Are you looking for some gift ideas for the gardener on your shopping list? I tried a few tools this summer that really helped make gardening easier.

First, we have a pair of CobraHead weeding tools. Shaped, as you might expect, a bit like a cobra about to strike, they help pull weeds out of the garden. The flattened end of the sharp blade easily cuts through the soil to undercut weeds. At the same time, it can be used to create furrows and dig holes for small plants.

With a single blade, the CobraHead can work in between the good plants to pull out the weeds. The long-handled version is excellent at slicing off the small weeds that are just starting to grow but are too small to be worth bending over to pull out by hand.

The short-handled version is just over a foot long and works great when you're sitting or kneeling in the garden. The handle is recycled plastic, and the blade is tempered steel. It works great at pulling mud out of the cracks in my boots without me having to bend over.

The long-handled version comes in three lengths for gardeners shorter than 5-foot-2; between 5-foot-2 and 6-foot-2; and taller than 6-foot-2. Because the working angles are different, the curves of the blades on the two versions are different, so don't put the blade in a vise to re-bend it, like I did. I broke the long-handled blade on my first day of using it, but when I called the company to get a replacement, to my astonishment, they told me the blade would be replaced for free because of the one-year unconditional warranty.

CobraHead tools are available in many garden centers and Whole Foods stores, or find them online at CobraHeadLLC.com.

Fiskars makes an all-around garden tool that you'll find more uses for than you may recognize at first glance. The sissor-like Take-Apart Garden Shears are good for cutting weed barrier cloth, but they're also good for pruning. Use them for the indoor pruning of houseplants -- a task that often gets neglected -- and for larger, outdoor plants, such as roses.

Cut small roots out of holes being dug for bulbs and annuals, and don't worry if the shears get all clogged with mud. They quickly come apart for cleaning and easily go back precisely in place for cutting. The shears can be used by both right- and left-handed people and are covered by a lifetime warranty. And at just $13, they're a bargain.

When I was young, my mom would often say that I ate as though I had a hollow leg. Well, now I can say I have a Gardener's Hollow Leg (GHL). This hollow leg is made of 100% post-consumer recycled polyester, and it has a belt that holds it on. Its huge five-gallon capacity makes it easy to get a lot of gardening chores done without having to lug around a bucket. The 10-inch opening is held open with a ring that makes it easy to get things into the GHL.

I used it to harvest apples and pears up on a ladder, and it allowed me to keep my hands safely on the ladder. I used it to harvest prairie plant seeds in my garden and found it much easier to harvest with both hands free, and it was much easier to walk through the plants than with the typical paper bag or bucket. Cutting perennial flower stalks was also easier, as they fit in the GHL without falling out like they do in my bucket.

The GHL is available at local stores listed on TheGardenersHollowLeg.com.

Email questions to Jeff Rugg at info@greenerview.com. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM