Luxury Farming Equipment: If You Sell It, They Will Come

The growing popularity of urban farming and gardening has been great not only for aspiring agricultural enthusiasts, but also for the catalogs that cater to them. While there has been an outcropping, so to speak, of useful, well-made and reasonably priced tools and equipment, there has been an additional proliferation of items that are, well, not exactly essential to one’s farming and gardening needs.

In 2012, Williams-Sonoma premiered its upscale Agrarian line, a compilation of products that included such rarities as a $400 beehive, $70 vintage watering can, and its (arguable) piece de resistance, the $1,499.95 cedar chicken coop.

But Williams-Sonoma was hardly alone in its desire to outfit the more luxury-inclined soil tiller. Herewith are a few examples of gear for the farmer who has, well, most likely everything.

1. West Elm’s Brooklyn Blend Potting Soil. Although it’s unclear whether West Elm’s soil was actually dug from Brooklyn (a notion other enterprising individuals have been quick to capitalize upon), it is made from recycled materials, which is very Brooklyn. A five-pound bag will set you back $14 (in contrast, Home Depot sells 1.5-cubic-yard bags of organic potting soil for $8.97), and you can dig to your heart’s content while squatting on the company’s garden kneeling pad.

2. Garden Girl gardening pants. When your beat-up old jeans just won’t get the job done, consider outfitting yourself with this $93 pair of dungarees: they boast a multitude of pockets specially designed to hold things and “have a form adapted for the female body with wider hips and side panels.” Plus, they come in pink, roses, and country stripe, and have knee panels designed to receive the company’s knee pads. Which are sold separately for $9.99. And if pants aren’t your thing, Garden Girl also makes a $69.99 garden “skort.”

3. Plow & Hearth’s DryGuy Electric Shoe and Boot Dryer. Is a $34.95 contraption that promises to “silently warm wet footwear in minutes and dry in a few hours” a nice concept? Well, yes. Is it necessary? Well, no.

4. Williams-Sonoma’s Redwood Compost Sieve Sifter. We don’t mean to pick on the Agrarian line, but this, one of its latest products, is quite something. It’s an undeniably handsome $195.95 tool designed to sift what is essentially re-constituted poop. Sure, you can buy one for $19.95 on Gardener’s Supply, but ask yourself: will you look as pretty using it?

5. Hermes’ three-piece Quadrille Jardin gardening collection. Time for some simple math: What do you get when you add one hand spade plus one scraper plus one garden fork? If you’re in the Hermes store, $345. That is not a typo. That is a way of life.