Here are 8 Essentials for the Home Gardening Tool Kit

For as long as humans have survived, we have invented. We constantly look for ways to make things easier, more efficient, more effective. In the garden, it is no different. What motivates my tool use lately is the fact that we can also assist the soil.  Considering soil is a living system (millions of microscopic organisms are what provide nutrients to our plants), I want my gardening tools to enrich that life.

  1. Weeding is infinitely easier with a stirrup hoe. Ensure that you do it regularly so that the small weeds get cut at the root, adding excellent organic material back into your garden. If you have a garden or hedge and you need to keep the weeds at bay. This is my most essential tool.
  2. A rake is useful to gather leaves. When placed on top of the soil, they feed it. It also helps to smooth the dirt when spreading compost.
  3. Secateur Pruning Shears (bypass) help to keep the air flowing through shrubs /ornamental trees. A good quality pruner will last longer and stay sharper with proper care. The rotating handle of the bypass shears requires less force to cut, and it blades create cleaner, faster-healing cuts.
  4. No home gardener should be without a hand trowel. It’s great for planting bulbs, or planter boxes on the front step, or for smaller aeration jobs.
  5. A spade is useful for moving soil and working up the garden when you don’t want the noise and bother of a rototiller, or for planting shrubs/ornamentals and fruit trees. Hand-spading is a great option for mixing in soil amendments.
  6. Having a garden fork is great for loosening/aerating soil, harvesting root crops, mixing in compost, and dividing perennials with less root damage.
  7. Set out a rain barrel to catch precipitation to use on dry days. If you are not set up to catch that life-giving water then a watering can or bucket will suffice.
  8. Gloves can be fitted or not. I find that the fitted ones with a rubberized coating protect my hands better, are more waterproof and let me do more intricate jobs.

 

Talk to your neighbours and borrow a wheelbarrow for the day, or be the one person on the block that can lend it out. It’s great for moving soil, collecting weeds and pruning, not to mention hauling your gardening tools around.