• 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

Gardeners Tips

• 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.
• Hire the tools and equipment you only need occassionally. Be sure you are trained on the use and risks of hired tools.
• 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