Gardening is one of the most relaxing and rewarding hobbies that you can have. This is primarily because it allows you to plant the foliage and greenery that you want right outside your home. It is also rewarding and fulfilling since seeing your garden grow right before your eyes as the days go by can very well be the best reward for all of your hard work. To make sure that you have an easy and pleasurable time tending to your garden, it is important that you have the right types of garden tools. Here are some of the basic garden tools that every homeowner should have.
1. Cultivator
A cultivator is generally used for mixing the soil with fertilizer to prepare it for planting. They also help in removing soil lumps, cleaning moss and in thatching and aerating. They can also be used with different attachments to cut vegetation or plough the soil.
2. Spade
A spade is used for digging or removing soil. In the past, spades have actually been made with riven wood. Today, however, they are with sharp tips of metal, allowing an easier and more efficient method or breaking up and moving soil.
3. Garden Hoe
This garden tool offers plenty of uses including agitating the surface of the soil which surround plants and removing weeds.
4. Pitchfork
Pitchforks have a long handle and long and thin pointed tines pr prongs which are widely spaced apart. They are used in lifting and throwing loose materials such as leaves and other agricultural materials.
5. Secateurs
Secateurs are pruning shears which are used for pruning hard and thick branches of shrubs and trees. There are three types of blade designs of secateurs: bypass, anvil and parrot-beak. The first type, the anvil secateur, has a single blade that closes onto a flat surface and are useful for cutting up to two-centimetre thick branches. Bypass secateurs work just like a pair of scissors. They have two blades that pass each other, with at least one of them curved. Parrot-beak secateurs have two curved passing blades, trapping the stem or branch between them, making it easier to cut. Parrot-beak secateurs are often used for narrower stems.
6. Grass Shears
A grass shear is different from a secateur or a pair of pruning shears as it has longer handles which are at right angles to its blades. It can be used in cutting grass and lawn edges from a standing position. It is commonly used by gardeners to cut grass which were not been cut by the lawnmower.
7. Trowel
A trowel is a tool which has a handle and a pointed and scoop-shaped metal blade. Similar to a cultivator, it can be used for digging small holes and breaking up lumps of soil. It can also be used for removing weeds and in planting and mixing fertilizer.
8. Rake
A rake is a horticultural implement which has a toothed bar that is attached to a long handle. It is generally used for loosening the soil, leveling the earth and in weeding.
9. Wheelbarrow
A wheelbarrow is small and hand-operated vehicle that has only one wheel. It can be maneuvered by the user through pushing and guiding the two handles on its rear. It is useful in transporting or moving soil, plants, pots, gardening equipment and other things which are too heavy or bulky to move by hand.
10. Lawnmower
The lawnmower is another common garden tool which is used for cutting grass. It has a blade which rotates around a vertical axis or a horizontal axis. Those which rotate around a vertical axis are referred to as rotary mowers while those that rotate around a horizontal axis are referred to as reel or cylinder mowers. Lawnmowers come in different sizes. There are smaller ones which can be pushed manually and are best for smaller lawns or gardens; and there are the bigger ride-on mowers which are more suited for larger lawns.