Gardening Gadgets – true or false?
1. Hori hori : A multipurpose gardening knife. The word hori means “to dig” in Japanese and “hori-hori” is the onomatopoeic representation of a digging sound. TRUE
2. Grape storage bottle: To impress by serving out of season, Victorians stored grapes in glass bottles which were filled with charcoal and water TRUE
3. Cucumber straightener: a glass tube used to make cucumbers more aesthetically pleasing. TRUE
4. Vine weevil crock: shallow pots often made of thick terracotta to which compost, weed roots and sulphur can be added to tempt those unwelcome pests. FALSE
5. Dusting bellows: These were used in the18th century to disperse powdered insecticide. TRUE
6. Thistle spud: used for cutting out thistles, some had ornate blades shaped as thistles. TRUE
7. Giraffe hoes: extendable tool used by early Victorians to retrieve weeds from herbaceous borders without treading on precious plants. FALSE
8. Dutch grubber: particularly useful for rooting out annual weeds, this tool head resembles the sails of windmills. FALSE
9. Thatcher’s Wimble: Known also as Wimbrels, or Scud Winders in Suffolk, used to make straw string. TRUE
10. Thin gumajig: widely popular labelling and naming device, cheaper and less time consuming than Victorian ceramic, steel or glass systems. FALSE
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