Tips

GARDEN TOOLS -
"He that works without tools is twice tired"

...You don't have to wait until your birthday to stock up on essentials for this year's growing season! Garden tools help to make our gardening life easier and safer. Most gardeners don't mind getting their hands dirty when working with coarse material or wet soil. However, they also should know that a good pair of gloves can make all the difference, not just keeping soil from drying the skin, but to provide protection from sharp and unseen objects that can tear up your hands.

     A good waterproof glove that fits well is a must.   My favorite is called "The Ultimate Gardening Glove. They fit well (come in 3 sizes) and have a long cuff. My favorite leather glove for working with roses is the "Womenswork" brand, the style that is longer to protect the forearm, and is made to fit the woman's hand. Sorry guys, but most gloves seem to be sized to fit men, and we gals have a hard time finding gloves that fit our smaller palm.

     A good quality sun hat is an essential, one with a wide brim and a drawstring cord. The wide brim offers good protection from the sun.   Spring winds always blew my old hat away while I was busy planting tomatoes. The new Panama hat I have now came from Garden Escape, and I really like it.

     A good cordless phone is great to take outside (good meaning 900 Mhz) and I keep mine on a belt-type holder... ...don't we all know that the phone always rings when we are knee-deep in mud?

     A canvas apron.   I use one that has pockets for my tools and cordless phone. It protects my clothes when I attend Master Gardener or Garden Club activities, or when I visit a friend's garden to help do something there.   I wear this apron at a time when I don't want to wear my grubbiest clothes to go away from home.

   Clogs come in handy for slipping on and off when going in and out of doors. They are very comfortable, and I just hose them off to clean.

     A five-gallon bucket with canvas pockets comes in handy to tote your tools around the flower bed. As you work, you can toss weeds in there too...
   Of course, a sturdy spade is important, and it is a good idea to wrap the handle in brightly-colored tape, so it shows up against the grass.   The chances will then be less that it might get thrown out by mistake, or left outside to rust.

     Very good quality bypass pruners are wonderful for clipping back woody stems.   You get a very clean cut, which will minimize injury to plant tissue.   I recommend Felco #2. They are a bit of an investment, so if you wouldn't get them for yourself, ask for them at Christmas!   The anvil-type pruners are not recommended for cutting live plant material...they tend to mash plant stems against the flat edge. Again, be sure your handles are colored orange or red.

     One of my favorite tools is a forked hand rake. Ok, so I don't know what it REALLY is called, but it is just a little bigger than a spade and is great for fluffing up mulch, and turning up young weeds.

The purpose is to find what tools works best for you, and customize your collection according to the kind of gardening you do. With the extremes of climate in Missouri, and that dense clay soil we have to work with, working in the yard should be as safe and easy as we can make it.