Favorite gardening tool

[Anniep1978]

What is the best purchase you've made for your gardening? I'm a pretty no frills gardener. But I would like to add to my gardening tools so that I can increase the ease of taking care of my garden.

Right now I get by with: a watering can, a shovel, a shuffle hoe and a lot of elbow grease. What would help me out?

 

[jubbly]

I have a Bosch Rotak Lawnmower. Fantastic purchase. Best mower I have ever used. I was stuck using an old hover mower and I hate them to be honest so.

 

[Ian]

My favourite so far is probably the pressure washer - although it's not strictly for gardening, I use it to clear up all of the paving flags, clear moss, clean gutters and even wash the car . It probably get's the most use.

I have a Bosch Rotak Lawnmower. Fantastic purchase. Best mower I have ever used. I was stuck using an old hover mower and I hate them to be honest so.

I'm glad you mentioned that as I've been looking at the Rotak mowers just recently. We've got an old cylinder mower at the moment, but there was a good offer at B&Q for a small Rotak that would be ideal for our garden. I just wish the Lithium battery mowers were cheaper, as that would have been ideal!

 

[jubbly]

I have the corded Rotak 36. It is faultless. Easy to carry, clean, empty.

It even has grass combs which give a good edge to the lawn and it will cut high wet grass as the beginning of the season. Even does stripes.

I can't recommend it enough.

 

[Kyla]

Annie, for hand tools, to add to your group there, I would suggest a spading fork (for loosening soil and lifting plants to be moved; it sometimes works much better than a shovel) and a mattock of the type called a "Hoe Mattock" I think? (maybe it's a Hoe Matic? Not sure!) which is a really hilarious name but basically it's a short handled tool with a claw on one side and a hoe blade on the other. I use mine for so much! I like to garden up close.

I also am fond of my Hori hori knife, which is a Japanese knife that is very heavy and useful for prying out stubborn thistle roots and digging in amongst rocks and tasks such as that.

 

[Cjk85]

Without a doubt my ride on mower, it used to take me almost a whole day to mow my lawns but now I'm down to 90 minutes.

 

[Yatte]

We recently acquired a branch and leaf shredder and a chainsaw. We moved into a new house about two years ago, the initial garden that was planted here were truly beautiful, the old lady who's garden it was just let it go, and did no maintain it at all. I believe we have around 20 big trees in the garden, who had years of free reign, most of them looked like bushes and not like trees. There are a few fruit trees as well that need their annual trimming.

As we started opening up the trees the heaps of branches just kept piling higher and higher. It was costing us to much to have it removed, thus we made another plan. Enter my friend the shredder.

On the sides of our property we now have Privet hedges, as it was intended, not the three meter tall privet trees we found when me moved in here. We also have a big Wattle tree that blew over and needed to be chopped up and removed.

The best benefits of the shredder are; the leaves goes into the compost hole, and the wood chunks that remain, goes to fill up the beddings. These chunks keep the soil moist, and it is a great way to fill up spaces and make your garden look neat and complete.

We have not even finished all the Privets yet, but Rome was not built in a day, surely this saying goes for a beautiful garden as well.

 

[ACSAPA]

When I lived with my ex, I liked the weed whacker and I would sometimes use it to trim the grass too because I wasn't strong enough to start the lawnmower with the pull cord.
Now that I live in an apartment, my favorite tool is just a little pair of handheld pruning shears that I use to trim my container plants and houseplants and get rid of sick/dead leaves.

 

[Pat]

I have to purchase tools for the yard as I just moved into my first home in 10 years. I have a lawn mower but that is about it. The yard is rather large and will need some care given to it. I know I will need a shovel, rake and a trowel time will tell what else soon as I will have time to go out and get to work on the yard.

 

[claudine]

I don't think I have a favorite gardening tool. Usually, when I have to do something, I use my scissors. Theey're great for any task. I can even dig small holes with them They're very useful!
I also like my watering can, because it's just the right size.

 

[Rosyrain]

The good old handshovel is my favorite tool. It has so many uses and you can get down and dirty in the soil with precision.

 

[freedhardwoods]

I probably have a bigger garden than most of you. Gardening 9,000 sq ft and only being home on weekends, I couldn't get it done without my Troybilt Horse tillers. I have 2 of them.

 

[InvasiveCreeper]

Aside from a trowel and 1 or 2 handheld cultivators, I use a: pick mattock, shovel, gardening fork, a few different types of hoes, a garden rake, pruning shears, billhook, and a watering can. You can pretty much do anything with these basics.

Nice extras for larger areas (depending on your needs): Scythe, Broadfork, Wheel Cultivator or Tiller.

 

[sixxup]

I like all power garden tools- hedge trimmers, electric grass trimmers, leaf shredders, chain saws, etc. They always make work easier. Most of them are rechargeable and you can easily carry them around.

 

[Greenhorn]

Favorite (not most useful, not most practical) would have to be my greenhouse. So many great things happen in there.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

I think my favorite tool is my leaf vacuum/ blower that will mulch the leaves, living with RA I like thing that make life easy and this saves me time and not bending as much.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

best purchase would be, to pay for someone to rake the leaves. But, other than that, we have, ridding mower, push mower, rakes, shovels, spades, bulb diggers, leaf blowers, tarps, seed spreader, hoses, trimmers, saws, chain saws, gas splitter, pitch fork, hoes, fence diggers, pick fork, snow shovels, wheel barrels, chipper, (my leaves will choke a vacuum blower). think that is all I can recall.

 

[Daren]

Best of all would have to be my Swiss left handed secateurs with a swivel handle They are the best Secs I have ever had!

 

[majorcatfish]

hum...
for hand that would be a hoe ,4 prong cultivator and a post hole digger.
as for power that would be a 4 cycle cultivator, great for using in the raised beds, and a tow behind sprayer....

 

[ts_guest]

You're going to laugh, but my best gardening tool is a simple flat-head long handled screwdriver. I use it to dig out weeds from the roots. I have 3/4 inch granite rock in my front yard, and pea gravel in my backyard. I live in the desert southwest and have no grass. I tried growing winter rye grass, but it didn't do well. In the summer I tried growing Bermuda grass, and the amount of water it needed and maintenance just wasn't worth it to me. So, I switched to rock and some desert plants.

I place the screwdriver business end into the rock and down into the soil, and give it a slight twist and up pops the weed. It's very simple and easy to do. My rock is a very thick layer, so not much light enters the soil, which prevents weeds from growing. Most of the weeds are in the perimeter near the sidewalk where the rock layer is thinner.