Garden Tools
Oh, I know quite a few because I test them all but I only love a select few.
I've run my nursery using only a few garden tools and in the articles on these pages, I describe some of the better tools and what makes them so fine.
Pruning Shears
For example, there are several good small hand pruning shears (or "secateurs") on the market including both Felco and Fiskars pruners. For over 20 years in the nursery, I confess I used Felco.
But then I had a pair of Fiskars hand pruners given to me by a salesman and I tried them. (Heck, you have to try these things at least once) The only problem was I really liked them. So now I have 3 sets of Fiskars along with holsters. I like this tool. It is easy on the hands and cuts through small branches with a single bound.
Go with Fiskars is you want an inexpensive set and Felco is you're serious about pruning.
Transplanting and Hand Weeding
I also only use one simple hand tool for the vast majority of transplanting annuals or vegetables. Called a "ho-mi" (Korean for "little spear") it resembles the blade of a farm plow stuck onto a wooden handle. It is a pretty simple tool but extremely versatile; I use mine mostly for transplanting smaller pots and packs of annuals.
Generally, if you have to get down on your knees to do garden work, you should have a ho-mi in one hand.
Some North American companies call them e-z-hoes or other names. But I don't care what they call them - I just use them.
Shovels
Shovels, When it comes to other garden tools, I do use 3 kinds of shovels, 3 hoes, and 2 kinds of rakes but not everyone is going to need this range of gardening tools. I also have a few specialized tools for pruning larger branches of trees, shrubs and roses but these are only used several times a year. Most of those are described in the articles linked to this page.
Gloves
I do like to protect my hands a lot more now than when I was younger (and more foolish) so here's my take on good gardening gloves.
The picture below shows why I like good gloves. ;-)
If you want to ask a question about the garden tools, click here
