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Replies

• 

  Claire Brown April 16, 2010 at 8:52am

  as a lady gardener myself, my advice is - don't buy the blokes stuff, - you won't be able to use it for long enough, - buy a good quality ladies (border) fork and spade, and sharp edgers and loppers, plus felco secateurs, then for hand tools, I find I loose loads, so I use the B&Q range with yellow handles, they have a lovely sharp transplanting trowel. - sounds like you are doing similar to me so feel free to email me if you'd like more advice
• 

  Sarah Russell April 16, 2010 at 8:57am

  I have found the Wolf Garten range of tools invaluable - one long handle and then any number of attachments, which I keep in a bucket in the car! Saves space and they are well made and work brilliantly. I also found the Yeoman long handled leaf and grass collector fantastic - picks up all your piles of weeds without having to bend down all the time. I wouldnt be without my grafting spade - a pretty heavy spade but with a curved and long head which is fantastic at digging out big plants and shrubs. Felco secateurs, if you can afford them, but I also use Yeoman hand snippers for most of my light trimming, and a lot cheaper. Buy the pink ones, not for any girly reason, but I find the green ones so perfectly camouflaged, they disappear in a garden as soon as you put them down!
• 

  Claire Brown April 16, 2010 at 9:11am

  other thing I use lots of is tub trugs, for collecting weeds, moving plants around, carrying water......- the real ones are best because they bend and last for years unlike the imitations, - if you can't afford those, use the B&Q buckets for collecting up weeds
• 

  GORDON April 16, 2010 at 3:53pm

  When I read your post I thought "leaf blower" without doubt it is the single most necessary tool for clearing and tidying. Ace has already made the same advise, the only thing I would add is to perhaps consider the Honda 4 stroke blower. I operated all 4 stroke equipment for lawn mowing, strimming and blowing and find it far less trouble and cleaner than messing about with 2 stroke oil and petrol.
  
  The Stihl 2 stroke blowers are very good bits of kit though.
  
  Ps, don't bother with vacuum collectors, they are ok for collecting a few leaves from hard surfaces but wont last long when poking them into flower beds and sucking up stones and other hard debris. IMO.
• 

  Dan Frazer Gardening April 16, 2010 at 4:11pm

  Again, same as Gordon, LEAF BLOWER!!!! Get a backpack BR600. I got mine, barely used, on ebay for £250. It's superb, you can use it all day long if you need to and it clears areas with a tiny squeeze of the finger. Amazing.
  
  Cleared up the moss from a 550m2 scarification with it today in about an hour and a half. Blew the moss into lines then went along with a wheelie bin and rake and piled it all into the (3) bins plus a dumpy bag.
  
  Blower is so much better than a brush as it clears everything... mud, leafs, grass, stones, plus it's very thorough when clearing debris off stone chips etc. Having the power of the BR600 meanbs I don't have to use the throttle most of the time, it's powerful enough on idle speed to clear my jobs!
• 

  Benedict Green April 16, 2010 at 6:51pm

  A Pruning Stik (Fiskars) is a great tool for trees and large shrubs and often negates the need for steps or ladders on small jobs. Surprising what it can get through. That and a good pair of loppers is quicker and easier than a bow saw if you don't want to get the power tools out.
  A mattock and a wrecking bar is good for removing small trees and tough shrubs.
  Get the best spade and secateurs you can afford to start with though, as that's what you'll be using most.
  And keep your tools sharp with a pocket diamond sharpening thingy.
• PRO

  Geoffrey King April 16, 2010 at 8:08pm

  Hi Clare,
  
  The tools you need will depend on your approach to gardening and what type of service you're aiming to provide. It's all very well using petrol power tools all day, but they don't half make a racket.
  The tools we use almost everyday, (for the last 5 years), nylon brush with screw on steel handle, plastic lawn rake (excellent to use, where you might use a blower), steel hort snips, Darlac secateurs, Draper extending handle anvil loppers, stainless steel border spade & fork, kneeling mats, trug buckets (pink for her, green for me), plastic leaf grabbers ( £1.99 from Tesco/Sainsburys,etc), B&Q hand tools (stainless steel range). We use one of those folding plastic trolley boxes on wheels to contain all of our hand tools, string,etc Try looking at the www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk for gloves etc. and www.darlac.com/. I;ve never used Felco tools but my Darlac secateurs were about £10, I've used them to cut tens of thousands of stems. We also have a pair of Darlac edging shears with height adjustable handles, strimmers may be quicker but I've never been satisfied with the finish you get, depends on the garden.
  
  If you're going to do much dividing get 2 forks, same size, use them back to back to lever the root mass apart.
  
  Note Amazon is a good source of well priced tools.
  
  We do a lot of planting, we use alot of farm manure and bonemeal fertiliser, these sort of extras not only do marvels for the plants but also add to our profit margin.
  
  Our pruning shears are Corona Extendable Handle Hedge Shears HS 3930, excellent balance, lightweight
  www.coronaclipper.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cControllerFrontend.fCon...
  
  My partner, Fiona, loves them,we need 2 pairs really, to stop fighting over them, LOL
  
  Good gardening gloves are amust, we use Townand Country Premium gloves www.townandco.com/Product_page.asp?TheType=PREMIUMGLOVES&GLOVES=Y
  
  Remember to arrange a discount at your local garden centre, we normally get 10-20%, useful on compost/manure/bark chip unless you buy landscapers bulk quantities.
  
  I hope this gives you some pointers.
  
  Good luck
  
  Geoffrey King
  www.asking4gardening.co.uk
• 

  Geoff Norfolk April 16, 2010 at 8:30pm

  true ....... petrol tools can be a bit noisy but they can make the difference between taking an hour to maintain a garden or spending all day........... if customers see you get everything done well and quickly, you'll get maybe £20 for an hours work instead of a tenner!!
  
  Geoffrey King said:

  Hi Clare,
  
  The tools you need will depend on your approach to gardening and what type of service you're aiming to provide. It's all very well using petrol power tools all day, but they don't half make a racket.
  The tools we use almost everyday, (for the last 5 years), nylon brush with screw on steel handle, plastic lawn rake (excellent to use, where you might use a blower), steel hort snips, Darlac secateurs, Draper extending handle anvil loppers, stainless steel border spade & fork, kneeling mats, trug buckets (pink for her, green for me), plastic leaf grabbers ( £1.99 from Tesco/Sainsburys,etc), B&Q hand tools (stainless steel range). We use one of those folding plastic trolley boxes on wheels to contain all of our hand tools, string,etc Try looking at the www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk for gloves etc. and www.darlac.com/. I;ve never used Felco tools but my Darlac secateurs were about £10, I've used them to cut tens of thousands of stems. We also have a pair of Darlac edging shears with height adjustable handles, strimmers may be quicker but I've never been satisfied with the finish you get, depends on the garden.
  
  If you're going to do much dividing get 2 forks, same size, use them back to back to lever the root mass apart.
  
  Note Amazon is a good source of well priced tools.
  
  We do a lot of planting, we use alot of farm manure and bonemeal fertiliser, these sort of extras not only do marvels for the plants but also add to our profit margin.
  
  Our pruning shears are Corona Extendable Handle Hedge Shears HS 3930, excellent balance, lightweight
  www.coronaclipper.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cControllerFrontend.fCon...
  
  My partner, Fiona, loves them,we need 2 pairs really, to stop fighting over them, LOL
  
  Good gardening gloves are amust, we use Townand Country Premium gloves www.townandco.com/Product_page.asp?TheType=PREMIUMGLOVES&GLOVES=Y
  
  Remember to arrange a discount at your local garden centre, we normally get 10-20%, useful on compost/manure/bark chip unless you buy landscapers bulk quantities.
  
  I hope this gives you some pointers.
  
  Good luck
  
  Geoffrey King
  www.asking4gardening.co.uk
• PRO

  Geoffrey King April 16, 2010 at 8:52pm

  I don't mind using power tools myself, I often do, the noise is fine 'cos I'm already stone deaf in one ear, the side that often has the strimmer engine, etc blasting away. Still I can't wait to turn it off so I can hear myself think and listen to the birds chirping away.
  
  Geoff Norfolk said:

  true ....... petrol tools can be a bit noisy but they can make the difference between taking an hour to maintain a garden or spending all day........... if customers see you get everything done well and quickly, you'll get maybe £20 for an hours work instead of a tenner!!
  
  Geoffrey King said:

  Hi Clare,
  
  The tools you need will depend on your approach to gardening and what type of service you're aiming to provide. It's all very well using petrol power tools all day, but they don't half make a racket.
  The tools we use almost everyday, (for the last 5 years), nylon brush with screw on steel handle, plastic lawn rake (excellent to use, where you might use a blower), steel hort snips, Darlac secateurs, Draper extending handle anvil loppers, stainless steel border spade & fork, kneeling mats, trug buckets (pink for her, green for me), plastic leaf grabbers ( £1.99 from Tesco/Sainsburys,etc), B&Q hand tools (stainless steel range). We use one of those folding plastic trolley boxes on wheels to contain all of our hand tools, string,etc Try looking at the www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk for gloves etc. and www.darlac.com/. I;ve never used Felco tools but my Darlac secateurs were about £10, I've used them to cut tens of thousands of stems. We also have a pair of Darlac edging shears with height adjustable handles, strimmers may be quicker but I've never been satisfied with the finish you get, depends on the garden.
  
  If you're going to do much dividing get 2 forks, same size, use them back to back to lever the root mass apart.
  
  Note Amazon is a good source of well priced tools.
  
  We do a lot of planting, we use alot of farm manure and bonemeal fertiliser, these sort of extras not only do marvels for the plants but also add to our profit margin.
  
  Our pruning shears are Corona Extendable Handle Hedge Shears HS 3930, excellent balance, lightweight
  www.coronaclipper.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cControllerFrontend.fCon...
  
  My partner, Fiona, loves them,we need 2 pairs really, to stop fighting over them, LOL
  
  Good gardening gloves are amust, we use Townand Country Premium gloves www.townandco.com/Product_page.asp?TheType=PREMIUMGLOVES&GLOVES=Y
  
  Remember to arrange a discount at your local garden centre, we normally get 10-20%, useful on compost/manure/bark chip unless you buy landscapers bulk quantities.
  
  I hope this gives you some pointers.
  
  Good luck
  
  Geoffrey King
  www.asking4gardening.co.uk
• 

  Marc Cole April 16, 2010 at 10:12pm

  Hi Clare,
  I mainly use petrol kit basicsally because it does a good job & in a third of the time. However, I'm not that proud not to pop down to Aldi or the likes. I use the builders gloves from Aldi all the time, rubberised palm area and great for general gardening. In fact I have a pair of loppers from Aldi & I use all the time, strong and they keep their edge.
  Buy the best you can afford, but don't forget MP3 player the best bit if kit to make the day go quicker.