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Great Gardening Tools

By: Leilani Rolphe

Gardening is a favorite pastime of people around the world. Who doesn't love an opportunity to get dirty, and to touch the cool moist earth? The stillness and tranquility of nature provide many gardeners with a sense of peace. As you tend your garden, you will marvel in its growth and beauty. You will feel great pride as you watch your garden produce delicious and colorful results. Your hard work will be appreciated by all you share your garden with.

Every gardener has tools that he or she swears by. Some use modern gadgets and equipment to tend their gardens, while others swear by the simplicity of sticking to the old-fashioned basics. Gardening without tools is virtually impossible, at least in the initial preparation stages. The selection of gardening tools you'll choose should reflect your personal gardening style, as well as the size and extent of your garden. Your tools should also complement the amount of work you're able to handle, the time you spend gardening, and, of course, the amount of money you're willing to pay.

It's not necessary to spend a great deal on high-tech gizmos or expensive tillers, but every gardener should have some type of cultivating equipment. In spring, the earth must be dug up, turned, and irrigated. Most people incorporate organic fertilizer into the cool springtime earth as well, and the right tools can certainly make this task a lot easier. Depending on how serious you are about gardening, there is a huge variety of cultivating tools available.

Many gardeners prefer to use hand tools, so that they can really feel the soil and feel more a part of the garden. Hand tools are very useful. They include items such as rakes, spades, pitchforks, shovels, and trowels. You may find many of these already at home in your garage. You may also find yourself happy to have a wheel cultivator, a mattock, and a pickax.

Power tools are a little more expensive than hand tools, but they really cut down on the hard labor. The tiller is undoubtedly the most essential gardening tool, particularly for people with large plots of land or physical concerns, like back problems. Using a tiller is a fast and easy way to break up the ground and get it ready for planting. Tillers can also help to mix fertilizer and compost into the earth, and chop up any debris. Tillers are very expensive to purchase, so many garden centers and tool supply outlets will rent them for a daily fee. Or, you can ask a friendly neighbor to lend you theirs. Other popular power tools that help many modern gardeners to prepare for the season ahead are shredders, chippers, and chainsaws.

A nice addition to any garden is a small tree, some shrubs, or a neat hedge. To care for these plants, and to make them look their best, it is beneficial to have pruning tools. Pole pruners extend to about 15 feet. These make reaching higher branches a snap. On shrubs and hedges pruning sheers are usually sufficient. If the diameter of the branch you are trimming is more than a half inch, you may wish to use lopping sheers. These are useful up to about two inches in diameter. If these tools do not get the job done, you could consider stronger hedge shears and pruning saws.

Plants need water in order to survive, and Mother Nature doesn't always take care of this business. So, it's essential to have tools and equipment on hand to keep your garden nicely watered. If you have a larger garden and a grass lawn, you'll definitely need to have a garden hose with a good quality spray nozzle or sprinkler. If your garden is limited to containers such as pots and balcony planters, you may be able to get away with a simple watering can. Some gardeners use drip hoses for proper irrigation, and more advanced gardens have entire irrigation system set on timers to provide accurate watering.

Getting down and dirty with nature and creating a lush, healthy garden is a dream come true for many homeowners, but trying to create or tend that garden can be a nightmare without the proper tools. You don't have to invest a lot of money; purchasing the basics including a shovel, trowel, pitchfork, and leaf rake is often all you need. And be sure to pick up a good pair of gardening gloves, or you'll quickly have calluses on your hands along with that dirt under your nails.

Article Source: http://www.articlemonk.com

Leilani Rolphe contributes to several web sites, on garden centers and flower gardens themes.
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