Sadly, I think i/m down to my last one. Sad to hear about the unimproved new design!

I'm not sure if my elephant sloshes or not. I'd say just get it -- but use it outside if it sloshes water out the top.

I got curious, found an ebay seller, but they also have both the light grey (original) and dark grey (bad opening) version in their pics. I asked which one they had. On Amazon, apparently some people are getting the dark grey one... both versions are shown in the photos. Ugh.

^^^ Yes, one has to play detective in order to try to predict what might arrive in the post.

Did not know that about the designer. Interesting bit of trivia there, critterologist. Thank you for sharing. I think I will order one of the elephant watering cans from Amazon. If nothing else, he will look cute sitting on the potting bench or someplace similar. I can see how children would love him.

I bought some Martha Stewart clippers from Christmas Tree for $6. So far so good.

I think they're kind of a hit or miss store IMO. Not to say their stuff is cheap, but sometimes it can be.

^^^ Actually, I thought the photos on their website looked like the items were pretty low end, but that is not necessarily always a bad thing. I frequently purchase items from the dollar stores that are "good enough" for my purposes. It is better to shop in the stores from such vendors. At least you have one of their stores near you! I never heard of them before today. I just happened to read their name in a review for something, so I did a quick search to see what they might have. Sometimes, cheap works just fine.

As far as small rakes, I have a rake which has rubber tines, it works great in the spring when I want to gently pull leaves out from around the bulbs starting to emerge, unfortunately forgot where I got it from.