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Tools to tend your garden
With spring just around the corner, now's the perfect time to dig in
 Gardeners.com Garden cart from gardeners.com |
Kathy LaLiberte is the type of gardener who would rather pile up leaves in her hands than put them in a wheelbarrow to move them. But for heavy loads — 250 pounds of soil or a huge rock — a wheelbarrow works wonders. Some tools really do make life easier, says LaLiberte, director of brand services and a founding member of gardeners.com, a one-stop garden shop started by a handful of Vermont gardeners in 1983 that now stocks more than 2,000 products online.
Which tool is essential depends on personal style and the type of garden, says LaLiberte. A starting point might be, she says: Do you like to work “up close and personal” or tackle the big jobs? A starter kit of handheld tools works fine for the gardeners who likes to “get down and dirty” or hover close to the ground on a small plot of land. Long-handled devices are better suited to gardeners who prefer to work standing up, and have larger mounds of dirt to move around.
Either way, buy the best you can afford, recommends Karan Davis Cutler in “Essential Tools,” a handbook of essays authored by different garden aficionados, compiled by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). “By the ‘best,’ I don’t mean a $180 English spade manufactured by a company with an appointment to Her Majesty the Queen. But do purchase well-made tools and equipment that will be worth passing down to grandchildren years after you’ve sown your last seed, or your last wild oat, whichever comes first,” she suggests.
“Essential Tools” is probably the best investment you can make upfront if shopping for garden tools. Billed as a “no-nonsense” guide, it is in fact filled with useful information for the beginner gardener as well as the landscaper interested in installing a waterfall in their backyard. The 111-page handbook is available online at the BBG gift shop for $8.96.
A few simple rules for gardeners
Cutler recommends some simple rules to keep in mind while shopping for the right tool:
Look for hardwood, knot-free handles, where the grain runs the length of the handle. Avoid soft wood, commonly used in less expensive tools, yet there’s no need to invest in tools made of steel or fiberglass, which are designed for professional gardeners. Avoid tools with metal parts that say “stamped steel.” But don’t be tempted by the pricey stainless steel tools. High-carbon steel is the metal of choice for most gardeners.
If asked, every gardener would probably put together a different top 10 tool list. LaLiberte, who works a 10-acre plot at her home, came up with this list: trowel, shovel, hoe, pruners, rake, watering can, hose, garden cart, rain barrel and composter. Some tools she sees as essentials or must-haves. Other devices she realizes are not vital — but not frivolous — yet really cool to have. So excuse the pun but let’s dig in.
1. The trowel, a scooped-shaped tool that looks like a small shovel, is as basic as you can get. The simple, handheld device serves many functions in the garden. Trowels can be used to stir up dirt, dig small holes, transplant clumps of Earth, lift out rocks or weeds and whatever else comes to mind. The multi-purpose tool is also relatively inexpensive. 
Smithandhawken.com offers a handsome variety in the classic English style for only $15. Frederick, Md.-based mastergardening.com stocks an “ergonomically balanced trowel” with a special wrist support for $19.95. Trowels also come in trendy pastel colors, such as blue, teal or rose at garden-trowel.com for $23.95.
2. Shovels, which look like big trowels, are used to dig bigger holes and transporting bigger clumps of earth. Shovels usually have a dished head and longer handle than a spade, which has a squared-off, flatter head and is used to transplant, edge and cut through sod or roots.
“Typically, shovels are the tool of choice in the United States and spades fill that bill in England,” says LaLiberte.
Madison, Wis.-based gemplers.com, known for its commercial grade tools and equipment, may have the best selection of shovels online. A recent visit yielded 38 shovels, ranging in price from $24.95 for “tempered-steel” (remember: avoid these) to flat-blade irrigation shovel for $59.95, “designed for demanding use by water departments, contractors and farmers.”
3. Hoes, thin blades attached to a handle, are just not “intuitive” devices yet are quite versatile. Actually, “most gardeners spend more time with a hoe than any other tool,” writes Cutler in the BBG handbook. 
A hoe is a useful device to cut off weeds below the soil’s surface, explains LaLiberte. Hoes come in many shapes and forms, from a “miniature” hand-held hoe for $14.95 at gardentoolsofmaine.com to a long-handled circular hoe at Baltimore, Md.–based homeharvest.com for $29.95.
4. Fit is the primary concern when it comes to picking a pruner, an essential tool used to cut away “unwanted” plant material.
“Padded handles are not necessary but you want to buy a pair that feels right for your hands,” says LaLiberte.
Pruners also run the gamut, from hand-held to long-handled varieties called “loppers.” Felco #2 pruners are “the gold standard for all-purpose home gardening needs,” according to the retail staff at the New York Botanic Garden, which just expanded their brick-and-mortar garden shop in the Bronx. The best buy for Felco #2 pruners is the manufacturer’s Web site at felcostore.com. Here, the clippers cost $34.01, compared to garden shops where pruners run as high as $45-$50.
5. The garden rake, in contrast to a leaf rake, has a metal head that “should be heavy enough to ‘bite’ into the soil as you drag it toward you,” says LaLiberte. Rakes are used to push or pull material in the garden, such as smooth the soil, level beds, pull out stones or spread compost. Garden rakes cost anywhere from $15 to $50.
6. and 7. There’s nothing splashy about watering cans or hoses but they are necessary tools for the gardener. Personal preference really plays into picking out a watering can, which range from the sleek, stainless steel variety at dansgardenshop.com for $12.95 to a copper “kitchen can” at smithandhawken.com for $96.
8. Garden carts are not just fancy looking wheelbarrows, explains LaLiberte. Wheelbarrows have one wheel and easily navigate narrow garden paths but tend to wobble. Garden carts have two wheels and are a lot more stable. A garden cart or wheelbarrow is the most expensive “must-have” on the list. Gardeners.com has three models, priced from $149 to $325.
9. and 10. LaLiberte also recommends a rain barrel and a composter. Modeled after the classic English wooden barrel, rain barrels — or barrels used to collect rain water — are now usually made of rubber. In recent years, the rubber tubs have become trendy, especially in areas of the country that have experienced droughts, says LaLiberte. Gardeners.com has rain barrels, from $79.95 to $130. 
A luxury to some, a necessity to others, composters are used to collect and transform kitchen waste into garden fertilizer. Gardeners.com has an inexpensive plastic model for $16.95. Pricier composters sell for more than $100.
In the end, personal style still rules. “If you live in a condo, a rain barrel and a composter may not be at the top of your list,” says LaLiberte. But if you have the space, it just makes sense to recycle what you can back into the garden, she adds.
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