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Be Prepared Five Basic Tools for your Rose Garden |
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Written by Shelly
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Wednesday, 16 August 2006 |
Caring for your rose garden can be an enjoyable experience if you have the correct gardening tools. Arming yourself with the following five basic gardening essentials, will allow you to properly care for your roses and any other gardening needs you may have.
Gloves
A good pair of work gloves is one of the most important gardening tools you will ever own. If you want to enjoy gardening they are an absolute must. Having a beautiful rose garden also means having to deal with thorns. Owning a pair of thick leather gardening gloves will protect your hands from the sharp painful pricks of the thorns that can lead to infection. Choose a pair that is adorned with big fold down cuffs, they will protect your hands as well as your wrists and forearms.
Kneeling pads
Kneeling pads are more of a comfort tool for you. The cushion they provide will help you save your knees from the discomfort that kneeling can cause. There are two types available, the knee cups that you can strap around your legs or the thick foamy pads that you kneel down upon. The individual cups are nice as they move around with you, but they can be uncomfortable if you do not have the correct size. The large pads have handles, are made of lightweight materials and in most cases provide more comfort to the gardener . They are water resistant and can be moved about with little effort.
Pruners
Pruners, or pruning shears are a necessity to help keep your rose gardens looking beautiful. Pruning back excess growth and ridding your bushes of damaged or diseased sections will ensure optimal growth. It is extremely important to purchase the correct type of pruner. Bypass pruners are recommended for rose gardeners. The blades bypass each other in a cutting motion much like that of a pair of scissors. Never use an Anvil pruner to prune your rose bushes, instead of providing a clean cut the blades pinch together. This will crush the stems or canes of the rose causing great damage and invite disease. If your rose garden is well established and the canes have grown thick they may require you to us a pair of Loppers. Loppers are larger than Bypass pruners but use the same method of cutting. You will not need them at the initial start of your rose garden but as your rose bushes mature and grow larger you will appreciate their ability to make pruning less of a struggle.
Shovel
You will need a shovel to dig holes to plant or transplant your rose bushes. It is recommended that you choose one that is not only sturdy but also light in weight. A fiberglass shovel with an elongated handle is perfect for this type of job. Not only is fiberglass resilient it is also very light allowing less strain on your muscles. You might want to purchase one with a padded handle for better gripping. In an established rose garden you may prefer to have a digging fork on hand. It makes turning soil and removing weeds easier when a standard shovel is too large to squeeze in between plants and their surroundings.
Rakes
These are two types of rakes, a garden rake with steel teeth and a leaf rake with steel or plastic tines. The garden rake will make smoothing and leveling your garden beds seem almost effortless. You will need a leaf rake to assist with fall and pruning cleanups . It is a much lighter rake making cleaning up leaves and other debris easier. It is recommended that you purchase two leaf rakes, a full size and a smaller child size rake to help with tighter areas.
You will find all of the above basic tools along with multitudes of other gardening essentials at most garden and home improvement stores. |