Stainless Steel Long Handled Bulb Planter

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!

this product makes light work of bulb planting. it easily cuts the right depth using the measuring guide on the blade. its strong, well made & I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get a time consuming job done quickly & easily. good height too so your not stooped over. even made us rinse off the blade to keep it looking so good for next time !

I have used this for 2 bulb planting seasons in a row now, and suspect it might live forever! It's very sturdy, well joined & well finished. It makes planting bulbs, even in the most compacted ground, so much easier, I will never use a hand-held planter again! Even if you are able bodied, this will make your life so easy you will wonder why hand-planters even exist anymore. This might actually be the best garden-purchase I have ever made. I planted over 2000 bulbs last year and another 1500 this year (including into compacted verges and lawn) and it still looks pristine.

Im fairly new to gardening with a rather large new garden to plant. I bought a huge amount of bulbs and planned on using a hand shuffle to plant the whole lot. My mum told me that there were hand held tools to make planting bulbs easier which led me to find this product. At first I thought I was me being lazy but when the day came and I had this tool to help me I realised how hard work it would've been doing it any other way. I absolutely love it and think it will last many many years and would recommend anybody buying this product.

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.

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!

This a well made planter which deserves its RHS best buy status. It works well. It comes with a 15 year guarantee BUT Solus Garden and Leisure Limited, which owns the Joseph Bentley brand and which is effectively giving the guarantee went into administration on 15th May 2014. The administrators are trying to sell the business. If they manage to sell the company, all guarantees will remain in place. If they sell the company's business, the new owners may well think it prudent to honour all guarantees. If the administrators fail to sell, the guarantees may well become worthless. Having said that, I would recommend the product even without a guarantee. I would expect that Amazon would probably honour a one year guarantee at their own expense.

Although not the cheapest in the market this product works really well. Have just finished planting over 150 bulbs and it too just over two hours. The 'plug' is pushed out when you make the next hole so really fast to use. No problem in removing the last plug because the cutter is tapered. Product seems very sturdy and should last a long time.

I bought this tool to replace a tubular steel bulb planter I bought at Lowe's which broke after the fifth hole I made using it. After that fiasco, I did some research and found that except for an auger, this Bentley planter is the best tool for the job that I've found. It's been working great with our hard clay soil, but it won't work in rocky soil. You'll need an auger if your soil is very rocky. I live in central NC. The soil here is solid red clay with occasional rocks. The tool won't go through rocks, but you can look into the hole and just move over a little to get around the rock, and the cutting part of the tool has not been damaged by the rocks I've hit with it. I've found that when my weight doesn't push the tool deeply enough, I can just step off and twist it, then step back on, and it usually goes down to the 6" depth I'm looking for. So far, I have used this tool to plant around 75 bulbs at 6" deep, planted this spring when the ground was moist. I think in the dead of summer, it might not cut through hard clay.

Very sturdy. Not sure if other reviewers who managed to bend the metal were being honest about their weight. I'm 200lb and had to jump on it to get it to go 6" into hard clay. Planted 200+ bulbs this past weekend and it made life a lot easier. Especially good for planted bulbs near established trees where digging a trench would be a misery. We'll see what comes up in spring!

AWESOME! I planted 125 bulbs in about 30 minutes. There is no mechanism to pop the dirt back out, which took a little getting used to. I ended up carrying a stick to push it back through (the ground was very muddy or I would have just used my hands). This worked great in our clay soil and cut right through the grass too. It had recently rained, so I don't know if it would have worked great with dry compacted clay soil.

The foot and attachment to the handle are sturdy so far...I've jumped on it with 225 lbs. in hard clay turf for about 4-5 holes and leaned on it back and forth as I rocked it down to full 8 inch depth and I twisted it out. It goes in OK. Not as easily as the Root Assassin shovel though. I wish the core part was an inch bigger around because I'm using it to hunt for coins near the surface, not bulb planting in a garden. I'd like it hammer it in even. Maybe it needs a short steel t-shaft accessory so I can hammer it down but my 225 lbs is pretty good so far. The rocking back and forth will probably kill it and I'll have to go to the Lesche shovel. I can plug 4 inches at a time and go easier on it. Oh well. The sod core pushes out easily on the stainless steel foot but I think the wooden T handle part will give way. Its a little loose already. I can't figure out how to best reinforce it. Probably needs a steel fitting at the T.

Beautiful tool! Works very well in our non-traditional use for it: making planting holes through stretched black plastic mulch in our produce fields. Saves my back with the long handle. I had been using a regular bulb planter and was bending down to make hundreds of holes. Thank you!