Before I saw the Maine Garden Hod on display screen at the New England Grows exhibition a couple of years earlier, I ‘d never heard the term “hod.” Now the garden hod is among my most-used gardening tools.
What’s a Garden Hod?
According to Wikipedia, a hod is a long-handled box for bring bricks, mortar, coal, or clams. Pike’s Original Maine Garden Hod from Maine Garden Products is an adaptation of that idea, particularly designed to clean and carry harvested fruit and vegetables from the garden.
It’s a really easy style with wood end panels, a curved deal with, and a vinyl coated wire mesh basket.
I use my Hod each time I head into the garden to choose fruit or veggies. I merely drop the harvest into the basket, carry it to the nearest tube, and wash whatever off prior to taking it inside. When it gets cooler outdoors, I rinse the full basket under the kitchen area faucet.
It does not work as well for small, soft fruit (such as raspberries or strawberries) as they tend to get caught in the mesh or fall through the spaces. For larger fruit and vegetables, especially veggies that tend to be dirt-covered (like carrots and potatoes), it’s perfect.
2 Sizes to Choose From
The Maine Garden Hod comes in 2 sizes– L’il (Small) and Original (Large).
Small– 16 ″ L x 9 ″ W x 7 ″ H overall; basket is 5 ″ H.
Large– 19 ″ L x 11 ″ W x 11 ″ H overall; basket is 5-1/2 ″ H.
Mine is the smaller one and it’s fine for smaller harvests or veggies. If you grow corn, large tomatoes, long cucumbers, squash, or other larger fruit and vegetables, or if you have a big veggie garden or orchard, you’ll want the Original (Large) Hod.
After 3 years of frequent use, and being left outside from spring through fall, my Hod is weathered but reveals no indications of wear. I was concerned that the wood might break or warp, or that the wire mesh basket would rust. Neither of those things happened and the Hod is as strong today as when I purchased it.
The mesh basket is covered in food-grade vinyl, meaning that it’s safe to utilize with edibles. The wood has a hand-rubbed oil finish to secure it from the components.