Garden Tools Equipment

The different types of gardening tools include short- and long-handled hand tools as well as garden power tools. Common garden tools include the shovel, spade, trowel, spading fork, rake, and hoe; weed remover, tiller and pruning shears. These tools are used with other gardening items such as a wheelbarrow, hose and watering can to create and maintain yards and gardens.

Common Garden Tools
Shovels, spades and trowels are the three types of garden tools that tend to cause the most confusion in matching the correct name with each tool. Garden spades look like shovels except they are much flatter. Spades are square edged and are ideal for digging along edges of flower beds or for creating precise, straight-sided holes for planting. Shovels have a deeper center and are more curved than spades because they are made for scooping and moving piles of dirt and debris. Trowels look like spades and may be wide or narrow, but they are longer and more pointed for use in lifting plants and in digging small holes for planting bulbs or seeds.

A spading fork is flat and square like a spade, but has long metal fork tines. The spading fork is the ideal garden tool to use for breaking up chunks of dirt. A garden rake has metal fork tines and the raking head is angled to cover a large surface. Garden rakes are used for raking over soil to help remove rocks and even out the level of flower beds. Lawn rakes, which may be made of bamboo, plastic, or lightweight metal, differ from garden rakes in that they are not made for use in soil, but are used to rake up leaves on grass lawns.

Wheelbarrow
A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles to the rear or a sail may be used to guide the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." "Barrow" is a derivation of the Old English "bear we" which was a device used for carrying loads. Because the word "barrow" is not in common use in English today, many people incorrectly substitute the word "barrel" in place of "barrow" as this seems to make more sense (possibly because the cavity in a wheelbarrow resembles a half-barrel) even though it is not a correct etymology.

The wheelbarrow is designed to distribute the weight of its load between the wheel and the operator so enabling the convenient carriage of heavier and bulkier loads than would be possible were the weight carried entirely by the operator. As such it is a second-class lever. Traditional Chinese wheelbarrows, however, had a central wheel supporting the whole load. Use of wheelbarrows is common in the construction industry and in gardening. Typical capacity is approximately 170 liters (6 cubic feet) of material.

A two-wheel type is more stable on level ground, while the almost universal one-wheel type has better maneuverability in small spaces, on planks or when tilted ground would throw the load off balance. The use of one wheel also permits greater control of the deposition of the load on emptying.

Garden Watering Can
Watering cans can get very decorative. So much so that you can forget they're supposed to be performing a function. But a handy watering can has saved more than 1 plant on the brink. A watering can is a small to large, cylindrical, usually tin plated, portable container, with a handle and a perforated spout, used to water plants by hand. It has been around since the 17th century and has since been improved.The capacity of the container can be anywhere from 0.5 liters for use with household plants to 10 liters for general garden use. It can be made out of either metal, ceramic or plastic.
At the end of the spout (a long tube originating at the bottom of the container), a "rose" (a device like a cap with small holes) can be placed to break up the stream of water into droplets to avoid excessive water pressure on the soil or on delicate plants.

The 2 basic features to look for in watering cans are:

• A well balanced handle. Balance means the water won't have splashed out of the can on the walk over to the plant.
• A reasonable capacity. Bigger is not always better. Bigger is heavier. But you also want a can that doesn't need refilling after each plant. Choose the largest size you're comfortable lifting.

Hand Tools
A hoe is a hand tool that usually consists of a long handle connected to a metal head. The hoe compares to the spade in that it is not usually designed to lift materials and carry them like shovels. It differs from both the spade and the shovel because, in most cases, the flat head is at a right angle to the handle, and is designed for overhand motion. This design tends to add more versatility, making the hoe a good choice for hilling, digging, and chopping weeds.

Hoes are flat-angled garden tools with a distinctive solid metal shape that varies from rectangular with curved top edges to diamond-shaped. They are good tools to use for digging up weeds and for smoothing the soil around plants. Some types of garden hoes’ have a flat metal section on one side and a double-pronged weeding tool on the other. All hand-held garden tools have straight handles or D-shaped ones. The best one to use depends on what a gardener is able to work with the most efficiently and comfortably.

Power Garden Tools
Popular power garden tools include grass trimmers for cutting areas of grass lawns that are difficult to reach with a lawn mower. Gas-powered rotary tillers are machines used to chop up larger areas of soil to prepare them to be used for planting seeds, plants or bulbs. Pruning shears are available in hand and power-controlled types. Pruning shears are necessary garden tools to have for any garden because they are used for trimming plants and removing dead branches. Pruning shears or clippers also help gardeners give hedges a neat shape.

Cultivator Tools
Cultivator is a word that can describe a person who removes weeds and works in soil. It can also describe the implements that are used to perform these tasks. As there are many types of people who can consider themselves cultivators, there are also many types of cultivator tools. Some of them are fairly common, while others may be less familiar even to those who regularly engage in lawn and gardening tasks.

Shovels are examples of cultivator tools that most people are familiar with. These tools are designed to dig into soil or other material, to lift it, and to transport it, if necessary. Usually a shovel has a metal bottom that is shaped like a scoop and has sharp edges. Traditionally, shovels were attached to long wooden handles. Now, these cultivator tools can come in a range of sizes and lengths.

Spades are cultivator tools that are very similar to shovels, and sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably. The spade, however, has its own identity. Whereas shovels tend to have broad scoop-like bottoms, spades tend to be flat. These tools are best used for digging.

 A high wheel cultivator is a tool that can ease the user’s workload by allowing her to accomplish tasks faster. High wheel cultivators have simple designs but can be sophisticated garden companions. Usually, the machine is simply composed of two handles connected to a large wheel. An attachment mechanism descends from the arms and allows the user to add a variety of accessories that can act as rakes, hoes, and spades.

A low wheel cultivator normally has a similar design to the high wheel cultivator. One of the biggest visual differences is that the wheel is smaller. The advantage of the smaller wheel is that it may expel more force to be exerted for soil penetration and other tasks. One disadvantage is that a smaller wheel does not move over uneven ground as easily, and may require more effort by the user.