Garden Tools: Choosing Well and Keeping Them Working

A small number of good tools outperforms a shed full of poor ones. Most of what makes a tool good is visible in the specification, and most of what kills a tool is neglect rather than use.

The short list

1. Secateurs — used more than anything else. Worth buying well.
2. A spade for digging and edging.
3. A fork for breaking ground and lifting.
4. A hand trowel for planting.
5. A rake, and separately a spring-tined rake if you have lawn.
6. A hoe, which turns weeding from an hour of kneeling into ten minutes standing.
7. A watering can with a fine rose, for seedlings.

That covers most gardens. Add specialist tools when a specific job keeps recurring, not in advance.

What makes a tool worth more

• How the head joins the handle. A socket where the handle sits inside a metal collar is stronger than a tang held by rivets. This is where cheap tools break.
• Stainless or forged carbon steel rather than pressed thin steel. Stainless resists rust and cuts through soil more easily; carbon steel holds an edge better and needs more care.
• Handle length and material. Length should suit your height — a short spade handle means bending, which is what hurts your back. Wooden handles absorb shock better than metal.
• Replaceable parts. Good secateurs sell replacement blades, springs and catches. That single fact often justifies the price difference.
• Bypass rather than anvil secateurs for live stems — bypass cuts cleanly, anvil crushes. Anvil types suit dead wood.

Maintenance that actually matters

• Clean soil off before putting tools away. Soil holds moisture against metal, which is what causes rust.
• Dry them. More important than oiling.
• Oil occasionally — a wipe of oil on metal and on wooden handles a couple of times a year.
• Sharpen. A sharp spade cuts roots instead of bouncing off them, and sharp secateurs make clean cuts that heal. A simple sharpening file is inexpensive and makes old tools feel new.
• Clean secateurs between plants when pruning anything diseased, which stops you spreading the problem around the garden.
• Store under cover. Tools left out are the ones that get replaced.

Powered tools

Battery tools have largely replaced petrol for domestic use. If you buy more than one, staying within a single battery platform saves considerable money, since batteries and chargers are the expensive part. Check the battery capacity against the size of your garden — a small battery on a large lawn means working in instalments.

Before you order

Check the handle length against your height rather than buying the standard size. Check whether replacement blades and parts are sold. Check the head-to-handle joint on anything used with force. And for battery tools, check whether the price includes a battery and charger, which frequently it does not.