Tips on Purchasing Gardening Tools

Every gardener will need a tool kit equipped with a few basic tools in order to keep your home garden in good shape. Listed below are the essentials for every gardeners kit:

• In gardening, a trowel is a tool with a pointed, scoop-shaped metal blade and a handle. It is used for breaking up earth, digging small holes, especially for planting and weeding, mixing in fertilizer or other additives, and transferring plants to pots.

• Pruning shears, also called hand pruners (in American English), or secateurs, are a type of scissors for use on plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to two centimetres thick. They are used in gardening, arboriculture, farming, flower arranging, and nature conservation, where fine-scale habitat management is required. 

• A rake is a broom for outside use; a horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used to collect leaves, hay, grass, etc., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, removing dead grass from lawns, and generally for purposes performed in agriculture by the harrow.

• A shovel is a tool for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Shovels are extremely common tools that are used extensively in agriculture, construction, and gardening.

• A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural tool used to move small amounts of soil. Common goals include weed control by agitating the surface of the soil around plants, piling soil around the base of plants (hilling), creating narrow furrows (drills) and shallow trenches for planting seeds and bulbs, to chop weeds, roots and crop residues, and even to dig or move soil, such as when harvesting root crops like potatoes.

• Loppers are a type of scissors used for pruning twigs and small branches. They are the largest type of manual garden cutting tool. They are usually operated with two hands, and with handles typically between 30 centimetres (12 in) & 91 centimetres (36 in) long to give good leverage.

• A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles to the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind.

   

Here's a few helpful tips to aid you with your tool selection.

• Buy quality! Although the quality tools are a bit more expensive they will last a very long time which will end up costing you less in the long run. So purchase the higher quality tools if and when you can. Try to shop for tools at the end of the season. Gardeners tend to find great deals around this time.

• There are several adaptive tools with extended handles and ergonomic design features available for purchase. These tools will aid those with physical challenges in planting, pruning and weeding their gardens. You can find more information on the proper selection of such gardening tools and more at: http://coronatools.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/ergonomics-top-5-principles-to-know-when-selecting-garden-tools/ 

• Gardening tools are a great investiment in the overall care and upkeep of your yard. They're also great house warming gifts. Please be sure to read my previous post on gardening safetly before you get started.

Happy Gardening!

Melwood's Horticulture Therapy program was established in 1963. Sheila Gallagher, the Manager of Horticulture Programs and Melwood's Garden Center is a Certified Professional Horticulturalist (CPH) and Registered Horticultural Therapist (HTR). Visit Melwood's Garden Center to purchase your next tropical plant! Proceeds from plant sales go towards supporting Melwood programs including horticulture therapy for individuals with disabilities. Melwood's Garden Center is open to the public Monday - Friday between the hours of 8:30am-4:00pm. Please call to schedule an appointment at: 301.599.4570