Gardening has never piqued my curiosity, until I discovered it’s an excuse to run around with tools that look like katana swords. All I need is a nunchuk trowel on my belt and I’m all set for spring.

Machetes have caught a bad rap over the years. When most of us think of a machete, we imagine Jason Voorhees wielding one on his crusade against teen pregnancy, and that’s a shame because a good ...