The right tools
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To enjoy gardening, lessen your work load and do a good job, you need the right tools. You don’t need to spend a fortune, but it is important that you have a selection of good quality tools. The most important points to remember when buying tools are that you should avoid gimmicks and buy quality. Unusual tool designs come along quite regularly and make great promises of increased labour saving and greater efficiency. However, the common garden hand tools have changed little over the last 150 years, which indicates good design. While not wishing to knock the designers efforts, make sure you have genuine use for unusual tools and that they are superior to those of more conventional design before buying them. Regardless of design your tools should be the best quality that you can afford. Cheap tools are nearly always a false economy; not only do they deteriorate quickly, they are designed to be disposed of when worn rather than upgraded or repaired.
Some companies do still make them like they used to, strong and reliable. Always choose heat tempered steel over weak light alloys or castings. Buy steel-handled tools rather than those with rot-prone wooden handles and avoid anything that is chrome plated or covered in a thick layer of paint; it is usually there to hide poor workmanship and sloppy joins. Stainless steel is the longest lasting and has the lowest maintenance requirements, but it is expensive. Look for tools that are easily dismantled for maintenance, that use commonly available components, have replaceable blades and a reliable supply of spare parts.
Good quality is usually expensive so don’t ignore the maintenance of your tools. They will be in frequent use and in regular contact with moist plant issue and earth, which leads to corrosion and dulled blades. Washing your tools after use and wiping them with an oily rag once dry will help prevent rust taking hold, but any bladed tool will eventually need to be sharpened. Sharpening not only makes your blades more efficient it also makes them safer as a sharp blade is less likely to slip or veer off line due to excess pressure having to be applied. It is no exaggeration to say that a well looked after quality tool will last a lifetime.
Essential tools
Some tools are absolutely indispensable, either because they have unique functions or because they are such labour savers that you simply can’t afford to be without them.
Fork
Many gardeners use a spade when a fork would be a better option. When lifting perennials for division or harvesting crops such as potatoes a fork is less damaging than a spade as it only causes damage when the tines actually penetrate a tuber or root. Forks are also useful for loosening soil that has already been dug over, breaking up large clods and incorporating compost materials. Forks come in a range of handle sizes, tine lengths and weights but the standard model suits most people and uses. A small border fork is a handy tool where working space is limited.
Hedging and pruning shears
These come in a variety of sizes and types depending on their intended use. Standard hedging shears are only intended for light foliage trimming and with branches of less than 15 mm diameter. Loppers and heavy-duty pruning shears will handle branches up to about 35 mm diameter.
Hoe
Hoes are indispensable weeding tools. Regular use of the hoe eliminates weed seedlings before they have a chance to become established and eliminates a lot of bending. The traditional push hoe is favoured for ornamental gardens but the chopping action of a Dutch hoe is useful between close rows, as in a vegetable garden.
Hoses
Regardless of how sophisticated an irrigation system you have a garden hose is an essential piece of equipment. Top quality hoses are expensive but last well and are reasonably kink-free. When laying out your garden bear in mind the position of the nearest taps and how far a hose may be required to reach. Any areas that may require occasional watering, such as flower beds, should be reasonably close to the water source as the pressure loss within the hose will be considerable at distances over 30 m. Most domestic hoses are now a standard 15 mm diameter and virtually all modern hose fittings are designed to fit this size.
Notebook or diary
Keep a record of your gardening activities. It doesn’t have to be a meticulously detailed journal, just a note of the key points that you may otherwise forget. A record of your plants’ performance is also useful when planning later gardens.
Rake
Whether it’s levelling a seed bed, raking leaves or maintaining a gravel path, a rake is indispensable. A standard rake will be suitable for most tasks but if you have a lot of deciduous trees a leaf rake may be a worthwhile investment. The back of the rake is almost as useful as the tines. Use it to break up clods and for final smoothing of seed beds and gravel pathways.
Saws
It may be possible to get by without a pruning saw but most gardeners eventually need to trim a branch that is too heavy for secateurs or pruning shears. There are several styles of pruning saws but the bow-saw is usually the best compromise between durability, manoeuvrability and efficiency.
Secateurs or pruners
Secateurs are your basic pruning tool. They are also extremely useful for plant propagation. A medium-sized pair will be suitable for most tasks. Choose secateurs that are easily cleaned and lubricated and that have replaceable blades.
Sharpening stone
Many tools have blades so it’s important that you have some way of sharpening them. Accurate blade sharpening is quite a skilled job that requires some practice. Grindstones are the best choice for sharpening but they cut through metal very quickly and are not for the inexperienced; in most cases a good carborundum sharpening stone will suffice. Honing guides are handy accessories that simplify the sharpening process by keeping the blade at the proper angle to the stone. However, they are only practical with small blades that can be removed for sharpening. How often you need to sharpen a blade depends on its frequency of use and the quality of the blade. Generally you will know when the blade is becoming blunt.
Spade
The most important gardening implement yet one that is often skimped on. Buy the best you can afford and it should last a lifetime. Steel handles are preferable to wooden but they are not always readily available and can be quite expensive. The next best is the wooden handle sleeved into a long steel shaft. Spades come in various sizes so take the time to find one that fits. There are also special-purpose designs, such as the narrow, tapered trenching spade and the small border spade.
Sprinklers
Garden sprinklers come in all shapes and sizes. All are simply ways of distributing water but some are more efficient than others. Which works best for you depends on the design of your garden and your water pressure. For example, oscillating sprinklers can soak a large area but they require fairly high water pressure to keep them moving. Porous hoses, however, will operate at very low pressures but they can only water a relatively small area. Look at the range of sprinklers in your garden centre to see which is best suited for your garden. In most cases the simple flat sprinkler is quite adequate.
Trowel and hand fork
These small hand tools are most useful for weeding and dealing with young plants. Some gardeners prefer to use a dibbler (really just a tapered stick) when setting out young plants, but a trowel is more versatile.
Watering can
For small gardens a watering can is an effective substitute for more sophisticated spraying equipment. Watering cans may also be used for applying liquid fertilisers and those with long nozzles are useful for reaching hard to get at places.
Wheelbarrow
Scarcely a day goes by in the garden when there isn’t the need to move compost, weeds, large plants or some other bulky item. Look for a barrow that is solidly constructed from good materials. As the tray is always the first part to wear out models with replaceable trays offer the best long-term economy.
Other tools that will make gardening easier but which are not absolutely essential include:
Buckets
Whether it’s for mixing up sprays or just moving water a bucket is often the easiest way. They are also handy for transporting small quantities of weeds or compost.
Shovel
Shovels are useful if you find that you have large amounts of excavation to carry out, otherwise a spade is usually just as effective.
Spraying equipment
Spraying equipment is not only used for applying insecticides or weedkillers, it is also very handy for liquid fertilisers and as a manual misting system for small seedlings and cuttings. Today’s spraying equipment is efficient, easy to use and to maintain; unless you really have very little spraying to do, choose a modern pressurised sprayer. They eliminate the continual pumping required by a basic piston sprayer. In most gardens a 5 litre portable model will do but you may find a 10-15 litre knapsack more useful if you have fruit trees or large numbers of roses. Although they are the ultimate in speed and convenience, very few home gardeners need a motorised mist blower.
Marker lines
Useful for all sorts of garden jobs. Keeping straight seed rows, marking out lawns, setting plumb lines and other construction jobs.
If you intend to have a lawn you will also need the following lawn maintenance equipment:
Edging shears
Edging shears take the bending out of edge trimming and make it a quick and easy job. An edging wheel is the best method of trimming to a hard edge or mowing strip. Some motorised weed trimmers have edging attachments but they rarely do the job as neatly as hand shears.
Mower
If you have only a small lawn a hand mower is probably all you need but most gardeners opt for a powered mower. Electric mowers are useful for small areas and modern models are safe and reliable. A petrol or two-stroke mower is best for heavy grass or large areas. Rotary mowers are effective on rough grass but for a perfect lawn the reel mower is the only choice. They are expensive, large and often difficult to handle but the finish is worth the extra effort and expense.
Weed trimmer
Motorised weed trimmers, which may electric or petrol powered, are very useful for cutting back rank growth. Although these are handy tools for large gardens or for clearing overgrown areas, most domestic gardens are too small and too regularly maintained to justify purchasing a weed trimmer.
Copyright Geoff Bryant
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