Joseph Bentley Stainless Steel Long Handled Bulb Planter

Beautifully made tool, will never break, bend or wear out, comfortable to use. This year I had well over a hundred tulips, giant alliums and fritillaria persica bulbs to plant, all needing to go in very deep, between established plants. This did an amazing job - cut out deep, neat holes just where I wanted each bulb to go, with no disturbance to neighbouring plants. Previously, without such a tool, I had to dig quite large untidy holes to get down deep enough for large bulbs and those needing very deep planting, which limited where they could go. This time, I got lovely holes, deep enough to throw in a handful of composted manure before planting and covering the bulb. At that depth (20+ cms, 10 ins) the soil is relatively poor, so adding some fertiliser/soil conditioner should give the bulbs the targeted feed they need. I had read that tulips last longer if planted very deep, as they're less likely to produce offsets, and also the depth helps to support the stems so they remain upright in windy weather.It was quite hard work, but no more so than planting the bulbs by digging holes with a spade, and much less than with an unsatisfactory bulb planting tool. This one would be useful for planting young plants in small pots, and here again, one could add fertiliser/soil conditioner to the hole to get them off to a good start, or even fill the hole with John Innes compost to provide targeted soul improvement. Some of my bulbs were planted fairly near to an old hedge, and I found the tool cut through roots quite deep underground.At less than 30p per bulb this year alone, I reckon it's earned its place in the tool shed!

In one of my more enthusiastic gardening moments, I managed to end up purchasing just over one thousand spring flowering bulbs. Not too much of an issue for those destined for the borders beause the soil there is quite loose, but there were a fair number to go under the lawn which has had around fifty years in which to get established.So, in a subsequent calmer moment I thought that I ought to have a look for a tool that would help. After veiwing several of the available tools and associated comments I decided to plumb for this - and I'm glad that I did. It might be a bit more expensive than some of the alternatives, but you basically get what you pay for - quality. The tool is sturdy and comfortable to hold, and the serrated edge made short work of the turf (which was moist at the time, might have been a bit more work of it had been drier). What isn't shown in any of the current photos is the etched scale, which is large and easy to see.The design of the handle enables two hands to be used to twist the tool into the turf, and without the fear that the handle itself might twist or break - some of the alternatives look like single-handed implements which would require the wrist to be twisted, unlike this tool. not sure about the claim that it eliminates the need for bending, though - you still have to bung the bulbs into the holes and replace the divots!

Bought this item as a gift for a relative and they were very pleased with it. Good quality product and a good price, cheaper than the garden centres for exactly the same item. Delivery was excellent, it arrived two days after placing the order. The item was packed in an oversized cardboard box which was badly damaged when it was delivered. The delivery guys, yes it took two of them to carry this to my front door, guess they were trying to hide the damage didn't have the decency to point out the damage, they were just interested in getting a signature. As I had to pay for delivery, I think this company should consider using another carrier as this one didn't seem to care.

The long handled planter arrived quickly and was well wrapped.It seem to be good quality but using it in wet clay soil is still difficult as the soil sticks to the planter even though it is stainless steel. It is also not pointed out in the adverts that the plug of soil needs to be removed from the planter although this is obvious. From the adverts you get the impression that this is not a problem but it is, in wet soil.Having said all this I still believe the tool is a worthwhile investment, especially if you use it in dry soil. That's why I have given it 4 stars.

I've been umming and arring if to get ones of these for months. But Im so pleased I did. Tools nowadays are cheap and nasty and barely last a season on my allotment. The tool is very solid and would expect many years of service. Ive now successfully used it to plant 420 onions & garlics from module trays, three trays of seed potatoes. I could expect to grow a lot more bulbs with this as it makes life a little easier and we all need some of that. It also makes good lines of crops if you like straight lines like me. The long handle is great to get a big deep hole and stainless steel hole maker is very strong. Very easy to make holes of varying sizes. Fellow allotment people have liked this on my allotment and I do too. Five stars from me and highly recommended tool.

Although there are many good reviews about this product, it didn't work for me. The reasons are as follows:1) It doesn't cut through clay soil very well. A lot more effort than a spade was required2) The need for bending was not eliminated - a) upon plunging the tool to make the hole, soil from the edges of the hole rushes in, so I had to bend to scrape all the soil of the hole with a small spade b) second requirement for bending was to remove soil from the plunger - even though the soil comes out when you re-plunge, it still needs to be take out of the tool I had to bend to do this. Tipping it upside down did not make the soil fall out as soil is sticky.3) The hole made was not deep enough for tulip bulbs - part of this was due to the fact that soil kept rushing into the hole as soon as it was made, as mentioned in my second point.4) It would have been nice if the piece of leather attached with the label was bigger and tied through a hole of some sort on the handle so that I can hang the tool up on a hook.This is a really well made, solid, beautiful tool but unfortunately it did not do the job for me. I ended up using a smaller bulb planter and spade.