Tools

Lisa's Landscape & Design ♦ 02/08/2010 ♦ Leave a comment

Sturdy garden boots

Garden tools have been around as long as man could hold a stick and a rock. Fortunately, we have come a long way since then. There are now many awesome products designed to make the gardeners life a whole lot easier and today I am going to discuss some of my favorites , and some that are just plain necessary.

Every home owner should have a basic set of garden tools. Here are the tools I think are at the very least, a basic starter kit. You should own a spade/shovel for digging holes and a sharpshooter spade

Sharp Shooter spade

for transplanting and cutting in edges along a bed. I also highly recommend a pitch fork, you will be amazed by the many uses you will find for this tool. I use them for large loads of mulch and for aerating the lawn.

Garden Scissors

You should have a pair of garden scissors that are made for the garden and are ergonomically correct. They are about 12 bucks and worth every penny. This is also true with smaller hand tools such as a trowel, shovel, weed popper, etc. Make sure they are ergo friendly and well made.

You will need one hard and soft rake and let me make this distinction for you as I have noticed many a homeowner who was confused by this concept. The Hard rake, is for tilling, moving/spreading gravel, spreading mulch and these general tasks. It is not for raking leaves 😉 The soft rake that has soft bendy prongs is for that, it is also handy for removing cuttings off the lawn to put in your compost and frankly, not much else that I can think of. Although they are really nice if you have a Zen sand garden, but a hard rake works here too. Another excellent tool for tilling is a Garden Weasel which can be used for everything from digging holes for plants, trees and bulbs, to tilling your garden and pulling weeds!

Garden Weasel or Garden Claw

Hand Held Bypass Loppers, you will also need longer ones for tree limbs and large shrubs.

Loppers are for tree trimming, cutting large branches on shrubs and rose cutting, and sheers are essential for trimming your hedges. Please click the links on these to get a look at some you might like, or better yet, go to the store and get you some.

Now to the fun stuff, I love my Husqvarna back pack blower and mulching, self-propelled lawn mower. I don’t get excited about power tools very often, but these two got me worked up. I also love, love, love, my rather pricey ergonomically correct shovels and hand tools, you can pay less, and they may work well, but once you have theses, it is hard to go back. For birthdays and Christmas I ask for cool tools and my husband could not be more happy to oblige.

My favorite Christmas gift and super awesome ergonomi-cally correct shovel

I also love my TrugTubs. These are rubber, super durable tubs you use in the garden for cuttings and trimmings, leaves, whatever, then you transfer that chopped up material into the irritating paper bags that were apparently made to tear that you leave out for the city, or better yet, into your compost pile. These are also handy when collecting goodies from the garden ;).

Last but not least, a few things you may not consider to be tools, but are equally important,

Rose Gloves

are a large brimmed hat and sunglasses to protect your eyes from Sun damage, a great ankle supporting pair of boots and sturdy gloves. Protecting your self in the garden is important and not doing so can change a good day into a bad day very quickly.

You should always have a good hose end sprinkler with multiple  spray settings so you can water your beds appropriately. The “power wash” method offered by most cheap sprayers is not appropriate for plants. A good digital or manual timer is also great for watering and assures that will not leave and forget your water is on! You also need a really good watering can, again, the more user-friendly the better. Remember that a gallon of water is a little over 8lb’s so don’t get a 3 gal watering can if you don’t want to carry nearly 25lb’s around the yard. Do invest in a good ergonomically correct (suitable to the human body) bucket that has a removable rosette. There is something really special about taking the time to organically fertilize your plants from an old-fashioned watering can and gives you time to get to know your space.

Ergo watering can

Happy Gardening!!

Lisa LaPaso

Lisa’s Landscape & Design (“like” me on facebook)

“Saving the Planet One Yard at a Time”

Check me out on YouTube!

Quote of the Day: The gardeners work is never done, therefore we will always have purpose – Lisa LaPaso

Plant of the day: Thornless Blackberry,lots of fruit from this one and the berry’s are delicious and packed with antioxidants. (this would make a great Valentines Day gift!!)