THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
READY for the great garden tidy-up, when you empty pots of worn-out summer bedding, prepare your lawn for winter, trim hedges and rake leaves?
SOME pruning can be done in the autumn to get rid of dead wood and help shape shrubs and trees for the following year. Secateurs are essential for this, but you shouldn’t be trying to cut a branch with a diameter thicker than 1cm (0.5in) with secateurs. Any thicker and you should opt for a pruning saw such as the Silky, a Japanese blade with teeth with three razoredged facets which cut smooth and don’t leave loose edges.
IF you are hard-pruning overgrown shrubs, loppers are invaluable. Some versions come with extendable arms for those branches which are just out of reach, and they are ideal for cutting out old congested wood from inside thorny shrubs such as berberis and roses, but they are also good for reducing the size of large branches you have already cut off with the saw, to make them more manageable to take to the your local recycling centre.
NOW is the time to scarify your lawn. A springtine rake is ideal. You may also want to use a garden fork to make holes in the lawn to aerate it and reduce compaction, and fill the holes with sharp sand to aid drainage.
GIVE hedges a trim, but make sure you leave enough greenery for birds to nest in and be careful where you trim in case you disturb any wildlife. Electric or battery-powered hedgetrimmers will do the job.
IF you have plenty of trees, you’re going to need a decent lawn rake to gather up the leaves which have amassed on your lawn or in your flowerbeds. If not dealt with, leaves can harbour pests and disease.
Use either a wide fan-shaped springy metal or plastic rake.
If you have a larger area, use a leaf blower to direct leaves into a pile before bagging them composting or making leaf mould, which can be used as a mulch on beds and borders.