The Haws Watering Cans – 130 Years Of Gardening Excellence
Haws Heritage Metal Outdoor Watering Can
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
Today’s newsletter will introduce you to the Haws Heritage Watering Cans. These are gifts for gardeners that we would really love to have ourselves and that are now available in our BRAND NEW website sections – Gardening Tools & Equipment, Beneficial Bugs and Gift Certificates.
While a civil servant in Mauritius, John Haws loved growing vanilla plants, but he was frustrated by the popular French-style watering cans because of their cumbersome handles. After his retirement, Haws returned to England resolved to design and build a better watering can.
The boom in horticulture and the development of large commercial greenhouse nurseries created a demand for watering pots, as they were then known, which could be maneuvered to water plants on high shelves and which were equipped with finely perforated roses (sprinkling spouts) for watering seedlings.
Haws worked on his design for years and then applied for the first patent ever issued for a Watering Pot describing his invention in this way:
“This new invention forms a Watering Pot that is much easier to carry,
and tip and at the same time being much cleaner, and more adapted
for use than any other put before the public.”
His watering pot revolutionized the shape of the canister, the position of the tipping handle and introduced the carrying handle. The Haws Watering Pot was the first to have two handles and a spout which emanated from the bottom of the canister. Shortly after receiving his patent, he founded The J. Haws Company in 1885.
For more than 130 years Haws has continued to manufacture, only the highest quality watering cans in the world. The Heritage Metal Outdoor Watering Can pictured at the top of this newsletter is Haws’ original design. It has not been altered for over 130 years. The can is the largest watering can that Haws produces with a 2.4 gallon capacity. It has a round, solid brass rose (sprinkling head) and 2 wooden handles – one for carrying and one for tipping. If there is a special gardener on your list, this is the ultimate gardening gift.
Haws Heritage Plastic Indoor Watering Can
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
The Heritage, pictured immediately above, is the smallest can that Haws manufactures. The can is actually meant for adults, but has become very popular as a child’s watering can. It is nearly indestructible. I have had one for 13 years and it still looks and performs like the day I acquired it. If you know a child whom you would like to introduce to gardening or an adult with a lot of indoor plants, the Haws Heritage would make an exceptional gift and it is only $13.50.
Just A Reminder Of Some Great Gardening Gifts That
We Have Discussed In The Previous Two Newsletters
Praying Mantis Gift Certificate
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
This Christmas-Hannukah season we are introducing a product we have wanted to offer for years. It is a gift certificate that allows the recipient to receive, sometime this spring, two praying mantis egg cases. Each egg case contains approximately 200 eggs which will hatch in about 30 days. Eventually, out of 400 eggs, 2-3 mantises will reach adulthood. This is an excellent gift for young children, ages 5-12, but it is an extraordinary gift for teenagers, especially teenage boys. If you are tired of giving your teenagers video games and clothes, try this gift certificate. As they follow the process of hatching these remarkable creatures, you will see in their eyes and the expressions on their faces, the wonder that was so very enchanting when they were younger.
Praying Mantis Egg Case Hatching
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful present these praying mantis egg cases are. They are an opportunity to witness the creation of life and to participate in Mother Nature’s grand plan. They are a learning and a sharing opportunity that is without equal as you will read about below.
The Hori-Hori Japanese Gardening Knife
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
The Hori-Hori is an ancient Asian tool first used in Japan. It is often called a Mountain Vegetable Knife because it was primarily used for digging wild vegetables that were indigenous to the mountain sides, but were not domestically cultivated. A true Hori-Hori has a very sharp blade about 7 inches long. The blade has one serrated edge and one straight edge and comes to a point. Many Hori-Horis have a concave shaped blade to make it easier to slide down the side of a root vegetable.
I prefer this tool to a knife and saw. It makes quick work of masses of roots that you are trying to remove from your garden, but, more importantly, it is the best tool that I have found for harvesting root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, salsify, turnips and beets. The concave shape of the blade allows you to slide down the side of the vegetable without disturbing its neighbors. The Hori is also an exceptional tool for planting bulbs.
Hori-horis are time savers. They make life a little easier and gardening more satisfying. In this harried, hectic world, any device that saves time, preserves our energy and helps us to accomplish our tasks in a satisfying way should be an essential part of our equipment repertoire.
The German Harvest Basket
MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT, BUY NOW!
The German Harvest Basket with its wood spool handle is one of the most useful, and it will become one of the most beloved, garden tools you ever own – this is NO exaggeration.
This basket is made in Germany by a family-owned and run enterprise. The family’s name is Dippe. They had been making metal baskets like the one in the photo for many, many decades, but after World War II, they and their enterprise got caught behind the Iron Curtain, and they decided to stop manufacturing. For more than 40 years they waited until the Iron Curtain finally came down in 1989, then they began to manufacture their marvelous baskets again.
The basket will last several lifetimes – it is made from galvanized metal, and will save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in plumbing bills, because it allows you to take your vegetables, flowers and herbs right from the garden and clean them thoroughly with your hose before bringing them into the house. The mud and stones remain outside your home not down your drain.
We believe that this basket is the best harvest basket manufactured. Its oblong shape accommodates many vegetables and flowers with long stems – items that do not fit well in a round basket. Its size is large enough to handle a daily harvest, but not so large that, when filled, it is too heavy to carry in from the garden.
The only wood is in the handle, so unlike metal baskets that are rimmed with wood or wooden baskets or woven baskets, this harvest basket will last forever. It does not have parts that will rot and it does not rust.
The rapidly rising prices for products manufactured in Europe and the import costs for bringing product into the United States have increased our costs for these baskets so that we would have to charge $60-$80 for a basket imported into the US beginning in the fall of 2018. Our importer has decided to stop importing these baskets effective immediately. Harvesting History has a few baskets left, and when they are gone, we will not be able to obtain more. We are not going to increase the prices on these remaining baskets. We have always charged $40.00 plus shipping and that is what we are charging until these baskets are gone.
I have watched so many of you look longingly at these baskets and whisper, “Maybe next year,”. Well, next year has come. Anyone who knows this basket or has one will confirm that it is one of the best pieces of gardening equipment that you can own. I have two of them, and they have carried vegetables, flowers, herbs and tools for me for over 14 years. Except for being dirty, they are in the exact same shape as the day I purchased them.