Ann Arbor, MI based Radius Garden, LLC, has created two lines of ergonomic garden tools that House & Garden’s Tom Christopher calls part of “a new generation of lightweight tools (giving) home gardeners the help they need without the heft.” Christopher’s April 2007 column, “One Gardener’s Almanac,” addresses issues faced by many gardeners who are finding that gardening with traditional garden tools is not as easy as it used to be.
Lifelong gardener and Bonsai expert, Bruce Baker, founder and President of Radius Garden, LLC, became aware of these issues several years ago, as many of his gardening friends were aging or complaining of gardening-induced carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle and joint weakness, or arthritis symptoms. In an effort to develop a tool that might help prevent injuries to the hand and wrist, Baker assembled a team that included a designer, an industrial engineer, and a structural engineer, and created his first line of Radius Garden NRG Ergonomic Hand Garden Tools. The NRG hand tools, with their bright green, curved handles, were introduced at the National Hardware Show in 2005.
Now that the four piece NRG line (trowel, transplanter, weeder, and cultivator) is succeeding in the market, and Baker has received dozens of thank you notes for his design, he knows his team “got it right.” And as he says, “When you get it right, it doesn’t just mean that it’s right for people who have hand or wrist problems—it’s also right for everyone else.”
This year, Radius Garden introduces its NRG PRO line of eight Mid-Length garden tools. The new NRG PRO line (shovels, forks, weeder, etc.) features four times the gripping surface of conventional “stand-up” garden tools, with room for both hands on its “O”-shaped, non-slip handle. Shafts are unbreakable resin-encased steel. Blades are made of tempered stainless steel and feature an innovative raised forward “kick” area. Like NRG hand tools, NRG PRO Mid-Length tools combine beauty and functionality.
Radius Garden, LLC, www.radiusgarden.com, 734-222-8044
