Those deep plastic wheelbarrows look like they would hold a lot of stuff, but that isn't the end of the story, is it?

I have one of the deep ones, and hardly use it. Mostly I use one of those metal-bodied ones that are kind of flat and shallow that I found cheap at a yard sale because it had two little rust holes in it. The holes are okay -- the water drains out!

Sue

I almost got something like that last year. I paid for it online, and went to pick it up at Sears. But luckily I passed through the garden section where they had some real wheelbarrows on sale. I exchanged it for a really nice one that's built like a tank, for the same price. And you can easily fold it up too.

Yeah, it really doesn't do anything I want, but now I see it as a nice container for my compost. I went to the hardware store and 2 they had are both out of stock.

I were so lucky to see one at a thrift store, I would certainly appreciate the find. This afternoon I'll go back and get one of the wheelbarrows. It's breaking me to buy basic tools. You can live without a wheelbarrow, but now I bought a waterbag for watering the garden instead of hoses, plus I have about 12 or more cinderblocks to carry uphill, and one at a time is not a good feeling. I don't think the truck can back up on this hill, to carry them, no room or the hill is too steep. Either way the family is already planning on using the wheelbarrow for other yardwork, so it won't go to waste.

I filled up my H2GO 20 gallon waterbag in it last night and the wheels on the thing sunk in every dip in the yard. It dragged its backend and when I got where the steep hill began,it just sat there. I had to dump the water out to get it back to the house. Wasted water!

It's just the right size for a compost bin.

You could probably drill holes in it and use it for a big planter if you needed one, too! I have a large garbage bin that has wheels that I use to grow buffalo gourds. (They are considered to be an invasive pest in the southwest where they are native.) I can at least move it around on flat ground.

It looks very tippy. I hate those dumb, unbalanced things that tip all the time.

I bought a 4 wheeled, low, wide, rectangular garden cart with sides on it, much better, doesn't tip over on hills or cornering.

Looks like a nice potato bin. For your real wheel-barrow, consider the ones with two front wheels. Much more stable.

I wonder how and why a manufacturer will make a thing like that in the first place.
To me it is like kids trolly.Maybe it is good to store and carry you smal garden hand tools in it.
Regular trash cans with wheels are much better than those.

cyrus - Because if they can talk you into buying one, they just made 2 sales. The plastic thing that doesn't work, and the wheelbarrow to replace the plastic thing that doesn't work.

I bought a new wheelbarrow that doesn't work either, I could have just listened to you gardenscomplicated. I forgot to put the rubber lining in the bottom, the 20 gallon bag slipped out onto the ground once, then tipped out the second time while I was trying to climb the hill. I guess I have no choice, but to invest in 2 good hoses. I didn't want to deal with hoses and pipes, but right now it's better than buying another barrel. I'm all tapped out on buying garden tools.

My sister is going to buy the first one from me, she loved it and thought it was perfect for what she wanted, so got my money back on that one, could have refunded it, but would have been a good compost barrel.

I needed a 2 wheeled high sided garden cart to go uphill without tipping just like denninme said. I will try it again with only 10 gallons in it. Amazed the bag didn't rip to pieces, it's cracked where it folded, so don't expect it to do good either, but it did great and with good care it would do what I needed.

Well, back to the drawing board! The scyth/snath worked good, so I win some, I lose some. I put it together today and it cut the grass as good as a lawnmower without the noise. Loved it, but it's dangerous. I need to invest in sharpeners for that. I am only buying manual tools only, we just threw 2 weedeaters out today from last year, what's the point? Besides I don't need gasoline to run a scyth/snath. I LOVED it! I'd buy that again, but none of the wheelbarrows. I still need a wheelbarrow to carry my cinderblocks up the hill.

Can you imagine a truck tipping over from going up a hill the wrong way? Just like a wheelbarrow, it will turn the right or left and roll.

scarlet - I want one of those scyths too. I looked at them last year, and it seemed like a great idea. I don't like weed whackers. I tried moving cinder blocks with an old luggage carrier last year. It worked ok, but kept tipping over. Not as much of a problem as a truck tipping over though:) I didn't have my wheelbarrow yet. One thing I'm not looking forward to though, is my wheelbarrow getting a flat tire. I'm sure it's gonna happen, since they stock an awful lot of spare tires at the garden stores. One way or another, they manage to sell you 2 things. I think I'll get one of those solid airless tires when it does happen, so they get me a 3rd time.

oops... I meant so they _don't_ get me a 3rd time.

You would be so much better off with one of those kid wagons with oversize tires it would be a lot more stable on the hill

Here is a link that might be useful: wagons

I bought a wagon in 2001 or 2002, don't remember where it went, but it was hard to lug up hill because the weight was spread out so it pulled back much more than if it were stacked like a dolly or grocery cart. I bought 2 grocery carts that year, a smaller one and a bigger one, and they worked like a charm. I looked for something like that in a garden cart, but no luck, just the flatter kind long like a wagon.

There are 2 things I am looking into, a 2 wheel converter for a wheelbarrow with a converter T handle to pull better, and then there's those hunting trolly carts to take your game home. They hold up to 250 pounds and were about 60 dollars before shipping. I'll bet that would be the best bet. The hunting carts hold their weight in the middle with high ends on both sides more like a v shape, not a flat bucket shape like a wheelbarrow.

Do I sink more money into something that may never work, new handles and extra wheels, or do I use it for a pretty planter in the yard and get the game cart? I don't care right now because I'm broke from spending money. I didn't buy tools for gardening until this year because my garden grew so bad, but now it's different, good or bad, I'm getting much more out of it. You really have to look at it if we go broke into a horrible depression so the new health care can feed drug addicts more pills at the expense of bankrupting the country, I'll need food at least.

Just kidding, health care is important, but I don't see good planning, laws about corporate gouging, and I'm sure they will sooner or later ban coverage to smokers like they did in Canada. To leave someone without coverage is cruel and greedy, but now we are looking at national socialism because we are forced to buy from corporate to have the required health care plans or be penalized, a corporate plan that will be expensive and cover much less than before this new deal.

I bet prices rise 50 percent next year. At least I hope I can a deal by growing some of what I buy.

scarlet - I think a lot of people feel the same way, and are trying to grow their own food because of it. One of the seed companies I talked to was busier than they've ever been. I'm pretty sure the government is already broke. Nothing left in social security, except a bunch of iou's. And what good is an iou from a government that's broke?

It's a shame they won't do something legitimate to fix it. Why are we in needless wars started over petty things? We looked to get into them, now we have no choice, but to follow through. I'm not going to preach about who's right about wars, but billions of dollars are missing and can't be found, no accountability. These wars are a scam to embezzle money. Republican or Democrat, they both are stealing money just the same and refusing to have any accountability.

There are millions of reasons to die fighting, but not for any corporate who started the wars in the first place. Do you see the two ex presidents asking to send cash for the earthquakes in Haiti? Local organizations were asking for non cash donations because they were getting free shipping on everything. Just another way to bilk the public and that's really what our leaders think of us. I wonder why they get so much obsessive loyalty?

Any how, being less dependent on any resource, gas or food, is a good idea right now. We don't know where were going. You think one day we'll be like Russia? Split in smaller sections and not United? Lots of them are trying to separate from the government. California, New England, and then there is Montana too. Many are petitioning for it.

Tried my wheelbarrow again with the liner, did better. I made it up the hill with about 8 gallons of water. Would have made 10, but I can't measure yet with just my eyes. The extra set of wheels would probably get me up with 15 gallons up the hill, so I'm not going to get drastic and buy survival gear for the garden with hunting equipment.

I'll check the local hardware for the parts before I start ordering from the UK, everything including my H2GO waterbag came from their, it must be for their gardening plots. It's really big there to keep one. The US doesn't do city gardening with community gardening too much.

scarlet - When the Soviet Union collapsed, I remember thinking we could be next. And we're following a similar path, right through Afghanistan, the "graveyard of empires". But this is a gardening forum, so I'll try to keep to the subject:)

I agree it's a good idea to become less dependent on "mainstream resources". Like food from grocery stores. I think peoples' survival instincts are kicking in though, and a lot of people are getting more interested in learning to grow their own. I hope it'll be enough.

Last year they were in a little bit of a huff shopping for seeds. The local stores ran out quick, this year will probably do the same and then some. I live in a small town where they garden anyways, so they just have to trade their yard flowers to food, it won't take much more or less work they normally put into their yards.

I'm looking forward to seeing some. I going to ride around and see who's got one out this year. My dad is doing a little, only tomatoes, peppers, hops, and maybe a few other things.

gardeningiscomplicated, solid wheelbarrow tires are fabulous. We have a wheel barrow with 2 front tires that we bought solid tires for and Dh can go up and down our hill with huge rocks in the barrow, running over cacti all the way and nary a worry. Alas, we over did it on some rocks so this wheelbarrow before too long will be just for dirt but the new one will have solid tires too. Not cheap but definitely worth it.

tishtoshnm - Yeah, those solid tires aren't cheap. When mine inevitabley goes flat, I'm gonna try filling it with vermiculite before I buy a replacement.

I wanted a wagon really bad but I didn't want to spend over $100 so I was "suffering" with a bad $30 wally-world aluminum wheelbarrow with a shallow bin and a tire that was flat. I couldn't haul ANYTHING in it (and my not-so-coordinated husband couldn't get the one-wheeled beast to haul anything).

So when I saw a cart similar to this one at K-mart for $20, I bought it this spring. We have used it for our garden cleanup and also to haul things in from our car. But we don't have a hill, etc. We did fill it with sod and move the sod from one part of the yard to the other (and that went fine).

It's a light duty yard cart...more stable than a wheelbarrow, has handy-dandy-tool holders near the handle. Really, a different tool than a wheelbarrow. I would not use it to mix cement in or move bricks.

I am looking forward to harvesting into it.

gotta tell ya i bought one for 10 bucs when they had them on sale several yrs ago and its been the best wheel barrel i ever had / plain ole one wheel barrel / i use it for mixing soil / cement / hauling stuff

Maybe ya'll should focus on managing wheel barrows before you tackle geopolitical issues.

We're back on topic. No need for any reminders. I'm about to get the 2 wheel option this week. Right now the wheelbarrow can only do half of what I need.

But wheelbarrows _are_ a geopolitical issue. They're a very important part of food production. More efficient manual tools can mean higher production for smaller growers. And a lot of geopolitical issues revolve around the control of food production.

A little of topic, but I just built a 2x5 foot rock garden the outside border is made from stones about the size of my head. I had to move these stones 100 foot from the stone pile. I used a small plastic kids sled that looks like a toboggan. I was able to pull about 10 stones at a time. It really was quite easy to pull. No balance or high lifting required. I also hauled a load of sifted compost and side dumped it on the garden. I don't think I'll be replacing my broken barrow any time soon.

Cutt~

I know this is off-topic, but as a Canadian, and one who works in healthcare, I'm scratching my head over the assertion that smokers aren't covered by healthcare here. Everyone is covered. Everyone. Citizens, landed immigrants, refugees. Okay, back to wheelbarrows! Most of us don't have good wheelbarrows, if I go on the basis of my experience. Just bought me a fancy *American* wheelbarrow. I have high hopes. (But at the risk of fanning any flickering flames, I'll keep our healthcare and use the leftover money to buy wheelbarrows)