The Garden Guru’s Top Three Gardening Tools

Any gardener will tell you that a good set of tools makes your gardening tasks that much easier. The right tools can turn a difficult job into a “piece of cake” and can save you time. But what gardening tools do you really need? A trip to the local garden center can present you with a dizzying array of choices, but don’t panic- you don’t need every tool on the market. Garden Guru, Mike Westphal, shares his top three essential gardening tools to help make your gardening tasks easier and whip your landscape and garden into shape.

Dramm Watering Wand

Caring for your garden takes a lot of work and effort, and one of the most important gardening tasks is watering plants. A quality watering wand is a great way to establishing a good watering routine with minimal effort. The Dramm Watering Wand efficiently saves water while watering from one plant to the next and is excellent for quickly and gently delivering water to beds, containers and landscape plants. Other features include:

• Easy to use.
• Provides a gentle, full flow for quick watering.
• Allows for complete and total water flow control.
• Eliminates the strain from squeezing trigger.
• Made with aluminum for a lightweight and durable feel.
• Shower head attached to a 30-inch long aluminum tube that will reach hanging baskets up high or containers down low.
• Gets water right down to the root of the plant.
• Can lay it down and leave on plant roots for a gentle, deep watering.

Expandable Rake by Terra Verde

No gardening toolbox would be complete without a trusty garden rake good for leveling, raking debris from soil, lifting grass, spreading mulch and raking leaves. Terra Verde’s Expandable rack is lightweight and extendable and designed to easily get between shrubs, planter boxes, air conditioner units, deck boards, and more. Other features include:

• Made of durable steel.
• Rack can be extended from 7 to 25 inches, and securely locks in any position.
• Compact for small space storage.
• Great for collecting leaves, tilling of soil, raking between shrubs, and clean-up after pruning.

Bypass Pruners

Pruners are a garden essential and are the perfect tool for performing light pruning tasks like removing small dead wood, limbing up small trees, deadheading, etc. A good pair of pruners can make your gardening work much easier and keep your plants happier. Choosing garden pruners that fit your hand, have, nice sharp blades and are manufactured of high-quality materials should be high on your checklist of selection criteria. Buying the cheapest pair on the shelf (or the most expensive for that matter) is usually not the best option. Other features include:

• The most common and popular type of hand pruners.
• Stainless steel, curved blades that uses a scissor-like action to pass next to, not on top of, the lower surface.
• Perfect for making smooth, clean cuts.
• Prevents crushing of soft plant tissue.
• Perfect for trimming small limbs and branches, limbing-up small trees, deadheading, and other light pruning tasks.

Bypass Pruners by Brand

The Terra Verde Bypass Pruner

• Features a heat-treated blade that will stay sharp through multiple uses and non-stick coating for clean, smooth cuts.
• Durable.
• Clean scissor-like action and a molded grip.
• Adjustable tension safety lock.

Burgon & Ball Pruners

• A little more expensive than Terra Verde pruners.
• Made of high carbon steel, so blades stay sharper longer.
• Comes with a replacement blade and spring, and a tool for adjusting spring tension.

Felco Pruners

• Top-of-the-line pruners with cutting power and precision.
• Features two blades – one very sharp (cutting blade). The other is not sharp (anvil blade or hook).
• Lifetime warranty.

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