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Gardening toolsA comprehensive list of gardening tools that will help you to carry out any landscaping and gardening projects follows. Some of these tools will be essential to carry out any hard landscaping whilst others will be better suited to the 'greener' side depending on what you're prepared to take on. Everything listed is to guide you through the the array of construction tools and gardening tools and give you an idea of their uses and applications. As you look through the pages on the site you'll see that I've listed the appropriate tools at the end of every piece of information. This is a guide for you to venture further into both sides of gardening; hard landscaping which is constructing the layout and soft landscaping which is caring for, nurturing and maintaining your garden. Both play an important role and it's better to be well equipped for whichever suits you best. Everything is alphabetically listed for easy searching. Axe - A handy tool for removing old dead wood and used with a bow saw to heavily prune. Bolster - A wide type of chisel used extensively in construction together with a club hammer. Great for splitting bricks and blocks 'efficiently'. Bowsaw - Heavy duty saw with a bowed back allowing you to cut large logs and branches. This takes over where a hand saw just couldn't cope due to its larger and more ferocious teeth. Bricklayers trowel - One of those essential tools for all brickwork, paving and hard landscaping. literally impossible to construct anything without it. Bricklayers line, blocks and pins - A bricklayers line is held taught to lay consecutive courses of brick, paving and checking true lines over open spaces, this is a must in your tool kit. Brick hammer - The buiders mate, ideal for numerous tasks when carrying out all building work, hacking at old mortar and breaking bricks fast and efficiently. Bucket - Why is a bucket here? Because, of all the gardening tools that you should possess, you NEED to keep at least one in your shed, probably more. Chalk line - Similar to a bricklayers line, however this one is encased in a pull out reel with coloured chalk, stretched over open spaces and 'pinged' to produce long, true straight lines. Ideal for setting out. Chisel - Great for loosening old mortar in those hard to reach spaces and breaking out concrete, best used with a club hammer. Circular saw - This should be in with the power tools but if you can handle one of these, decking becomes a breeze and cutting most wood is at least 5 times faster. Claw hammer - If your working on any type of 'structure' you'll be using this tool as much as any other. Used on all timber construction and is extremely versatile. Club hammer - Used together with a bolster, chisel, knocking in pegs or just for the heavier jobs that need a bit more clout. Crowbar or wrecking bar - Great tool for wrenching things apart when pure muscle won't budge it. Has a hook and nail claw on one end and a long prising type chisel on the other. Disc cutter - A tool for hard landscaping coming in 4", 7" & 9", great for cutting paving, bricks and tiles. Drill - At some time you're going to need a drill and instead of borrowing one...go out and buy one. Drill driver - Not an essential but makes life a lot easier when fixing anything around the garden, has the capacity to drill holes where needed and then drive in screws at a much faster rate than by hand. Fork - 'The garden fork' for loosening and turning soil, nothing else works like this, it's in EVERY garden shed. Grout float - If you have any tiling in your garden setting, you'll need a grout float to easily spread the grout mixture into the joints, its fast and very efficient Hand fork - A smaller version of the garden fork for finishing work in small areas where you don't neeed to disturb much soil. Hand saw - It used to be a tool that needed constant sharpening but now saws are used until they won't work any longer, simply replace when it's no longer cutting efficiently. You'll need this for every job that requires the cutting of wood. Hand trowel - Used in conjunction with a hand fork to work in the 'smaller areas' of the garden, planters and window boxes. Hoe - Different types of hoes are available for chopping into soil, particularly between plants, as it's one of those 'easy to reach anywhere tools' on a long handle. Hose and reel - You'll find it difficult to build your dream garden and maintain it easily without investing in a good quality hose, preferably on a reel for easy use. If you don't already have an outside tap then invest in one, you'll never go back to filling buckets from the sink. Jigsaw - A multi functional electrical tool ideal for cutting decking and as an alternative to using a hand saw. Interchangeable blades mean that there's a blade for every type of work. This is a particularly good tool if you're not able to continually use a hand saw for any length of time as this is effortless cutting at its best. Long handled shears - Ideal for trimming grass edging without bending and cutting back light foliage which is out of reach with hand shears. Rakes - There are general purpose rakes, grass and leaf rakes or a heavier duty builders rake depending on the work that needs to be done. I'd stick with a general purpose rake if you're not sure. Jointing iron - Forms a semi-circular firm joint on mortar between bricks, blocks and paving. Used when the mortar is just setting to give a resilient, weatherproof joint. Joint raker - Similar to a jointing iron except that it slightly scratches out the mortar on brickwork to recess it by 5-10mm, giving a 'defined' joint. Comes on a little wheeled gadget for easy use. Level - Setting out for lanscaping is going to require a level at some point. There are numerous lengths of level and generally the longer you use the easier the levelling becomes. Loppers - A heavy duty pruner on long handles, ideal for cuting through big stems and small branches with ease. Also comes on extended handles to cut those out of reach branches. Mattock - This is related to the pick and has a large chiselling head for digging out 'chunks' of soil or easily chopping through roots when moving old tree stumps. Paviors maul - This a 'giant' rubber mallett and not one you'd use that often. Normally a contractors tool due to its size and efficiency. Looks like a huge rubber hammer. Pick - The pick is great for digging out foundations or larger holes where a spade can't cut. Not one of your average gardening tools nevertheless, a must if you want to 'dig deep and fast'. Plasterers float - The obvious uses are; rendering, spreading mortar, spreading sand for block paving, floating out concrete and that's just the obvious. Plasterers hawk - Used with the plasterers float for holding mortar 'ready to spread' on walls. Post hole diggers - These come in a few different types but basically all do the same job, without the need to use a shovel. The holes that are dug are small in diameter but can be taken quite deep to accomodate posting for fencing, panels etc. Pruning saw - One of those handy gardening tools that you'll use time and again for light and heavy pruning, removing old roots etc. Secateurs - One of the most popular gardening tools for keeping plants , bushes, fruit trees and fast growers in good shape. All of these are pocket sized and various shapes are available. Shears - Used in numerous places for trimming, cutting back and keeping the garden in good shape. Invest in a good pair of shears and they'll last you years. Shovels - Don't confuse a shovel with a garden spade because they both do very different jobs. Shovels are used for the 'building' of your garden and are best suited for moving soil, mixing mortar and moving gravel. Silicone gun - Not one of the every day gardening tools but are used for fixing plaques, repairing breakages, making good to shed felt in fact its a handy tool to hang up in the shed for those little jobs that can be done at any time. Spade - If you haven't got one I can only assume you're not into planting or the more physical side of gardening. Most gardeners will take great pride in their favourite shovel and rightly so. I live near allotments and I occasionally see the odd gardener or two walking past with their trusty shovels in hand. "Maybe it's just a cover to go down the pub"! Square - A great tool for setting out if you're not able to work out the complexities of geometry. Tape measure - Even if you only keep a trusty, rusty version in the shed, make sure you've got one handy as it makes life a lot easier than using big steps or small steps for setting out! Tiling trowel - These come in various sizes for tiling but generally a 6mm or 10mm notch will be used for tiling outside. Not a job for the feint hearted but tiling can produce some amazing results in the garden. Wheel barrow - Unless you're prepared to do a fair bit of moving and carrying get yourself a good wheelbarrow. Whisk - When tiling, the adhesive is best mixed with a whisk attached to a drill for smoother mixes. This is about the only time you'll use it but are fairly cheap to buy. MORE GARDENING TOOLS TO FOLLOW
Mike Lyons.....Any questions! Please contact me. I'd welcome your comments, tips and suggestions, for more information click here (BOOKMARK HOMEPAGE FOR QUICK REFERENCE)
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