If you cannot find what you are looking for, please email me with your request and I'll email an answer if I can, and add it to this page or to a linked page.

Email me at gardening@blueyonder.co.uk

What to expect on this page?

 Suppliers Specific Tools

General Tips

Choose any tools you buy with care and you can get a lifetime of use from some.

Remember you generally get what you pay for.

Check out tools that other gardeners are using, if these are old but not worn out. Find out the make.

A 10 year guarantee usual means you can expect a lot more life out of it than the 10 years.

Always follow the safety advice given by the tool manufacturer.

Wear personal protection equipment where recommended.

Use tools designed for a specific purpose. Failure to do so could result in injury or damage.

Blunt tools cause more injuries than sharp tools.

Choosing the tool for the Job.

Alarms

Animal Deterrents

Digging

Cultivators -- Forks -- Spades -- Tillers

Hand Protection

Gloves

Foot Protection

Garden shoes -- Wellingtons

Lawn Care

Aerators-- Aerator Sandals  -- Edge trimmers -- Edging Knife (Half Moon) -- Lawn Groom -- Lawn mowers -- Lawn Rake -- Roller-- Strimmers

Planting

Bulb Planter -- Potato Planter --  Spades --Trowel -

Pruning

Gloves -- Hedge Trimmers -- Loppers -- Secateurs

Security

Plant Anchors

Sharpening

Soil Test

Moisture meter -- Fertility test kit -- pH meter

Sowing

Hoe -- Rake

Topiary

Hand Shears --Hedge Shears -- Hedge Trimmers

Transplanting

Bulb Planter --Dibber -- Spades --Trowel -

Transportation

Sacks -- Trucks -- Wheelbarrows

Weather

Humidity gauge -- Light meter -- Rain gauge -- Temperature -- wind gauge

Weeding

Daisy Grubber  -- Hand Forks -- Hoes -- Spork  --

Axes

I think axes require no introduction to the majority of people. Remember though to wear gloves, eye protection,  head protection, stout shoes and suitable clothing.

Spear & Jackson Axes can be obtained from :

Battery Shears & Hedge Attachment

So big hedge trimmers scare you, (my wife too) well you maybe interested in this from Wolf tools. Find out more from

Bulb Planters

These take out a core of soil of the ground up to about 12.5cm and allow the bulb to be placed at the bottom, or on sand etc if you live in a clay area. Once the bulb is in postion a simple squeeze releases the core back into the hole.

You can buy online at:

Easy Edger

This is a device for edging lawns but I have no idea of it's operation etc. Visit and see if you can work it out.

Edging Knife or Half Moon

Usage of this tool will be more fully explained in a forth coming page about Lawn Care.

Spear & Jackson have one on the market with a  rust resist face and a 10 year guarantee. Available from:

Also from the Spear and Jackson range is an epoxy coated blade. Available from:

Hand Forks

See also Spork

Spear & Jackson

Stainless steel hand fork suppliers:

Hand Fork suppliers:

Hand Shears

The classic design consists of two blades connected together with a loop of spring steel. Single hand operation is used to shape box edges topiary etc.

Modern versions are also available which again are single hand operation. The wolf model can be operated in either a vertical or horizontal plane, without twisting the hand.

Sharpeners
 

Hedge Shears

Big scissors is what they look like. Traditionally constructed of carbon steel blades and wooden handles. A notch on either blade near to the pivot point allows small branches to be cut. They are used to cut hedges back into shape.

Two sizes are available, light duty and heavy duty. The former does not normally have the notches.

  in the UK offer a light duty pair for sale and this looks like it contains the notches

Sharpeners

Loppers

These are for lopping off branches from trees when pruning.
A gear action can assist in cutting through most branches,  typical maximum size of branch is around the 32mm mark.

Wilkinson Sword loppers can be obtained from:

UK

Sharpening Tools

Generally these are confined to sharpening a specific tool. However there are some exceptions, namely Multi Sharp's 4 in 1
A sharpening stone designed specifically for Burgon & Ball Classic and Topiary shears is available from Crocus

Screwfix have a few different tool sharpeners on offer

A rotary lawn mower and shear sharpener is available from B&Q click on the banner below to visit

Spork

A combination of a spade and a fork and manufactured by Spork UK

A spork is available to replace the hand fork. Check it out at

Trowels

Trowels come in two widths. The narrow one is often referred to as a potting trowel. Some but not all potting trowels have a depth mark to assist with planting out. The wider is referred to as a transplanting trowel

Spear & Jackson have a carbon steel transplanting trowel on the market. Check it out at:

potting trowels are available from: