Before starting your home garden activities, it is imperative that you provide yourself with the necessary tools and equipment at your nursery. These tools and equipment should be available at all times to make your gardening easy and convenient.
You can work peacefully and efficiently if you have complete tools and equipment in your nursery. You won’t worry about where to borrow because you have a full set of them always on hand when eventualities arise.
You don’t need a huge amount to start collecting your tools and equipment. You can visit some farm stores for garden tools and buy inexpensive ones at bargain prices, especially during garage sales. As a gardener, you must follow this motto “Use the right tool for the right job” to make your garden work successful.
Some basic tools and equipment
• Shovels – A round-nosed shovel should be preferred for digging, especially for planting smaller trees and shrubs.
• Garden Hoes – A garden hoe is useful for weeding and cultivating the soil surface to allow nutrients and water to penetrate deeper into plant roots.
• Bow Rake: Provide a good sturdy bow rake, which has short teeth on one side attached to a metal frame or ‘bow’. This tool is vital for leveling the soil to prepare it for planting, or removing large clods of soil or rocks from the ground.
• Flattening Forks – The flattening fork is needed to open up and improve soil. It looks like a pitchfork but has a shorter handle and wider teeth. It is used to dig into hard ground and break up the ground.
• Dull Bolo: This tool is common in the Philippines, its uses are similar to those of a garden used for weeding and cultivation.
• Sharp bolus: a sharp bolus is used to cut some grasses and small branches or, in general, for cleaning operations before soil cultivation.
• Garden Shears – Select a pair of garden shears that fit comfortably in your hand. Scissors, sometimes called pruners, are used to prune, shape, and remove foliage or branches.
• Garden hose – The hose is necessary to water your garden. Depending on how much there is to water, a sprinkler is also a good addition to the list of garden watering equipment.
• Watering Can – This is essential for watering your plants. The long nozzles allow the water to come out in a very smooth flow and are useful for reaching long distances. Select a shower head that has a removable showerhead; this type of watering can is perfect for watering young seedlings.
• Manual Sprayer – The manual sprayer is useful for spraying some minor insect pests that are easily controlled for minor insect attacks in the garden.
• Shovel – Similar to a shovel, but has a square end that is used for digging and making straight plots and beds.
• Carts and wheelbarrows: they are necessary to move some tools and garden equipment used in your garden work. Some other uses for carts and wheelbarrows are to collect and remove mature vegetables from your garden and transport dirt and grass clippings out of the garden. • Garden Pruner – When you want to shape and cut longer plants, you will use the garden pruner tool. Clippers come in two styles. One is the bypass style and the other is the anvil. Choose a couple of varieties to see which style is best for you. Mowers that have interchangeable blades and parts that can be sharpened will help extend the life of this garden equipment.
• Garden Trowel – A garden trowel is also used for weeding and cultivating. Select the one with a steel blade so that it will last longer in use. There are different types of handles to choose from. You can select the one that has rubberized handles that make them easier to grip while using them and there are some that are designed to relieve stress from your wrist during use.
There is still some equipment to buy for your landscaping operations, but these mentioned tools and equipment are the basics you should buy. If you already have your largest capital, Roto-tiller or Tractor is also important in your garden. Until you are satisfied with the basic gardening tools and equipment identified, you are ready to start your gardening operations. Happy gardening!