You need to have the right tools for the job you are trying to accomplish. It sounds like a simple concept, yet day after day we get customers that are making their lives harder by not having the right tools for certain jobs. I’ll give you an example. Recently a customer came in looking to buy a pair of heavy duty scissors for pruning her rose bushes as the pair she had been using broke. When I showed her the selection of pruning shears and snips that we have she got one of them for pruning and a pair of scissors for her drawer in the kitchen. Which brings up an odd point, why do we call it a pair of scissors or pair of pants? It’s only one, not like a pair of socks or pair of mittens. Just a random thought, now back to the right tool for the job. Plumbers and electricians all have specialized tools for their trade and gardeners do too. Have you ever used a hula hoe? 

Probably not, yet it is one of the easiest ways to cut weeds out of established flowerbeds and you don’t have to get down on your hands and knees. It has a blade that you pull just under the soil surface so that it cuts the weeds off at the roots to kill them. Then there is a pick/mattock, used for cutting roots and prying rocks when you are trying to dig a hole to plant a large shrub or tree. One side of the tool has a pick while the other side has a heavy mattock which is similar to an axe for cutting heavy roots. Using this product will make digging in our ground around here a lot easier. Next, let’s say you have a damaged tree limb that is eight to twelve feet off the ground that needs to come down. You could get up on a wobbly step ladder with a bow saw to try and cut it down or just stand on your own two feet on solid ground and use an expandable pole saw. With fiberglass poles, these saws are light weight and easy to use and much safer than standing on a step ladder in the lawn with the legs sinking into the ground. When it comes to shovels, there are long handle or d-handle shovels, round or square point, regular or trenching. 

All have specific purposes to make tasks easier. For rakes, we have leaf rakes, rock rakes, bow rakes and landscape (ball-field) rakes. And then there is the vast selection of hand tools for planting, weeding and pruning. I have found that a hand-held weeder also makes a good pry bar for getting rocks out of holes that I am digging to plant perennials and small shrubs. My soil is so full of rocks, I can’t get a shovel into the ground in most areas around my yard, so it is down on my hands and knees digging with a trowel and pry bar. Other things to consider are the clothes that you will use doing certain projects outside. Carport carpenter pants have extra pockets for tools and such, but those pockets are also good for pruners, plant ties and gardening essentials. Thick leather gloves will protect your hands from thorns while pruning roses, barberry and other thorny shrubs. I advocate that you should mulch your leaves and leave them on the lawn for fertilizer, but if you do collect and remove your leaves we have trash can funnels and paper compost bags for making leaf removal easy. We even have those leaf scoops that look like two big bear claws, so that you can pick up a lot of leaves at one time. Proper footwear for the garden is also important. Waterproof boots trump sneakers any time you’re going to do work outside, not just because they are waterproof. What if you drop a thorny branch or rock on your foot? Boots offer much more protection. 

Plus boots have the added advantage that you can use them while shoveling the driveway and sidewalk in a month or so. If you are prepared properly for your project, you will find your success rate greatly improved and in-turn you will end up doing more projects. Since moving in May, I have planted more plants in the last five months than I did in the last five years at our old house. To be fair, some of the plants had to be replanted after the deer ate the first ones.