In order to keep your beautifully landscaped yard in tip-top condition, there are several must-have tools to maintain the beauty of your yard. Not only will this make maintenance easier, but it also helps to keep from damaging the plants that you so carefully picked and added to your landscaping.
The first tool you need is a small tiller. This tool is good for breaking up the ground for proper water penetration, weed control, and aeration. It is extremely important that the ground be penetrable for watering, for fertilization and for oxygen. This tool is also a good idea if you plan on planting annuals, so you can prepare the soil in the spring planting season.
The second tool that you need is a small trowel. This tool can be used to dig the holes to plant your annuals, or for digging up weeds in the hard to reach areas with bigger tools. If you would need to transplant some of your plants, this the tool to use so you can carefully dig up your smaller plants with as little root and stalk damage as possible.
The third tool that you need if you have shrubs and bushes would be a pruning tool. You will have to trim stems and branches to keep your plants in nice looking form and to trim off dying or dead branches. Some plants can also have a woody or very fibrous inner core, so it is more beneficial to use a pruning tool to keep as little damage possible to your plants.
The fourth tool that you need is a weeding tool. This type of tool can save you a lot of time in the weeding department. There are a number of different weeding tools to choose from. From, handheld tine rakes to motorized tillers, you will need to select the type of weeding tools you will need based on the size of the garden and landscaping area.
The fifth tool that you need is a spade, also often called a garden shovel. This tool would be beneficial for digging up larger areas of ground, working the soil and prying and loosening the soil. It can be used for edging a garden bed or for compacting the soil.
A sixth tool that you could use is a sprayer. Sprayers come in all shapes and sizes. They are used to water hard to reach areas. They are used to spray insecticides and they are used to fertilize plants and areas of your landscape. Depending on the area you need to work with will also depend on the size and capacity of the sprayer tool you use. Too small of a sprayer and you will be constantly refilling. Too large a sprayer and you may not be able to get it into delicate areas without damaging plants and other landscaping features.
A seventh tool to have is a three-prong cultivator. This tool is great for breaking up the ground and keeping the soil loose. A cultivating tool can also be used to help control weeds in the more open areas although you need to be careful with such a tool so you do not damage the extended roots of trees and plants in your garden.
An eighth tool that is handy is a spring brace rake. The rakes will help you keep your landscaping areas free of debris and dead leaves. They can also be used to even out the ground areas around plants for a not uniform appeal visually.
By no means are these listed tools the only tools that will make your gardening experience easier and much more enjoyable. They are the most common and recommended tools you should have in your gardening and landscaping toolset. If you are on a budget these tools are also very cost effective for the most part. And most of these tools are very simple to use. With a little patience and time, you can have your landscaping looking as if a professional had been at work.