Tools worth forking out for
You can make light work of even the toughest garden tasks if you have the right tools for the job ... so be an ace of spades this spring
Buying garden tools can be a great treat. A shiny new spade, fork or pair of secateurs can be incredibly motivating when it comes to doing the actual work.
Gardening can be backbreaking so having the best kit will save endless time and trouble and help prevent injuries or damage.
Nothing is worse than trying to prune a large bush with a blunt pair of clippers, or working with rusty tools with broken handles.
But with such a massive selection of tools on offer at even your smaller DIY stores and garden centres, it can be confusing knowing what to buy.
Having the wrong tools for the job can be a hindrance and make for lots of extra hard work that isn’t necessary. You want to make sure your garden tool collection has everything you need – with high-quality multi-purpose tools that will stand the test of time.
If you have never gardened before, you can’t go wrong with a long handled spade and fork, and a handheld trowel and fork. These are your classic garden all-rounders and suitable for many jobs.
The spade is perfect for cultivating the soil in your beds and borders as well as making holes for planting trees and shrubs.
A long-handled fork is what you’ll use to turn over soil ready for planting or to aerate the lawn; while the handheld version is perfect for smaller spaces like containers or the front of borders.
Your trowel is useful for any number of things, from planting up containers to scooping compost or digging out stubborn weeds.
Once you’ve got to grips with these basic tools, you’ll want to expand your collection – and you’ll soon find taming your garden is just as important as growing it.
A pair of hedge shears and some bypass secateurs will do for pruning and manicuring to help keep your garden looking neat.
A garden knife or scissors are also important for cutting things like twine, canvas stripping and even small branches. Don’t be tempted to just use one from your kitchen – these aren’t tough enough for the garden and could easily cause accidents. A proper pruning knife or some garden scissors are what you need.
If you have a lawn, you’ll also need a rake to remove leaves and scrape out moss from underneath the lawn. A spring-tine rake is perfect for removing leaves and debris while a scarifying rake is a bit more heavyduty and is generally used to draw out moss, thatch and other creeping weeds from underneath the grass. Your spring-tine rake also comes in handy for running over the top of the soil to create a fine layer of tilth –
perfect for planting seeds. For larger gardens, or those with more space to store tools, there are a few extra more job-specific pieces of equipment that can come in handy.
A bulb planter is a nifty little bit of kit that makes planting bulbs a doddle. You push it down into the soil and twist to remove a core of soil at your desired depth, creating the perfect hole for planting any type of bulb. If you do a lot of container planting, then you may want to invest in a potting scoop which makes light work of filling pots with soil.
When transplanting seedlings and small plants, a widger can be inserted into the soil and used to lever the plant out gently, avoiding any damage to its roots. For weeding, the more oldfashioned among us like to use our hands or a trowel to dig weeds out. However you could save yourself a serious amount of time and backache with just a few more clever tools.
There are many types of hoe for weeding, but I like the three-edge hoe, which has blades on the front, back and side, which are set at an angle enabling an easy cutting action to remove weeds by slicing the stem or cutting them out from the ground.
If you are waging war on dandelions in your garden, then go in for the kill with a corkscrew weeder, which is perfect for long, tap-rooted weeds and pulls the whole plant out in its entirety.
I also have a fantastic long-handled multi-weeder that can remove a variety of different weeds – it has a long reach to reduce back strain.
And don’t forget the razor hoe – this one has a sharp blade to slice out weeds and can also be used to scrape out weeds between paving slabs.
Every gardener has a different set of tools because every garden is different, so find what works for you and stick with it.
All my tools are from Uk-based brand Kent & Stowe, which has a great range that are all durable, attractive and excellent quality.
Maintaining your tools with a sharpener and oil will go a long way in making sure they work properly. There are also lighter ranges available if you find heavy tools difficult to wield.
You can even get specialist kids tools that are lighter and perfectly sized for growing gardeners, enabling you to teach your little ones all about the wonders of the garden.