Gardening Aprons and Tool Holders

This year I have found 3 trowels when emptying and spreading my compost heap. I am not claiming that a tool belt or pocketed apron would have prevented me loosing them in the first place but you never know.
Apart for comments about the small size of this apron it gets good reviews from Amazon buyers. They are particularly happy with the price (£8.25) and the functionality.

I have no discernible system and carry my secateurs, string and bits and pieces in numerous pockets of an old gardening jacket. When I get warm the jacket comes off. As I say no system.

There is a wider range of Aprons available from Amazon. There are some Laura Ashley ones for ladies and some more robust ones that the picture above. Have a look at the range.

If I was investing in an apron I would want it to:

carry tools but also a mobile phone and note book and pencil in a dry zippered pocket .
protect me from sharp prickles and cutting leaves and stabs by my own tools.
keep my gardening clothes protected from the worst of the dirt.
keep out of the way of my activity and actions.

Tool Belts and Holsters

I am not sure about tool belts that hang in front of me when I am gardening but there is a range of products available in garden centres, Homebase and B&Q
I like the look of the Felco holster and will put one on my wish list. amazon

Looks like I will have to belt up!

Terracotta Pots – Best are British

I like UK made terracotta or clay pots. Good pots are made frost hardy and should last through all the British seasons. Imported pots have often been made in warm climates where they do not know the meaning of cold never mind frost.

Why Clay Pots not Plastic

• Old pots do sometimes collect a white salt deposit on the outside. You can see that on the photograph or the old pot collection above. As long as the pot is washed in a solution containing a disinfectant they can be reused indefinitely.
• Pots are porous and let in air to the roots.
• Evaporation from the clay pot keeps the roots cool. Plastic and particularly black plastic boils the roots of your plants.

Tips for Maintaining Plant Pots

• Avoid pots getting top heavy in windy conditions. Too much plant growth can get caught by a wind, blow the pot over and smash the pot. For tall plants weight the bottom of the pot.
• Pots can freeze to the ground and this weakens the bottom of the pot until it falls off. Use bricks or special feet to stand the pot on during winter.
• Keep the outside of decorative pots clean or algae and moss will be encouraged and discolour your pot.
• If you want to artificially age your pot coat it in Yoghurt to encourage green algae growth.

Amazon offer

any number of plant pots. They come in all shapes and sizes but terracotta pots are few and far between. Perhaps it is because they are heavy and expensive to deliver, all the more strange that we see Chinese pots in many garden departments at DIY stores.

If you break your pot do not despair you can make a feature like the one below.

Hover Mower Tips on Use and Safety

Hover Mower Tips

• Hover mowers are quick and easy to use but they do not leave stripes in your grass.
• Use hover mowers to keep your grass tidy but consider a cylinder mower for a top quality look to your lawn.
• The special mowers for long grass are an excellent way of clearing space like a hovering scythe.
• The electric Hover mowers are fine for small lawns and are far lighter than most other lawnmowers but they are unlikely to collect up the cut grass.
• When mowing a bank or slope stand at the top, attach a rope if you need too then swing and lower the mower.
• Mow up and down not across a slope and take extra care on any uneven ground.
• Handles generally fold so the machine can be hung from a shed or garage wall making them extremely space efficient

For Safeties Sake

Before Using Your Mower
• Read the instruction book, it may seem obvious but best to be prepared.
• Fill the petrol tank before you start as pouring petrol into a hot engine can be as dangerous as smoking.
• Examine the area to be cut for stones, bits of metal, toys or pets.
• Set the cutting height, not too short!
• When starting the machine keep it still, perhaps by putting your foot on the hood.
• Hover mowers do not have wheels so they must be carried onto and off the lawn.Lift with care and buy one that is light enough for you to manage.

While Mowing

• Wear heavy shoes with a good grip and keep children away from dangerous machinery.
• Do not carry the mower whilst it is running it will not float from one lawn to the next.
• Keep the mower flat as it is designed to stop ‘flying stones’ by hovering close to the ground. Do not mow over gravel.
• Do not try to use your mower as a cultivator some areas may be so overgrown they need a machete.
• Don’t take risks or walk backwards as you may pull the machine on top of you.
• Safety regulations require all new electric mowers to have elaborate safety switches that usually require two handed use and a constant grip

Amazon supply virtually anything and that includes this range of Hover Mowers

The photograph of a rotating blade is under a creative commons license 2.0 by Jovike.

See also Gardeners Tips for more safety advice.

Garden Frost Protection

These Gunnera leaves have been used as a natural frost protection. Before the first frosts, you can place some straw over crowns of plants and keep them in place by the giant leaves. This helps to offer some frost protection which should help them survive the cold of the year. As an added advantage it also looks quite attractive in its own right.

Fleece Protection for Plants.

Horticultural fleece is a simple but effective tool to wrap around individual plants or cover a row of tender plants / vegetables.

Horticultural fleece can also be a great way of protecting plants and vegetables from pests such as cabbage butterfly.

Individual Plant Protection

If you have a few pots which would benefit from frost protection, you can buy these individual plant fleece liners. Plant fleece protectors

This is a more expensive way of buying fleece, but, maybe more convenient for a small number of plants or pots.

Tips on Using Garden Fleece.

• Make sure it is well pegged down.
• Take advantage of any natural frost protection such as moving pots to a sheltered south wall.
• Remember fleece protection will keep temperatures higher, but, it cannot guarantee against frost.
• For tender plants, you have to keep them inside.

Poly Tunnels

For a bigger range of frost protection, the best option may be a poly tunnel. This is a cheap version of a greenhouse. It doesn’t look too attractive in the garden, but, it is pretty efficient and helping frost protection. Poly tunnels

Cloche Protection

For a more attractive garden frost protection, try a Cloche. These look both elegant and help provide environment of a mini greenhouse, though bear in mind in late summer they can become quite hot on a clear sunny day. Cloche protection

Natural Frost Protection

These Iris Unguicularis have been placed against a south facing wall in a dry, free draining soil. A good free draining soil is often as important as protection against cold. A combination of wet and cold can be much more damaging than just frost.

Begonia plants are often the first to succumb to air frost. get the corms inside and protected for winter before the ground is also frozen.

Dahlia leaves go black as soon as they are bitten by the frost bug. Then is the time to cut down the haulms and dig up the tubers for winter storage in dry frost free conditions.

Useful Products

• Horticultural Fleece at Amazon.co.uk
• Cloche at Amazon.co.uk

Related articles

• Frost Damage to plants
• Winter Flowering Plants
• Growing Veg in the greenhouse

Equipment Every Gardener Needs

The first and most essential item of equipment for a gardener is a sense of humour. How else can they expect to cope with weather, insects, disease and death. If you have had an endorphin bypass then give up gardening and take up nuclear physics or something else equally less challenging.

An assistant gardener is a bonus piece of equipment and hidden in the shrubbery is my no.2 helper. (My wife is no.1 as she cuts the grass, edges and much more).

Some ‘gardeners’ have a professional to do the hard work and this doesn’t disqualify them as gardeners but the armchair variety is not as hardy as the all weather species.

Equipment for Gardeners

Lawn Rake with tines that can collect leaves and hedge trimmings from grass or in this case paths. A long handle on most garden tools makes life easier.

Ear Muffs are not strictly essential garden wear but if you use noisy machinery for a long period they would be worthwhile. Hedge trimmers, wood chippers and some lawn mowers are noisy and so are the sounds of these tines on the path.

Jeans and Boots are part of many gardeners clothing kit. Boots keep you dry and have a protective upper, but according to Billy Connolly were would you be without wellingtons

Lawn Spikers and Aerators

Like all plants, lawn grass needs air, water and nutrient from the soil. Too often these resources are lost to the grass as a lawn gets compacted by walking and playing on the lawn.
Water runs off compacted ground and doesn’t soak in. Air is crushed out and worms that would help aerate the soil are not tolerated. Soil can become sour and lacking in nutrient despite seasonal fertilizers.

Treatment with Spikers

• One solution is to spike the grass as you walk on it wearing the shoes as shown in this picture.
• Hollow tyned forks are good for removing a core of soil to leave a short tunnel for water and air to penetrate the soil.
• Professionals have special aerators for large areas like sports fields and bowling greens.
• Amazon have a range of Aerators from the shoes to the wheeled roll up and down types.

Comment and Warnings

• It is hard work to penetrate compacted soil
• Select a time when the ground is as soft as possible then the comment above is still valid
• Remove excess ‘thatch’ and any soil that is pushed to the surface by the spiking
• A wide spike is better than a narrow spike. Narrow holes fill up quickly.

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Kneelers and Seats for Gardeners

You do not know what use you can put a kneeler too until you have one.

Uses of Garden Kneelers

• Obviously they are designed for kneeling on when weeding or planting out seedlings.
• I find they also tamp the soil down prior to sowing a row or two of seeds.
• After kneeling the handles are most useful for pushing yourself back into an upright position. I need all the support I can get in this direction.
• Turning the kneeler upside down it forms a sturdy seat useful for raised beds and hinged backs that will stretch forward. The seat can rock forward and back but is sturdy side to side affording a long reach.
• I use the seat as a table when not in use for other matters. It make items easier to spot if the are 18″ off the ground unless I have rested my specs on the kneeler.

Available from amazon for circa £12

The name of this photo shows the poor taste of me, the shadowy photographer!

Read the rest of this entry »

Garden Tool Kit

After a spade the hand trowel and fork are key garden tools.
For cutting pruning and trimming, loppers and secateurs are in regular use in my garden. Loppers can wait until your shrubs and trees have pencil thick stems you want to cut but secateurs are crucial from day one.

Draper is a known tool manufacturer and this kit comprises loppers that are ’635mm long with carbon steel blades hardened and tempered with textured hand grips. The secateurs are 175mm long with carbon steel blades hardened and tempered with moulded spring-loaded handles and thumblock. Hand trowel and fork are epoxy coated carbon steel hardened and tempered with textured hand grips.’
Available from Amazon for £15.88

Lawn Edge Trimmers

Cordless Strimmer, Lawn Edger and Trimmer this GTECH ST04 is a must for all garden and grass lovers.

• The ST04 grass trimmer makes light work of cutting and edging, thanks to its fully adjustable head and powerful 12v battery unit that spins the blades at over 8500 rpm.
• A pack of 20 free blades are supplied with this machine and are easy to fit.
• The ST05 trimmer will provide up to 30 mins continuous cutting time from one charge and can be easily be set up for the individual garden user with the extendable handles.

Other Lawn Edgers & Trimmers

• Do not use a conventional spade as most have a slightly curved blade and do not leave a straight edge.
• Use a half moon cutter for small lengths of edge.
• There is a Wolf Garten Tool attachment with a roller and rotating toothed blade to trim the edge.
• Flexible edging in coated mild steel or plastic can give a crisp and permanent edge

Read Best Lawn Edges in the World

Pruning Saw and Garden Saws

A useful tool for pruning and trimming trees and large shrubs a good pruning saw is a delight to use.

Features of a Pruning Saw.

• The handle on this model folds down when not in use. Some types are like large bread knives.

• The single flat blade can get into tight areas between branches.

• A sharp blade makes for a tidier job

• To cut out a branch take off 80-90% of the length then finish off close to the trunk with a second cut.

• Tough garden pruning jobs made easy with this top-quality Spear & Jackson saw.

• • A 7 inch long carbon steel blade which locks open and shut for safety
  • Super sharp precision ground teeth quick, clean swing
  • Ergonomic, non-grip handle for comfort and extra safety
  • Helpful hole in the handle to aid hanging and easy storage in a shed or garage
  • Rust resistant

Helen Yemm in English Garden reports
‘In every garden there are difficult-to-get-at pruning jobs for which secateurs are definitely too small, two handled loppers too cumbersome, and a bow saw (or any other kind of saw) too unwieldy.
Admittedly, a pruning saw is not something you use every day – or even every month; however, in shrubby gardens, where there is a lot of maintenance pruning to be done, often in dense thickets, a slim, handy and murderously sharp blade is an absolute necessity.’
read the rest of her report