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Garden Tools

Choosing, Using and Caring for Gardening Tools

August 28 , 1999
I imagine that when man first started to dig into the soil, he used his bare hands. He quickly found out that it was much easier and less painful to use a stick to move the dirt. From that time on, man has always been looking for easier and better tools to cultivate and to garden with.
Today when you go into a hardware store to buy a shovel, you may be confronted with more than a dozen types of them. How do you know which one is right for the job? And.... what the heck is that weird looking tool used for???

Caring for your gardening tools

When you are purchasing new gardening tools, you will more than likely have a choice of low price/low quality or higher priced/high quality tools. Quality tools are designed to last many years, but they must be cared for and maintained. If you opt for bargain priced tools, maintaining them is less of a problem. When they wear out, you simply throw them away.
Maintaining your garden tools on a regular basis assures that they will be ready to go to work on your next garden chore. Following a few basic rules will add many years of life and use to all of the tools which make your gardening tasks easier.

Always remove all of the soil from your digging tools after each use.
Usually hosing is all it takes, but use a screwdriver to remove dried mud.
Never put your tools away wet. Allow them to dry completely before storing to prevent rusting and handle rot.
Once each garden season, rub linseed oil into your wooden handles to help preserve them.
After each use, wipe the metal parts of pruners, shears, and loppers with an oily rag.
Alternately, you can wipe your tools dry with a clean rag, and then spray lightly with a penetrating oil such as WD40 ®
Sharpen your cutting tools as well as the blades of shovels and spades during the gardening season. A hone or whetstone should be used for sharpening cutting tools. A file should be used to remove nicks and smooth the edge of your shovels and trowels.
Thoroughly clean any tools which have been used for chemical applications. Fertilizers and other chemicals will rapidly corrode any metal parts.
For extra rust prevention, fill a 5 gallon bucket with builders sand and pour a quart of new motor oil over it. Use this as a shovel cleaner/oiler each time you put your tools away. Push each tool into the oily sand several times. You can also use this bucket as a shovel stand.

Choose the right tool for the job

Round point shovel
The most versatile and widely used shovel. It is used to dig, scoop, or shovel dirt from one point to another.
Garden shovel
The same general design as a round point shovel, but it is smaller and lighter. It is used for lighter tasks, and less muscular persons.
Irrigation shovel
The same general design as a round point shovel, but it has a straighter shank. It is used for planting holes or ditches where a vertical side is desired.

Square point shovel
The nose of the square point shovel is flat, and even edged, and as the name says... square. It is used leveling areas for patios or walkways, or for squaring off the sides and bottoms of ditches. It is also used as a scoop for gravel, soil, or snow. This shovel is handy to clean up the remnants of a pile.

Transplanting spade
Transplanting spades have a long narrow head which makes it ideal for digging and moving perennials and shrubs with minimal disturbance to surrounding plants.

Scoop shovel
Scoop shovels are designed to be used to move light materials such as sawdust or dried manure. Because of the volume which most scoops will hold, it isn't advisable to use them for heavy wet materials, unless your goal is a backache.

D-handle shovels
D-handle shovels shorter and are designed for close up work and quick jobs. They are useful for moving piles of soil, sand or gravel, or for loading the wheelbarrow. Round head, square head, and scoop shovels as well as spading forks are available with D-handles

Barn fork
Barn forks have long, angled tines. Besides hay, they are also used for moving garden prunings, weeds, and other organic material.
Spading fork
Spading forks perform a multitude of garden tasks. Primarily, they are used for tilling the soil and breaking up heavy dirt clods. They are also invaluable in weeding large areas where there is no danger of injuring the roots of desirable plants. There are many sizes available, with long or short handles, different tine length, and number of tines. Find one which feels comfortable to use. The tines of less expensive brands may tend to bend, so it is worth investing in quality when you make your choice.

Garden hoe
The conventional design of the garden hoe is a long handle with a flat blade set at a right angle on the end. Garden hoes come in different widths from 2 1/2 inches to 8 inches wide. Hoes are used to weed and groom the soil around shallow rooted plants. They can also be used to chop off annual weeds (perennial weeds must be dug and removed) and plants at ground level, or the pointed corners can be used as a light duty pick.

Scuffle hoe
Scuffle hoes are used much as you would a shuffleboard mallet. They are pushed ahead of you to cut the tops of annual weeds (perennial weeds must be dug and removed) rather than chopping them as you would with a garden hoe.

Weeding hoe
A weeding hoe is nothing more than a two sided tool head. One edge being a narrow hoe, and the other side being a 2 or 3 tined weeder
Warren hoe
Warren hoes are used for cultivating between plants, and for creating furrows for planting rows. The "ears" on the back of the head are designed to pull the soil back onto newly planted seeds.

Cultivator
Cultivators may have from one to five pointed tines. They are used in a chopping and pulling motion to remove shallow rooted weeds, and to break up surface soil crust around plants.

Bow rake
The traditional 'steel' rake is actually called a bow rake. The head may be anywhere from 8 inches to 24 inches wide. The head is connected to the handle by a steel 'bow' at each end. These bows act as shock absorbers, giving this tool the strength to do serious raking of heavier materials.

Level head rake
The level headed rake is much the same as a bow rake, except that the back of the head is straight and even, and it connects to the handle in the center. This straightedge is used for leveling seedbeds. The corners may also be used for creating furrows.

Lawn rake
Lawn rakes come in a wide variety of sizes and designs. They may be constructed of bamboo, metal or plastic, and they may be fan shaped or rectangular. For a long time it was believed that a bamboo rake was a 'must' for a nice lawn, but I would recommend that you forget that old gardeners tale, and just go shopping for a rake that feels comfortable to use.

Pruning shear
As a gardener, your pruning shears will get a lot of usage. There are several designs available; blade and anvil, hook and blade, special rose pruners...... The important thing is to buy a pruner which fits your hand well, and is easy to operate. The new 'ratchet' type pruners do work well for larger branches, but they are somewhat slow and cumbersome to use for all of your pruning needs.
Hedge shear
Hedge shears are not for pruning, but for evenly shaping hedges and shrubs, and for shearing back ground covers and faded flower heads. Do not attempt to cut larger branches with a hedge shear.
Lopping shear
Most lopping shears are designed for cutting branches an inch in diameter or smaller, but larger heavy duty models are also available. The longer the handle length, the easier each cut will be.

Trowel
Your trowel will become a constant companion at different times of the year. These little shovels are invaluable during planting season, so find one which has the right 'feel' to it. You may wish to have a couple different trowels for different uses. (Drop shank trowel for general use, straight shank trowel for planting bulbs)
Cultivator
Hand cultivators are essential for your 'sit down' weeding. They allow you to dig down and remove tap roots of perennial weeds without excessively disturbing the roots of surrounding plants.
Weeder
A weeder could best be described as a wide screwdriver with a notch in the end. This long narrow design allows you to dig down the side of the tap root of dandelions and other tap root weeds. These are also useful for weeding between stepping stones or in tight areas.

Wheelbarrow
Wheelbarrows are quickly being replaced in home gardens, by the popular new two wheeled garden carts. The two wheeled carts are much easier for most people to use, because they are lighter, and more of the load weight is supported by wheels. They are considerably more stable than single wheeled barrows, but not nearly as maneuverable. For heavy duty work or large loads, a steel wheelbarrow is still the best option.

Pick and mattock
The pick/mattock is for serious digging through hard packed soil and clay. The pick (pointed end) or the mattock (wide blade) is used to chop down into the soil, and the cradle design of the head can then be used as a lever to break open the soil, allowing it to be shoveled more easily.

Pruning saw
Pruning saws have large cutting teeth than a normal saw, for the quick cuts through branches and limbs over an inch in diameter. Always 'undercut' the branch before making your final top cut, to avoid damage to the bark of the tree or shrub.

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