RowMaker Review

My name is Randy Meckes and I am 71 years old. My wife Ayla and I live in North Idaho and we have been gardening for over 50 years. Our gardening practices have changed over the years as a result of continuing to learn from our experiences both good and bad and reviewing our records that I have maintained for all of those years. While our earlier gardens were planted in larger blocks, our present garden consists of 20 raised beds that are 4 feet wide and 50 feet long. We raise many varieties of vegetables along with assorted bramble fruits, blueberries and grapes. We start all of our vegetables from seed indoors before transplanting them to a large outdoor cold frame. While we both enjoy being outdoors gardening, the primary reason we garden is to raise and preserve our own food. Over the years I have used many different tools and techniques with varying degrees of success. Because of the size of our garden and how seriously we take raising our own food along with the inevitable nature of aging, I am constantly looking for ways to maximize our time and efforts in our garden. My most recent research trying to lessen the time it took to lay out, measure and stake each row ultimately led me to the ROWMAKER! I had never seen or even heard of such a tool. After a number of weeks of reading and viewing every article or video I could find on the subject I called the company and got a chance to speak with Al Ramirez who is the owner and inventor of the RowMaker. Mr. Ramirez was very helpful and answered all of my questions regarding the tool. He directed me to another of his websites and I did some more reading before calling him a few days later. During our second conversation he told me he also had a smaller version of the RowMaker that was not presently shown on his website. I was intrigued with the features of the tools and decided to order both sizes as I could see value in each for different uses. I explained to Mr. Ramirez that I was already well into my planting routine and hoped he could send the tools as quickly as possible so I could use them for this growing season. He promised me the merchandise would be sent out immediately trying to accommodate my request, and he delivered on that promise with the tools being sent the following day. 

I anxiously awaited the delivery of the RowMaker and when the big day 

finally arrived, I immediately assembled both sizes which took only a few minutes and headed to the garden. Here is what I found! The quality of the tools is exceptional and with reasonable care it will last a lifetime. It was clear that the design and manufacturing of the product was well thought out with an emphasis on quality throughout the process. I initially took the largest RowMaker and made a single pass down one of my raised beds. I couldn't believe how easily the tool handled in the tilled soil. With almost no effort, I now had a bed with three mounds with furrows ready to plant. I turned around and used the tool in a second raised bed duplicating the mounds and furrows without measuring or changing anything. In a matter of minutes, I knew this tool was going to be a game changer making my remaining planting of this year's garden so much easier and faster. In addition to the time saved, what I found was the mounds seemed to be almost perfect for planting. My entire previous gardening life consisted of measuring, staking, running strings, using a hoe to make a single furrow and then always planting in the furrow. Followed by the same time-consuming repetitive process. No More! I have totally gone to planting in the mounded soil which has proven to offer a number of advantages. I have found the germination time of most of the seeds I planted has been shortened, probably because of the additional warming from the sunlight on the raised soil. I have also found that the furrows make a great collector of water and direct the moisture where it does the most goods for the young plants. As my season has progressed I found the furrows make a very efficient way to side dress the vegetables with fertilizers or any other soil amendments. I have also used the smaller version of the tool which allows for different spacing to accomplish the same results. The added bonus of the smaller tool is the ease with which it can be used by a smaller or more elderly gardener because of the much lighter weight. While our garden is now in all raised beds the tool will do exactly the same thing in a flat plot type garden layout.

My overall rating puts this tool as one of the very best hand tools you could ever buy and use for your garden. By the way, when I was researching this type of tool I came across some less expensive copycat products and read many comments by customers that were critical and disappointed with the cheaper version. 

I can tell you with assurance to spend the additional money and make a once in a lifetime purchase of a product still made in America. If you take gardening seriously you will not regret making this purchase. You simply won't believe how much time this tool can save and the real benefits of the mound, furrow function I am now using. I wanted to take the time to write this lengthy review as the quality of the product and my experience dealing with Mr. Ramirez has truly been remarkable. Best wishes to all those who continue to garden and enjoy the simple life.  

Randy Meckes