Four ways to get tools for less
Save cash, preserve resources and even make a new friend or two along with way with these thrifty garden tool tips
1: Hire-in heavy-duty tools
Many tasks in the garden are much easier if you have the right power tools, and it’s an absolute no-brainer to hire rather than buy costly tools that will only see occasional use through their lifetimes. You’ll only be charged for the hire period, from 24 hours upwards to suit your needs, and there’s no worry about maintenance, storage or depreciation over the years.
Hire businesses stock a wide range of tools and equipment, with most items available being professionalgrade in terms of build quality and size – more powerful than smaller, domestic-standard tools and hence getting the job done faster and more efficiently. Hire outlets are found all over the country and most deliver and collect for a small additional charge.
Suitable for everything from big maintenance jobs that are only done occasionally to major, one-off landscaping works, these are the sorts of tools available for hire:
◾ Powerful cutting tools like chainsaws, brushcutters for undergrowth, ‘power-scythe’ mowers for long grass and hedgetrimmers.
◾ Shredders and chippers for quickly turning shrub and tree prunings into a useful mulch for your borders.
◾ Earth-moving tools from mini-diggers to rotavators.
◾ Powered turf-cutters for lifting old and unwanted lawns quickly and efficiently.
◾ Equipment for moving heavy materials, such as powered barrows.
2: Borrow and share
Helping people to reduce spending, cut down on waste and minimise use of precious resources, sharing schemes are now springing up all around the country.
Organised tool libraries are great if there’s one operating in your area. You may also find more informal, very local ways of sharing stuff such as through gardening clubs, by putting the word out on social media channels such as Facebook and WhatsApp locally, or simply chatting to your friends and neighbours. Sharing really does mean savings all round, as well as being a brilliant way to get in touch with others in your local community.
‘Libraries of things’ are a new trend, too, dedicated to sharing lots of different kit that most people will use only occasionally, including gardening tools. Some are on a subscription basis, while others charge a hire fee. If there’s not one in your area, why not start one? The organisation Share:UK (see p80) has information and resources available to help.
One of the first of these projects was Share:Frome, set up in Somerset in 2015. Only eight years in, the impact has been tremendous: in the space of just 12 months between 2019 and 2020 the library saved its users £144,956 by allowing them to borrow items instead of buying them. This avoided 199 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions, 254 tonnes of raw material use and 22 tonnes of manufacturing waste.
3: Buy second-hand beauties
Older tools are often very well made, so buying them secondhand can be a great way to get high quality at a fraction of the cost. A number of websites offer kit for sale, and these have the bonus of filtering to narrow down searches for specialist items. This is great when you know what you want, but less so for browsing generally.
However, as quite a lot of garden kit is awkwardly shaped and hard to post, getting out and about locally can yield the best finds:
◾ Search in charity shops for small items like trowels. ◾ Keep an eye out for garage and car-boot sales – just make sure you arrive early. ◾ Look for noticeboards with private ads in shop windows and on community boards in supermarkets.
◾ Council-run recycling centres often have a ‘resale’ section for quality items, including gardening kit.
◾ Local garden machinery businesses may sometimes sell-off reconditioned, second-hand tools.
Second-hand tools can even be had totally for free, as when using freecycle.org, a website dedicated to keeping reusable items out of landfill. Just register, then search items on offer. You can post a ‘wanted’ notice too: adding a couple of lines of back-story will greatly increase your chance of getting offers from others.
4: Invest in quality products
There will always be a few items of gardening kit that you’ll prefer to buy new – and when you do so it makes sense to go for quality. Well-made tools and gear really pay back the spend, lasting far longer than cheap equipment, and are likely to be more of a pleasure to use in terms of comfort and efficiency, too. The key budget-friendly approach is to focus on getting good-quality, basic tools, rather than shiny, feature-packed products.
For indoor and balcony gardeners, the basics could be as little as a good pair of secateurs or snips, a trowel and a watering can.
Plan ahead and make your budget stretch by buying tools in the low season – for example, lawn mowers are likely to be a bit cheaper after the spring rush – and post-Christmas. Or be cheeky and ask for kit for birthday presents – though with some advance research to suggest brands, as there’s such variety out there. There’s an extensive range of gardening tool reviews at GardenersWorld. com, where you’ll find our Best Buys on key bits of kit.
Basic tool list for gardeners
◾ Digging or border spade
◾ Digging or border fork
◾ Long-handled rake
◾ Secateurs
◾ Hoe (long or short)
◾ Trowel
◾ Hand fork
◾ Watering can