Dave Truman
Gardening Gloves – A Basic but Important Tool
A garden is a great place to relax. The thought of having a place to pick those fragrant blossoms as well as fresh vegetables and herbs, is a pleasant one. Gardening and pruning plants like rose bushes can be quite painful unless you protect your hands.
Gloves, in particular gardening gloves are the most important item that a gardener can possess. The process of choosing the right glove can be a little difficult especially if you are new to gardening. There are a few tips that can make buying your gardening gloves easy.
Good quality leather is perfect for a gardening glove. The gloves must also be suitable for any job that you may need them for. Having a couple of pairs of gloves that have a cloth back on them will aid in keeping your hands cooler and comfortable with gardening.
You may decide to garden after a rain and that will mean dealing with some damp and muddy gardening. If you don’t like the idea of working with wet and slippery hands, you can purchase rubber gloves that have a lining made of cotton to protect from the mud and dirt.
Most of us use a pesticide to keep our plants healthy and free from insects. Your hands will not be protected from harmful chemicals by wearing gloves made from latex or plastic. Gloves made from neoprene are designed especially for this.
All most every garden has roses bushes planted in them. While a rose bush that is filled with blooms is a gorgeous sight, the many thorns on the plant can make a gardener’s heart sink. To prune those very thorny plants you should wear gardening gloves that have long wrist protectors.
When the time comes to transplant your delicate seedlings in the garden you need gardening gloves that will let you handle them with care. However there are many plants that must be planted in the garden during the early winter season. Wearing gloves to protect your hands from the cold is a good idea, but it can impede your ability to feel the process of transplanting. For delicate winter time transplanting fingerless gardening gloves will allow you to do this delicate and detailed work, whilst keeping you as warm as possible.
The only other major thing that you should know when choosing gardening gloves is to make sure they fit your hands and are comfortable. A good pair of gloves really is a gardener’s best friend. They will protect you from dirt, mud and thorns as well as preventing blisters. Take the time and choose your gloves wisely.
Essential Gardening Tools
As a child you have probably seen your mother or father pottering about in the garden. They seemed to be working with lots of tools. You might have played with a gardening tool as well. Now that you are grown-up and have your own garden you too will need those garden tools.
A visit to your local garden shop will reveal that there are many different gardening tool items available. The price range will vary from one piece to the next. The tricky part is buying what you need and not going for lots of expensive things that you might never use.
Your first item should be a spading fork. It looks similar to a pitch fork, but with a shorter handle and wider tines. The spading fork will help you loosen the hard soil and work the ground so you can add plants.
You will need to prepare the ground with a hoe after you’ve dug it. A hoe will allow you to cultivate the soil so nutrients and water will be able to find its way to the plants. You may also need a round ended shovel if you plan to plant larger items such as trees or shrubs.
Water is a gardener’s best friend. You need to buy a watering can that has a long nozzle. With a long nozzle, the rate of water coming from the can is very gentle on your plants. Also long nozzled watering cans let you water plants farther away from you. With young seedlings in your garden a watering can that has a detachable head is a useful gardening tool.
The best way to level your garden prior to planting is to use a bow rake. This rake has a metal frame that is shaped like a bow. The tines are short and are attached to one side of the rake. With a good bow rake the removal of large clods of earth or rocks can be done. When you turn to the flat side of the rake, you can smooth the soil and get it ready for planting.
Buy good, but not necessarily expensive garden shears, to remove dead branches and stems. They can also be used to prune and shape shrubs as well. The most important thing is that the shears fit the shape of your hand and are comfortable.
These are just the basic gardening items to start you off. As your interest in gardening grows, you will also expand your knowledge of what other tools are available and what would be appropriate for you.
Helping You Go Green with Organic Gardening Supplies
Now a days it it’s quite common to look around and see people trying to go green. They may drive electric cars or use natural compost or fertilizer. Some gardeners now use nothing but organic products and tools. Organic gardeners need supplies that may differ a little from the conventional gardener in order to sustain their gardens.
To prepare the garden for planting, a shovel, spade and spading fork are invaluable. A hoe is useful to remove the weeds in your new garden bed or to remove rocks. A scuffle hoe has a blade that points forward and cuts the weeds off at the surface.
A pry bar is very good item even for organic gardeners to use in their organic gardening supply. With a pry bar you can dig up those rocks and boulders that sometimes seem to litter the surface of your garden.
A garden always can use a good pruning. To keep those healthy flowers on your rose bushes, a periodic pruning with good quality shears is a must. Lopping shears will also make a clean cut on those prickly rose stems to ward off disease.
These however are the conventional gardening supplies that any gardener can use. For an organic gardener there are a few different items that need to be added to their organic gardening supply. Whereas the normal gardener has the choice of using chemical enhanced fertilizers the organic gardener can use bat guano or even worm castings.
You will need a couple of applications per month of organic fertilizers. When a worm moves through the soil it creates a tunnel and this is called a worm casting. It adds nutrients to the soil and breaks it up as well. These fertilizers are a vital part of organic gardening as they will make your plants healthier and grow better.
Gardening can be compared to painting. The canvas is the ground and the brushes are the gardening tools. Many of the tools used by the ordinary gardener and the organic gardener are similar but the organic gardener needs a few specialty items to make his garden or canvass have that extra advantage of look, taste or smell.
Organic gardening is 100% all natural and great for the environment. Why don’t you switch to organic gardening and see the difference it makes to your life!
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