July 25, 2008 at 7:00 am
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- I was pointed to these tools by a comment from a visitor too our site – thanks Zoe
- Get the key tools right to make your garden easier and more pleasurable.
- A Spade that is light enough for your physique and a stainless steel blade will not get claggy with soil.
- Secateurs for snipping, pruning and cutting. Have one good pair for important work and another for the ‘grunt’ jobs that are a bit tougher. I have a good bypass (scissor type) pair for pruing and an anvil pair for hard work
- Lawn mower electric or petrol depending on the lawn size. As the adverts said ‘its much less bovver with a hovver’.
- Trowel made from forged steel will stand hard work and cut into soil easily
- Wheel barrow with a pneumatic tyre carries heavy loads and I prefer it too the ball type wheel
- Buy the best quality you can afford if you are going to make a lot of use of the tool. It is surprising how many tools don’t get used all that often so plan out what you need. Over 80% of the work will be done by the items in the list above.
- Pay a tree surgeon to cut hedges, prune and trim trees. They will have the right equipment andwill side away the waste.
- Maintain the tools you have:
- Put linseed oil on wooden handles to keep them smooth and in good condition
- Store metal wheel barrows upside down to help slow rusting from the rain
- Keep blades clean and honed I use a wet stone to remove dried sap and keep sharp
- Power tools need a cutout and an extension lead if your garden is large
- Spray tools with WD40 or similar to keep rust free and moving
Zoë said,
July 25, 2008 @ 8:24 am
I saw some fabulous copper tools on a stand at Hampton Court Flower Show. I was surprised that they would be resilient enough to take digging stoney ground and not wear quickly. I was assured they were as good as stainless steel. So what was the drawback with them? The price! Still lust after them though.