Читать книгу Self-Sufficiency: Grow Your Own - Ian Cooke - Страница 16

A bad workman blames his tools was the phrase my father always used if I got something wrong! Whether or not it’s true, a good gardener needs a combination of skills and the right tools to do the job. The essentials for all gardening are a spade, fork, rake, hoe, trowel, secateurs and a wheelbarrow. Handle the spades on display until you are comfortable with one. A fork is probably the second most useful tool and is used for a myriad jobs. There are smaller-sized spades and forks available which are lighter and may be more suitable for those with less strength. The most useful rake is a standard steel-headed rake that can be used to break down soil, level and create a tilth.

Hoes come in many different styles. The Dutch hoe is the most useful for simple weeding and it is used with a pushing action, whilst walking backwards. For vegetable growing, a draw hoe will be needed, partly for taking out drills for seeds and also for earthing up potatoes. Hoes with short handles, called onion hoes, are very useful for close work, such as thinning seedlings. A wheelbarrow is probably an essential for fruit and vegetable production. If transporting materials is an issue, there are also barrows with large wheels like balloons and also ones with two wheels, sometimes called garden carts.

A trowel is a small tool but choose it carefully, selecting one that has a smooth handle that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. A garden line will be needed for sowing seeds and positioning plants in straight rows, or you can use a length of wood. If you need to apply pesticides, you will need a sprayer. Secateurs, possibly long-armed loppers and a small pruning saw will be needed to prune fruit trees. A watering can is always useful and plastic ones will be the lightest and longest lasting. When buying a hosepipe, do buy a good-quality reinforced hose that will not kink and a reel to wind it on.

You should always have a stout pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands when doing tough jobs. There is nothing clever about grubbing about in the soil with bare hands as some TV personalities do. Soil can easily contain pathogens, which cause infections and there is always the risk of broken glass or rusty metal. Having spent a lifetime with dry, chapped gardening hands, I am also a fervent user of disposable vinyl gloves for all garden jobs. Use a good skin cream on your hands before and after a gardening session.