Tools Used For Gardening

Gardening can be a pleasant, therapeutic hobby.

It can also be beneficial to grow your own food or create beautiful landscapes with flowers and plants.

Gardening is wonderful and soothing; there is no denying it. There is also no denying that it can be time-consuming, hard work.

Luckily, there are several varieties of gardening tool that have been specially developed to make this hobby, a little easier and more enjoyable.

Raised Garden Kits are a great gardening tool to consider if you are interested in starting your first garden or if you do not have a lot of yard space to work with.

Traditionally, the soil for raised gardens is formed in a three to four-foot wide area. The length and shape of the garden will depend on your preference and your allotted space.

The raised garden kits can also be made of various types of material. Most kits are made from a type of wood such as cedar or pine.

However, other kits can come in rock or concrete blocks.

Raised garden kits are fantastic solutions to various gardening problems including reducing weed production, extending your planting season, or having quality soil.

Raised garden kits are traditionally square or rectangular in shape. However, these kits give you the chance to get creative!

There are even raised garden kits that are circular or pie shaped. These raised gardens are commonly referred to as keyhole raised gardens because of the path through to the center.

This route is created by a “slice” of the garden being “cut out”. This will appear similar to removing a piece of pie.

This path allows the gardener to properly plants, water as well as harvest their circular garden.

This tool helps make your gardening experience more enjoyable and enhances your passion for the hobby simply by keeping your plants healthy and easy to access.

Raised garden kits are highly recommended for those with little gardening space and the elderly.

According to Rotary Tools Guy roto-tillers are one of the best tools to have around if you are interested in becoming a serious gardener or farmer.

This tool is perfect for cultivating the new soil for planting vegetable or flowers. Most gardeners that use a roto-tiller do so because they need to develop a large piece of land.

Cultivating large areas of land manually is generally not in the best interest of the gardener.

Therefore, the roto-tiller should be the tool of choice. Roto-Tillers are motorized machines that pulverize the hardened soil or tills the new soil in preparation for planting.

The end result is similar to that of the manual broadfork. However, the roto-tiller is capable of deeper tills and a finer cultivation with minimal effort.

Roto-Tillers come in various sizes to tackle particular jobs. For example, an industrial sized tractor with a cultivator pulled behind it would be perfect for a farm but, it would be far too much for a private garden.

Whereas the private garden would be cultivated by a roto-tiller, rotavator, or mini tiller depending on the difficulty level of the job as well as the amount of space.

However, each machine gets the job done and is vastly beneficial to the farmer or serious gardener. While the roto-tiller can make a difficult task easier, it can also make the job more dangerous.

The following information is vital for you to keep in mind in regards to this gardening tool.

The Roto-Tiller is usually a smaller machine that propels forward while rotating the teeth on the hardened ground.

This tool can be very dangerous to the handler because they are generally heavy duty tools that can move forward quickly.

If the handler is not strong enough or is not comfortable enough to control the machine, then they should consider asking someone else to take over. Also, the roto-tiller is not a machine that can be pulled backward with the intention of further tiller the soil. Most of these machines should go forward to prevent the handler from losing control and potentially harming himself or others.

Shovels are a gardening essential!

The word “shovel” can be used to describe any tool that lifts, digs, and moves materials on a small or large scale.

Shovels can come in various sizes from industrial to hand tools. Each one serves a purpose for a particular task.

They are exactly what a gardener needs for tasks involving digging, moving soil and lifting things.

Anyone that works in construction, farming, gardening, or agriculture will need to use a shovel at some point.

Shovels can be made of various materials and used for different tasks.

For example, some shovels have a plastic blade and a fiberglass handle.

These shovels would be mainly used for snow removal. Other shovels may have a steel blade and a wood handle.

These shovels are commonly used for gardening, digging, maneuver removal and various other heavy duty dirty jobs.

Shovels are always a manual tool and are not motorized in any way.

Let’s take a sneak peek into the multiple different varieties of shovels to help you decide which shovel you need to complete the task at hand.

Coal Shovel: Coal Shovels have broad, flat blades that are made of steel. The handle is usually “D” shaped. True to its name, this shovel is typically used to move coal.

Snow Shovel: Snow Shovels have very wide blades that are usually made of a hard plastic with a steel blade on the end. Snow Shovels are deeply constructed to remove large portions of snow at a time. As the name suggests, this shovel is commonly used to remove snow.

Grain Shovel: Grain Shovels are shorter and lighter than the previous types. They have a blade made of aluminum or plastic with a wooden “D” shaped handle. The design of this shovel is perfect for moving grain without damaging it.

Gardening Trowel: This tool is very common for gardeners with small private gardens. The gardening trowel is a handheld, small, shovel that generally only requires one hand to operate. Most gardeners use the trowel to make holes in preparation for planting in their outdoor gardens or their planter pots.

Other types of shovels that you may need include the roofing shovel, the spade, the square shovel, the fireplace shovel, a trenching shovel, or an entrenching shovel.

Each of these shovels is equipped for a particular task.

However, most of them would not be appropriate for your gardening needs.

As mentioned above the gardening trowel is one of the main tools that a gardener requires.

Therefore, it is important that we dive a little further into what this tool is and what it can do!

A trowel is a small gardening shovel that has a narrow, pointed blade that is usually made out of metal.

Although, some have a hard plastic blade that is not as effective.

 These small hand-held shovels are used to dig smaller holes, break up a small area of dirt, add fertilizer, plant new plants, remove weeds, and for transferring plants.

There are a few different varieties of the gardening trowel that may perform a particular task better than another.

We are already aware of the gardening trowel and how beneficial it is to the gardening community.

However, there is another type of trowel that is useful to an entirely different group of people.

It is called the cathole trowel.

This scoop is very similar to the gardening tool except that it is usually more pointed and may have a ruled edge to assist its handler with measurements.

The cathole trowel is very common amongst campers, hikers, backpackers, and various others that enjoy the great outdoors.

They use this tool to dig a hole in the ground, usually away from the campsite or hiking trail.

Once the hole is dug, they use the hole as a makeshift outdoor bathroom.

This would explain why some modern day designs of the cathole trowel have toilet paper inside the handle.

The handler would then bury their deposit to the earth with the cathole trowel and continue on their way.

Another type of trowel is called a masonry trowel. This tool is standard for bricklayers as the blade is flat and pointed.

Bricklayers or masons will use this tool to help them level, spread, or shape materials such as plaster, mortar, or cement.

Another essential gardening tool is the bow rake!

This tool is not as big as a lawn rake (usually, the rake used to remove fallen leaves in the Fall) nor is it as small as a gardening hoe.

In fact, many handlers believe it is the best of both worlds!

The bow rake is mainly used to complete gardening tasks such as moving dirt around, sifting through soil for rocks and other unwanted items, as well as leveling the ground in preparation for planting.

You can easily spot a bow rake by its appearance.

The head of the rake is not as broad, and it is usually very straight. The head is also where you will find multiple tines that are used to help collect materials from the ground or move them around.

The head of the rake is traditionally made of metal or steel, and the handle is commonly made of wood.

This rake is designed for digging and moving rather than cleaning up a yard.

Therefore, it is not recommended for gathering fallen leaves or grass clippings.

The bow rake is the tool to turn to once you have tilled new soil either with the roto-tiller or with a broadfork.

Once the ground is broken up by the tiller, the bow rake can then be used (tine side down) to remove rocks, garbage, roots, or other items that may have been uprooted from the ground by the tiller.

The bow rake then saves the gardener from having to remove these items by hand, thus making the task much easier.

Once the soil is loosened and the unwanted rocks and other items are removed, then the gardener can use the bow rake to level the soil and prepare it for planting.

This part is usually done with the flat end of the head rather than the tines. Finally, on

Gardening gloves care an essential gardening tool because of they keep your hands safe from prickly plants and they also help make your gardening experience more enjoyable.

Different gloves are designed for particular tasks.

For example, if you enjoy gardening in cooler months then you may need leather gardening gloves that have a fleece lining.

These gloves help keep your hands safe and warm.

Gardening gloves come in handy when you need to handle plants with thorns and sap as well as when you need to be around itchy grass.

Gloves can also help protect your hands from painful blisters, splinters, and sunburn.

Many old-fashioned gardeners may choose to interact with soil with their bare hands, and while this may be a fun part of gardening, the soil tends to remove the moisture from the skin, leaving your hands dry and cracked.

Therefore, wearing gardening gloves can help protect your hands from becoming dry and cracked as well as keep them moderately clean.

Your hands are also protected from dangerous gardening tools when you wear gloves.

Some gardening shovels and other instruments can have sharp edges or pointy tines.

These gardening gloves are designed to protect your hands from cuts, scrapes, and other injuries that could cause infections.

As I previously mentioned, there are multiple types of gardening gloves.

Gloves made of thick cotton are traditionally used as an all-purpose work tool. These gloves commonly have rubber spots on the palm and finger areas to assist with grip.

Rubber gloves are generally used for dirtier jobs such as working in the mud because they can be easily cleaned.

In addition to these types and the fleece lined leather gloves there are:

• Latex gloves
• Fingerless gloves
• Neoprene gloves
• Nylon gloves

Each of these gardening glove materials can be viable options depending on the task at hand (pun intended).

A wheelbarrow is a splendid time-saving gardening tool to consider if you are planning a fresh crop, transferring plants, or removing a large quantity of dirt or other materials from an area.

It is described as a single-wheeled vehicle that operates by hand.

The handler of the wheelbarrow uses the two handles to push it from place to place. T

he single wheel is located in the front of the tool, and the rear is usually balanced with metal or wooden legs.

This design helps to counterbalance the weight of materials inside the tub of the wheelbarrow with the movement provided by the handler to transport the materials to another location.

An example of the purpose behind the wheelbarrow is as follows:

If a farmer or stable boy need to clean up after the animals in the stable, they would require the help of various tools.

They would likely need a shovel with a metal blade and wooden handle, and they would need a wheelbarrow.

The farmer or stable boy would then scoop the animal droppings from the floor of the barn with the shovel and launch it into the tub of the wheelbarrow.

When the task is completed or, when the wheelbarrow is full, the farmer or stable boy would then push the wheelbarrow full of waste to another location and dump it out.

The history behind the wheelbarrow dates back hundreds of years. In fact, the wheelbarrow that is commonly used in China has been designed with the wheel located in the middle of the tub and therefore is responsible for supporting the entire load.

Wheelbarrows are thought to have been popular tools for those moving large boulders, and other large items from one place to another.

This device is time-saving for the gardeners and other operators simply because the wheelbarrow can relocate and carry more materials (varying in weight) in fewer trips than the single person can on their own.

Also, the shape of the blade is traditionally concaved and designed for digging or prying.

A garden hose is essential to have as part of your gardening toolkit.

Once your soil is tilled, raked, dug and the seeds are planted; they will require water and sunlight to help them grow!

A garden hose is generally made of rubber or a type of soft plastic.

Both of these materials allow for the garden hose to be flexible, smooth as well as tough.

Gardening hoses are typically attached to a faucet, spigot, or tap.

There are various types of attachments on the market for garden hoses if yours does not include one.

It is no mystery what a garden hose is used for. They are essential for transporting clean water from a water source (spigot, tap, etc.) to a flower bed vegetable garden, or other landscaped areas.

They are also beneficial during a car wash.

Pruning shears can be very helpful to gardeners of any experience level.

Beginners to experts can find that using pruning shears is a safe and effective way to cut plants, vegetables and other greenery in your gardens or landscapes.

Pruning shears are sometimes referred to as hand pruners depending on where you live.

They are very similar to scissors in that they are designed to cut through materials and objects.

Most pruning shears have two sharp blades and two handles commonly covered with rubber to add comfort during use.

Pruning shears are capable of cutting through the shrubbery, roots, and various other small, sturdy materials.

However, they are not equipped to cut through tree branches or anything with a thickness greater than 2 centimeters.

For landscaping projects, you may want to consider using Loppers which are large pruning shears capable of cutting tree branches.

There are three varieties of blade designs for pruning shears.

They include a bypass, anvil, and parrot-beak. Each blade design serves a specific purpose to a particular task at hand.

Bypass pruning shears are very similar to scissors in the way that they cut.

They bypass each other.

One, if not both, of the blades of the bypass shears, is usually curved to some degree. The anvil pruning shears will only have a single blade. This single blade then closes onto a type of flat surface.

Parrot-beak pruning shears are unique in that the blades are both concave shaped and pass each other.

This system then traps the plant roots or stems between the blades in order to cut them.

Pruning shear handles come in varying lengths in order for the gardener to reach a particular area without damaging the plants or putting themselves in harms way.

A leaf blower can be your best friend during the Fall months.

Leaf Blowers are landscaping and gardening devices that are designed to blow debris and leaves from an unwanted located (such as your yard) into a more suitable location (such as your neighbor's yard LOL).

The way this landscaping or gardening tool works is that it propels or forces air through its nozzle (located on the front of the instrument).

The forced air then moves the debris forward and to another location.

Some leaf blowers rely on electricity and others require gasoline.

 Either option will complete this task with minimal effort from the gardener.

Unlike the strenuous and time-consuming leaf rake, which must be done manually.

A garden scoot is not necessarily an essential gardening tool.

However, if you enjoy this hobby, have physical health problems, or if you are elderly, then you may want to consider adding the garden scoot to your collection.

The garden scoot is a seat, handle, and wheels to help you scoot around your garden or yard without hurting yourself by getting up and kneeling down.

They have four wheels to provide full support as well as a handle to add to your protection.

Most garden scoots have an attached basket or container for you to collect vegetables or flowers in.

This gardening tool can significantly enhance your gardening experience by reducing the stress on your back, knees, and legs.

By reducing your pain, it will reduce your overall stress, thus helping you to enjoy your outdoor hobby that much more!

13. Fork:

Gardening should be a rewarding and stress-relieving hobby.

These gardening tools and various others can contribute to making that happen! We want to help you make the right decision when it comes to purchasing gardening tools.