Dabbling in Dibbles

I can remember as a kid working with my grandfather in his greenhouse planting seeds in peat pots. I would use a hand made dibble that my grandfather had carved out of a piece of scrap wood to make holes in the soil for the tiny seeds. I used that dibble for many years and it became an extremely useful tool for planting. After my grandfather had passed away, his greenhouse was sold and that dibble was lost forever.

Over the years, while working in my own greenhouse, I would often grab any handy item to use while starting seeds. I have used a pencil, stick, sharpened dowel, my finger, and the list goes on. Every time I finished planting I would say to myself that I needed to make a permanent dibble like the one my grandfather made, but never got around to doing it and the following spring I would again find myself searching for any item to poke holes in the soil.

I am an architectural designer by profession and woodworker, so I finally decided to make a proper dibble for myself and started playing around with some different styles. I tried turning them out of oak and pine, and carving rounded ones out of walnut. I remembered the thick blocks of mahogany that I "rescued" from a cabinet shop many years ago that were sitting in my shop. These slabs were 2" think off-cuts left over from large job, but were headed for the trash before I saved them (I can't stand to see beautiful wood like that wasted). I was saving them to make something that would be useful and that had purpose.

I started to hand-carve some simple designs out of the mahogany blanks until I came up with one that was both economical and aesthetically pleasing.

 

I came up with 2 different style dibbles in 3 different sizes, each serving a particular purpose. They are each individually hand-carved and fit perfect in your hand while planting.

Pointed Body Dibbles

 The pointed body dibbles work well for planting seeds and making small furrows in the soil and comes in three sizes:

Large (1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 8") - for planting larger seeds and all round use.

Medium (1-1/8" x 1-1/8" x 6") - for use in the greenhouse or garden for transplanting seedlings.

Small (3/4" x 3/4" x 4") - for making small holes in soil blocks or seedling trays for starting seeds.

Rounded Body Dibbles

The rounded body dibbles work well for planting bulbs and also come in three sizes:

Large (1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 8") - for planting larger bulbs and all round use.

Medium (1-1/8" x 1-1/8" x 6") -  for transplanting seedlings and planting bulbs.

Small (3/4" x 3/4" x 4") - for planting smaller bulbs.

Each dibble is hand-carved out of solid mahogany and finished with natural beeswax to protect and nourish the wood. You can hold them by the top or by the body like a pencil for a comfortable grip.

I love old hand tools and am very pleased with the design and function of these dibbles. They are very high quality and can easily become an heirloom to be passed down from gardener to gardener. They are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. 

They are the first item in a series of gardening tools that I am designing and developing and are available for purchase through my ETSY store.