Nearly every gardener has some type of gardening
equipment. In fact, it’s nearly
impossible to have a garden without used gardening equipment. What kind of gardening equipment you use will
obviously depend on the size and extent of your garden, what you are able to
handle, if you want to spend a lot of time in your garden or get done quickly,
and finally, how much money you are willing to spend.
While many gardeners do not have expensive or high-tech
gardening tools, all of them have some type of gardening equipment for
cultivating. Tools for cultivating can
include both hand held tools and power tools.
What kind you buy depends on how serious of a gardener you are. Hand tools include your everyday items like
shovels, spading forks, rakes, trowels, and diggers. These can all be used to get a garden ready
for planting and are relatively easy and do not require much strength to
use. Other tools include a wheel
cultivator, pickax, and mattock.
While power tools are a little more expensive than hand
tools, they really cut down on the hard labor.
The most essential piece of gardening equipment is undoubtedly the
tiller. The tiller will break up the ground
and get it ready for planting, chop up any debris, and help mix in fertilizer
and compost. If you don’t want to spend
the money on a tiller you can hire someone or rent a tiller for one time
use. Other power tools that are very
popular include chippers, garden shredders, and chain-saws.
If you have shrubs, hedges, or small trees in your yard,
pruning tools are a vital piece of gardening equipment. Pruning shears are good for branches about ¾”
in diameter, while lopping shears can handle branches from a half inch up to
about 2 inches. Pole pruners are on a
pole and can reach branches about 15 feet above ground. Hedge shears and pruning saws are both
larger, more heavy duty pruning tools for the serious gardener.
Since your plants must be watered in order to survive,
and lets face it, it doesn’t rain whenever we want it to, gardening equipment
for watering is a must have. The one
thing you can’t get along without is a water hose, everything after that is
optional. Many gardeners use sprinklers
or s drip irrigation hose. There are
even timers you can purchase for sprinklers or drip hoses, if you are willing
to drop the extra cash.
Gardening without gardening equipment would be a
nightmare. Sure there are some people
who enjoy getting a little dirty while they plant their flowers, but even those
types of people have the most basic of gardening tools, like a rake or a
hoe. Gardening equipment is a part of
gardening, as important as the dirt and the seeds.
