Gardening and Garden Equipment

Nothing looks more immaculate than a spectacular green garden. Garden tools perform an indispensable role in the creation as well as maintenance of beautiful gardens. Gardening can be divided into 4 main categories, i.e, Tilling, Cultivating, Planting and Watering. Each activity requires a different set of tools. Having the right gardening tools can turn an exhausting chore into a pleasure. Gardening equipment are majorly of two types: Hand equipment such as shovels, spades, rakes and pruning shears and Power equipment such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers and power shears. When you are buying garden tools, make sure you invest in quality. It pays to spend a little more on quality equipment that will last you for years rather than cheap and flimsy ones that will no doubt need replacement after a few seasons. Nowadays, ergonomically designed equipment are also available which eliminate or greatly reduce the problems associated with gardening such as sore backs, sore wrists and hands, tired muscles, difficulty getting up and down, repetitive strain injuries and so on.

Basic Equipment To Start With:

• Digging Equipment - Garden forks and spades are a must have, for any digging tasks in the garden. The fork due to its construction will penetrate a number of different soils where a spade will have difficulty. Stony, hard compact or heavy clay soil will be dug much easier using a fork. Spades are very versatile and can be used for digging, cutting, reshaping or for planting and cultivating and moving small amounts of earth.

• Cultivating Equipment - Soil rakes are much needed tool as they're essential on the veg plot for creating a fine seedbed and in a border they're useful for clearing stones, debris, weeds after hoeing and for spreading mulches evenly.

• Pruning Equipment - If you have trees, hedges or plants then you will need some pruning tools to keep them neat and healthy. Tools such as secateurs, hedge shears, and pruning saw can come in handy to do this job.

• Lawn Care Equipment - To keep your lawn looking good and healthy, you will need a few tools to help do the job. Lawn rakes and leaf collecting tools are used for this purpose.

• Garden Wheel Barrow - As well as being a must for moving soil or compost, it is ideal for transporting your tools, putting weeds and debris in when cultivating, and shifting other things.

• Kneeling Equipment - Garden knee pads, foam kneeling pads and garden kneeling bench provide protection to the knees while gardening.

• Garden Gloves - A good pair of gardening gloves makes the difference between enjoying gardening or suffering from it. If you do any amount of gardening at all, buy gloves and replace them as soon as they show signs of wear.

Caring For Your Garden Equipment:

Since good quality garden equipment do not come cheap, it makes sense to take care of such tools. Most garden equipment can be easily maintained by keeping them clean and by wiping the metal parts with a lightly oiled cloth to prevent rusting. Every now and then have the blades sharpened at to prevent damaging your plants.

Take Home Tip:

Start with basic yet high quality equipment. Once you have gained some experience with regular gardening, you should then look into power tools and more specific function equipment.