Three way garden tool

Claim 1

A hand held garden tool for excavating, seeding and tamping an area comprising, a hollow handle having an aperture therein, a substantially flat trowel and tamping member having a plurality of digging teeth connected to and closing one end of said hollow handle, said hollow handle being closed at its end opposite from said trowel and tamping member and defining a seeding space, a sleeve slidable over said hollow handle adjacent said aperture positionable in a first position for closing said aperture and said seed space, a second position spaced from said aperature for opening said aperture and at least one third position intermediate said first and second positions and partially covering said aperture for defining a seeding slot, and seeding slot adjustment means connected between said sleeve and said hollow handle for placing said sleeve in said first, second and third positions whereby seeds and the like can be loaded into said hollow handle through said aperture when said sleeve is in said second position, the seed and the like can be retained within said hollow handle when said sleeve is in said first position and the seed and the like can be dispensed when said sleeve is in said at least one third position, and whereby said trowel and tampering member can be used to excavate an area, the seed and the like can be dispensed onto said area, and said trowel and tamping member can be used to flatten and tamp the area after seeding, said seeding slot adjustment means comprising a first raised rivet spaced from one end of said aperture on said hollow handle, a second raised rivet spaced from an end of said aperture opposite said first raised rivet, said sleeve including an L shaped slot at its one end adjacent said first raised rivet engageable with said first raised rivet for placing said sleeve into said first position, said sleeve further including an elongated slot on its side opposite from said L shaped slot engageable with said second raised rivet for placing said sleeve into its second position, said sleeve being positionable into said at least one third position by abutting the end of said sleeve adjacent said elongated slot against said second raised rivet, said elongated slot extending substantially parallel to the major axis of said sleeve and includes a plurality of finger shaped slot portions disposed along the major axis of said sleeve and extending circumferentially thereof, said second raised rivet being selectively engageable into one of said finger shaped slot portions for determining the size of said seeding slot and positioning said sleeve into additional third positions.