Garden Tools and equipment

Just getting started and wondering which of the enormous array of garden tools you see at the local garden centre are most important? Just keep your wallet in your pocket for the moment and take a look at what jobs you will be doing because this determines what heavy tools you need.

As in the kitchen, good tools can make a substantial difference to the results but more importantly they make a large difference to the pleasure in actually doing the work, and the time a task takes. The right tool for the right job is what is needed.

Everyday tools include garden fork and spade, hand fork and trowel. These are more or less indispensable! You might also think gardening gloves are important, although I (and many gardeners) prefer to get all dirty!

Other tools that you might need include:

For the lawn - lawnmower; scarifier (drags the old moss and dead grass out of the lawn); lawn rake; aerator (makes holes in the lawn to improve water penetration and oxygen supply - a few hours stabbing the lawn with a garden fork should achieve the same). You could use a small strimmer or a pair of long handled shears to keep the edges looking beautiful, and getting close to trees and other obstacles.

For the shrubs and trees - hand-held secateurs and long handled pruning shears. If you are planning on performing significant work on large trees a chainsaw might be useful. We also find a chainsaw indispensable for rapid pruning of pampas grass, although a strimmer would do just as well!

Wheelbarrow! For carrying all the debris off to your shiny new compost heap.

Garden shredder. These come in domestic and professional types, the latter will shred larger branches. Thick stemmed branches will compost much better if they are shredded first.

Hedge trimmers - get an electric one if you have a significant amount of hedging, since clipping a hedge manually is not the most exciting job in the world.

Rotavators are useful if you need to turn over a significant part of land. They are a popular way of turning over a vegetable garden at the end of each season. Unfortunately they are not an alternative to digging in all situations - if you use a garden rotavator on weedy ground it will chop the weed roots into hundreds of parts, each of which will then flourish. Not a pretty site, I can confirm.

Last, and the equipment that you will use the most? Surely the watering can. A glass of white wine in one hand and a watering can in the other and your summer evenings are sorted for ever. Or a complete irrigation system if you prefer, and have the budget.