Make sure to pick garden tools that last
I love my garden tools.
Using quality tools, when doing any job, is a key to squeezing the greatest possible joy out of the experience. But how do you know when you are buying “quality” with inherent benefits such as durability, longlasting performance and a tool that just works better with the passage of time? Ask me — I know a thing or two about it.
My dad was a tool hound. He loved well-used tools and I learned that same satisfaction from him. He left me many great garden implements and I have collected more of my own; I have a garden-tool museum of sorts and it’s a celebration of craftsmanship that goes back a few generations.
What to look for in a great tool: Hardened steel High-carbon steel has great tensile strength. This means that a pair of hand pruners made from this material will resist breaking and will hold a sharp edge longer.
It helps to have a metal file handy to run up and down the blade every time before you use the pruners. I use it for a minute — sometimes less — to put an edge on my hedge shears, digging tools, such as a spade or shovel, and my weeding tools, such as the backhoe or Dutch hoe.
If you make this simple task — plus a squirt of oil to the metal parts — a habit before you head out to the garden with your steel tools, I guarantee you will reduce the stress on your own body as you work. Chrome Chrome digging tools are gaining a lot of attention. They are less sticky than steel tools, so dirt falls off them more freely.
They tend to be “head heavy,” since the blade is solid-forged and will do much of the work for you if you just drop it into the soil.
I think they’re handsome, too. We have planted many ceremonial trees along the Highway of Heroes (hohtribute.ca) using chrome digging spades and they always look great in photographs. Handles If you find a shovel, for example, with a fibreglass handle, you will no doubt have trouble wearing it out in your lifetime. Maybe that’s because you will seldom use it — unless you have arms like Samson, lifting a fiberglass-handled digging tool is a chore. Aluminum is soft and bends easily. Plastic is, well, plastic and performs like plastic . . . ugh.
I prefer old-fashioned hardwood handles. They are light, heavy duty, provide just the right amount of flexibility and they are handsome when you care for them. After the first couple of seasons of use, rub either some linseed oil on them or apply a spar varnish and you will lengthen the useful life of the tool. When you buy a wooden-handled tool, be sure to wrap your hand around it before you purchase. Make sure that it feels confident in your hand. Some handles are ultra padded and others are very thick: I don’t like either. I get all the padding that I need from a quality pair of gloves. A tapered, long handle is best: balanced and a fine fit to my hand. Other tips:
Sharpen your lawn mower: If you did it in spring, now is a great time to do it again. Grass cut with a dull blade can look blunted and give your lawn a brown hue. If you don’t sharpen it yourself, stop the guy with the bell in the slow-moving vehicle with a grinding wheel in the back who comes around the neighbourhood. He will remove the blade, sharpen it and put it back on.
Gloves: I find that a pigskin glove, with neoprene fingertips, is excellent for long wear and flexibility. Some of the thin-skinned, rubberdipped gloves are great for planting and mucking in the soil as they repel moisture.
Veggie brush: A small, soft brush is great for cleaning the dirt off your carrots and potatoes and for removing loose dirt from a shovel or hoe, the white stains that appear on clay pots and to give your finger nails a good scrub before you go in the house.
Aerosol oil: I mentioned that you should apply oil to digging tools before use. Apply to the cutting deck of your power lawn mower to prevent grass buildup, to the blades of a manual, walk-behind mower and while it is in your hand, give the wheels on your garage door a squirt.
Quality hand tools are always a little more expensive than the disposable lightweights. It is my experience that a quality tool can make the difference between a job filled with joy and one that just seems like work. Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, Order of Canada recipient, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.