Handy Tools to Haul Your Heavy Harvest
October/November 2005
By Pat Crocker
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
– Nursery Rhyme by Mother Goose
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Containers to hold and haul the garden’s bounty
have been employed since long before Peter Piper filled his peck
basket. It appears that the ancient crafts of pottery and basketry
rose up in human practice almost simultaneously.
From the first harvest when baskets made lighter work of the
hauling and storing, gardeners have relied on sturdy, lightweight
and portable containers to help them bring home the crops. Since
the 19th century, British wooden trugs have carted flowers and
herbs; soft, collapsible bins have served orchard workers for a
century or more; and lately, heavy-duty plastic is proving to be
very practical for harvesting garden produce.
As with all cool tools, function dictates form. Gardeners
transport everything from herbs and flowers, vegetables and fruit,
to gloves, hats and hand tools — and their choice of containers is
as varied as the jobs they perform.
USE A TRUG FOR HERBS, FLOWERS AND SALAD GREENS
The word trug originates from ‘trog’, the Old English word
meaning boat-shaped. The modern trug basket appeared sometime
around the middle 1800s in the small town of Herstmonceux in East
Sussex, UK. Chestnut is the material of choice for Sussex trugs,
which are still handmade (see www.GardenTalk.com/ trugs.htm for
more information).
Trugs are shallow, long and slender to keep delicate flowers in
one or two layers, protecting them from being crushed by their own
weight. The deep handle is crafted to sit comfortably in the crook
of the arm, allowing both hands to snip herbs, flowers and salad
greens. North American trugs are made of lightweight ash slats, or
woven from sturdy reeds, leather, fabric, plastic, wire or steel
mesh.
PAT 'S TOP TRUGS
Heirloom Gathering Basket; Hourglass Flower Baskets; and Swing
Handled Garden Basket, all from Basketville (see Sources below). Of
the dozens of baskets offered by this company, these three work
best for gathering tender sprigs and sprays. All are hand-woven of
ash.
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