Get Outside Episode 1 - Tools With Howard

Episode 1 - Tools With Howard

In our very first Get Outside with The Village episode, Lucy spoke to Howard to discuss the bare essentials you need to get working with your garden, how they differ depending on application, as well as some fantastic, handy tips and tricks! We've condensed this down to a simple guide for you to read, and if you want to watch the full episode, you can visit our facebook. Getting started with gardening can be a daunting task, so with our guidance we hope we can help answer those burning questions, and help make gardening an accessible hobby, and a far less daunting experience! We've taken the time to explain some of the tools you should be getting familiar with, and what the differences are between their different types! 
 

Essential Gardening Tools

Below is a summary of the tools Howard discussed in the video, and how they can help you on your gardening journey!

Digging Spade A digging spade is one of the larger tools that most if not all gardeners typically have in their arsenal. Used for heavier duty work, the spade will make easy work of many tasks, and is ideally used for larger areas of ground, where they can be used to quickly create beds and holes.

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Digging Fork Another great addition to your gardening kit is a digging fork. This fork is most useful when you're in need of a little precision whilst working, great for loosening the ground in your existing beds and teasing out established plants - the prongs really help here as the root system for an existing plant is less likely to be damaged as the fork works the earth around them! They're also especially helpful when harvesting produce such as potatoes for this very same reason, and can be used as an almost makeshift lever to help you move medium sized to larger bushes.

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Border Spade Primarily for lighter work, the border spade is essential for helping you with a variety of tasks - from turning over your allotments and vegetable patches, or crafting a delightful decorative border. The sharpened edge allows for easy penetration into the ground, and the folds on top of the border spade allow you to use your feet to apply pressure to the spade, making light work of your tasks.

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Border Fork Perfect for light, sandy or loamy soil, a border fork is great for when you don't need the clout of a larger fork. They're typically a little smaller than their larger digging fork variants, with smaller prongs and less spacing between them they are perfect for weeding amongst other plants.

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Hand Fork The hand fork as the name implies, is a single-handed fork used for lighter precision tasks such as digging holes for planting and loosing soil around weeds. They are also great for preparing soil, aerating and are often an excellent help when tidying and leveling around border edges.

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Hand Trowel With its flatter blade, the hand trowel is your best friend when it comes to the transportation of smaller quantities of soil, and is excellent for moving smaller plants. Their pointed ends make them great for hole digging in more confined spaces. Some even come with a gradiation on them which allows you to check the depth of the hole you're digging for great consistency between individual holes.

Secateurs Last, but by no means the least, the final tool we are discussing today are the secateurs. When choosing a pair for your garden, there are versions which offer different results. For example, there are anvil variants, where the cutting blades offer increased power, and meet when pressure is applied, which is better suited for larger stems and the pruning of dead wood. The other type of secateur is the bypass secateur, which has sharper blades that are designed to pass over each over much like a pair of scissors. These are perfect for cutting smaller, delicate stems.