How to Use the Right Garden Tool for the Job

You hear it all the time: "Use the right tool for the job." But how do you decide which is the proper tool to use in any given circumstance? Here are a few tips for selecting a garden tool to match a task.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Bow Rake
• Clean Rags
• Garden Spades
• Hand Cultivators
• Leaf Rakes
• Long-handled Hoes
• Pitchforks
• Short-handled Hoes
• Shovels
• Spading Forks
• Lubricating Oils
• Metal Files

1. Use shovels for digging and spades for scooping. Shovels have round tips and spades have a flat blade.
2. Employ flexible rakes for lightweight materials such as lawn clippings and leaves and metal bow rakes for moving and grading soil and mulch.
3. Arm yourself with a pitchfork when moving twiggy material such as small branches.
4. Use a spading fork to loosen hard soil or to turn the compost pile.
5. Look to cultivators to open the surface of the soil. Cultivators add oxygen to existing garden beds and are also used to uproot young weeds.
6. Take advantage of small, short-handled hoes or weed knives to remove weeds from existing garden beds.
7. Use large, long-handled hoes to remove weeds from an empty garden bed.

Tips & Warnings

• Treat wooden handles to an occasional swipe with an oil-soaked rag.
• Use a metal file to sharpen the blades of digging and chopping tools.
• Use short-handled tools only for small jobs. Long handles are much easier on the back.

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