Essential Tools For Gardening

Gardening is not just an activity of planting seeds and watering plants but to create an ambient and pleasurable environment to add beauty to the ecosystem and relieve human stress. If someone wants to adopt gardening as a hobby, it is a rewarding endeavor.

Just like every living creature, gardens also require care and maintenance to be a good-looking outdoor space. Gardening is a hard task, but it gets easier with the use of right tools. From potting soil to fertilization, from watering to pruning and harvesting, there are dozens of tools available to perform all these tasks. Whether it's a vegetable patch or a colorful flower garden or even vertical gardening; quality of tools makes the difference in the process and its outcomes. (Chen, Feng, Wu, 2022)

Whether someone is an expert or just a beginner, gardening toolkit is essential. Let's explore the essential tools and their usage.

Gloves:

Garden tasks involve hands that should be covered with gloves. They not just protect hands from dirt but also from injury while dealing with thorny and prickly plants. Gloves are mandatory for those who have sensitive and allergic skin.

Hand trowels:

They are used in all types of gardening whether containers, pots, raised beds or landscape gardening. Trowels are made up of stainless steel, helps in digging & turning up the soil, putting & mixing soil in the pots etc.

Digging shovel and spades:

Both tools are relatively the same with different shapes (round shaped and square shaped blades) help in digging hard surfaces, making holes for plants, sifting, mixing & lifting soil and stirring compost piles.

Dibber:

A pistol shaped dropper ensures stable and balanced dropping of seeds in the soil. Many plant seeds require to be dropped at a depth of not more than 1 or half inch below the soil, which is possible with the help of dibber. It allows uniform growth of the plants and fruits.

Lawnmowers:

This machine is purely for the purpose of cutting grass from landscape gardens. Grass cutting is an essential activity to keep gardens look attractive. Grass cutting also eliminates pests hiding under the grass. Moving blades cut the grass efficiently as well as evenly from all sides.

Grass Trimmer and Strimmer:

It is a long stick blade cutter used to cut the grass as lawn mowers do, but one thing separates grass trimmer from lawn mowers that is the cutting of grass from the edges, sloppy or congested spaces where lawn mowers cannot reach.

Pruners:

It is an activity to cut off specific or extra parts of plants or dead leaves and stems. Pruning boosts healthier growth of plants, improves air circulation, brings them in size and shape, and increases production of fruits and flowers. It should be done regularly to keep gardens beautiful and dynamic. Pruning allows bushier growth of plants and flowers.

It is done through different tools including pruning shears or hand pruners, hedge shears, pruning saw, pole pruner and loppers. Each of them is used for different types of pruning ie pruning shears for precise pruning, pruning saw for removal of thick branches, pole pruners for inaccessible and high branches, and hedge shears for trimming of hedges and shrubs.

Garden Hose Nozzle:

Ensuring deep soil penetration while watering the plants is essential for healthier growth. It is a very useful watering tool for extensive yards and gardens. A lengthy flexible pipe / tube with an adjustable nozzle spray is beneficial to manage water inflow as well as to prevent water wasteage; water reaches underneath to the roots.

Watering wall:

A tool which is used to sprinkle water just like rain. It is another tool usually used for widespread gardens and yards where water is showered from low to high plants and trees. Watering wand is attached at the end of garden hoses (pipes / tubes).

Watering Can. It is very useful for small gardens and especially indoor gardening. Light weight cans made up of plastic or metal are easy to use for watering plants, they also prevent water droplets from falling on floor.

Wheelbarrow:

A trolly known as garden cart, is very helpful to move garden items from one place to another. It is mostly used to move soil, extra compost, mulch, garden dirt and piles of leaves from one point to another. It is available in a couple of styles such as two wheels with one handle or two handles with one wheel.

Compost bin:

It is an invaluable product for gardens to convert garden waste into nutrient rich compost which is required to enrich soil's fertility. It accepts dirt and waste from the gardens and home kitchen and allows them to remain clean.

Leaf Rake:

Plants and trees relieve leaves and dead stems regularly. They can be picked up with leaf rakes and thrown away or in the compost bin. Adjustable rakes are also available in the market that are easy to use in narrow spaces.

Soil pH tester:

Advanced technologies make gardening easy; Soil testers are used to check the soil health through its pH. They enable gardeners to make timely decisions regarding fertilization, treatment of plant diseases, and change soil as & when required.

Above mentioned tools are helpful in maintaining gardens, rather they have made gardening easy. However, user guide must be read by the gardeners before using any tool to avoid injuries. (Duijne & Kanis 2008)

Attention and care of these tools is also required to keep them functional; clean them after usage and keep them in a shady and safe place.

Vertical Gardening