Gardening for many is just a passion but few know that it is an arduous and tiresome job to maintain a garden. However, through the use of proper tools a lot of work gets much simpler. Some tools could also reduce a lot of human effort thereby saving a lot of time. There are specific tools for each type of work such as digging, cutting, trimming, and removing weeds.
As a gardener, you inevitably find yourself in need of these essential tools. Let us see the 10 most essential gardening tools that you need to have as a gardener.
Trowels are extremely important as a gardening tool. The scooped cross section allows a Gardner to remove soil from the ground without much spoil to the neighboring areas. Depending upon the shape and size of a trowel, it can do a variety of functions. A narrow trowel would be used for the purpose of transplanting or weeding. Some trowels are more pointed than others, these are best for a hard soil. Make sure that you buy the best quality trowels since they would be strong and will have more life.
Shovel is used as a multi-purpose tool. Be it scooping, digging or spreading the mud evenly across a surface, shovel is just the apt tool. There are numerous types of shovels available that might suit a single job more perfectly. A shovel with a long handle is generally the best one as you can use the same shovel for a number of works. Make sure you buy a shovel with a comfortable handle and a strong blade.
Hoes are one of the most ancient tools that has been used for agriculture and gardening. Hoes nowadays are most commonly used for removing weeds by a layer of soil along with the weeds. Hoes generally have a long handle thus making it easier to remove the weeds without having to bend down manually and picking them out.
Pruners are basically a type of scissors that are used for cutting, trimming or weeding out the unwanted parts of a plant or its branches. The Pruners are generally strong enough to cut through the branches that are 2 cm thick. If you are a gardener or work on your garden as a hobby, sooner or later you will have to cut some portions of plant branches or small shrubs. A good pruner would be just the perfect tool for that.
5. Garden forks
Garden Forks are basically used for loosening and turning over the soil. In most cases, the garden fork can be used to remove weeds, stones more easily than a spade. Some types of garden forks are also used to take out the root crops. Due to the style of a fork, it can carry and handle the crops such as potatoes much more easily.
Rakes are basically one of the basic tools for gardening or maintaining a lawn. A conventional rake is used for collecting fallen leaves or any other form of debris from the garden. The long handle with a broad head is just perfect to remove the fallen leaves. These days a number of gardening rakes also helps in loosening soil, removing weeds, dead grass etc. Most farms have some form of a large mechanical rake.
7. Water can
Watering can is another basic tool that you would have to inevitably buy. It is ironic that sometimes we require tools for something as easy and basic thing as watering. Nevertheless, these days a lot of watering cans are being sold in the markets, which can also be used as a reservoir for fertilizers apart from watering. One should always take care while buying these watering cans as many of them may leak or allow an irregular flow of water. A heavy watering is not a good thing to opt for, so try using the plastic ones that are light yet strong.
Cultivators are basically used to avoid the manual hard work that is required during gardening. The power driven cultivators can finish the job of plowing, harrowing and loosening the soil bed faster. In most cases these cultivators are used only when the garden is too big for manual work.
9. Shears for gardening
This is perhaps once such tool that would never satisfy you. Shears are available in wide range of styles and sizes, each having its own functions and limitations. For example a flower shear would be most useful while using for cutting flowers. Similarly, a grass shear can not be used for cutting or trimming anything larger than a grass. So you might need to buy more of them as the time goes by, depending upon the type of activities that you do in your garden.
10. Garden Knife
It is basically a big knife that can be comfortably held in the hand and is ideally used for cutting, digging, planting and weeding purposes. It has a serrated side for cutting through tough roots and a plain sharp side that is generally used for digging. Gardener’s Knife often comes as a handy tool for a number of uses.