7 time-saving tools

Hardened 4-tine garden fork with scraper Spear & Jackson

Spear & Jackson 4-tine hardened garden fork with scraper is a robust, easy-to-handle garden tool offering a multitude of uses in vegetable garden and ornamental garden. Its head has rounded shoulders that make it easy to work around bushes or mass plantings, and is fitted with a welded scraper able to weed soil or remove undesirable herbs. Its wide tines are designed to work soil without bringing up stones, unlike a conventional rake.

Why is it useful?

It’s a multifunction tool! It can be used to aerate soil, scarify its surface, break up clods or level and smooth soil before sowing. But it can also cover furrows after sowing or even cut adventive plants thanks to its welded scraper and then uproot them. In short, this type of tool replaces usual garden fork, rake, grub hoe, hand hoe, mechanical weeder… No need for a wheelbarrow full of tools in vegetable garden, garden fork with scraper is there to do the job!

Pair of Spear & Jackson leaf-picking hands

This pair of Speар & Jackson leaf-grabbers is made of two rigid scoops fitted with handles. It’s clearly like an extension of your hands designed for rapid and efficient collection of plant debris. These “hands” are made from high-quality composite material, both lightweight and very rigid.

Why is it good?

Who hasn’t wished for two big mitts at the end of their arms? Instead of picking up just a small handful at a time with your little hands (or at best a fork), you move a large volume in one go. It’s ideal for gathering dead leaves, but also other plant material (grass clippings, weeds, pruning waste…). Then just put everything in a wheelbarrow or a bag and away you go! Such a simple tool, yet few gardeners have one to hand.

Traditional mirror-polished steel edging shears Spear & Jackson

Traditional Spear & Jackson edging tool in mirror-polished steel is designed to cut the short grass meadow cleanly along paths, patio or flowerbeds while protecting gardener’s back and conserving energy. Its half-moon-shaped head features a footrest and very sharp edges. The whole is fixed to a long sturdy ergonomic handle. The mirror-polished finish greatly reduces soil adhesion when the blade penetrates, which helps limit gardener’s effort. The head of this tool, with its rounded cutting edge, allows precise work and makes it easy to follow the line of a curve.

Why is it good?

Maintaining edging is probably one of the most labourious and time-consuming tasks in the garden. As soon as you turn your back, tufts of herbs sneakily appear here and there, ruining all hope of clean edges. And back we go on all fours to sort it out quickly before the neighbour makes a remark (editor’s note: well, that would be the last straw!). With a tool designed for the job, it’s much simpler and quicker! Moreover, the head of this edging tool is shaped to cut effortlessly and without catching soil. This makes it easy to handle, lightweight and effective in all circumstances, even in the stickiest soils.

Bahco PG-19-F telescopic branch lopper

Bahco PG-19-F telescopic branch cutter is ideal for pruning large-diameter, remote or high branches thanks to its extendable arms from 70 to 90 cm. Its Teflon-coated, corrosion- and friction-resistant steel blades cut green wood up to 40 mm in diameter with ease. The cut is clean and neat, which is important to avoid crushing tissues and injuring living plants. Gardeners greatly appreciate the lightweight aluminium handles and comfortable, non-slip grips. Soft rubber bumpers complete the tool by cushioning shocks caused by the branch cutter’s closure.

Why is that good?

Gardeners’ arms are rarely extendable and you quickly find yourself too short for branches placed at mid-height or sometimes further away. Three solutions are available: call in a professional, perform acrobatics on a stepladder or simply use a branch cutter fitted with telescopic handles. This type of branch cutter makes a very clean cut and does not damage wood. Moreover, the tool is light enough to use without risk of injuring back or shoulders during long cutting sessions.

Belt for pruning shear and other pocketed labella

This Bahco PROF-SEC pruning shear case is a practical accessory for carrying pruning shears when not in use. Made from waterproof nylon, it is lightweight, durable and comfortable and can simply be attached to a belt. Equipped with an additional pocket, this case will hold a sharpening stone, a grafting knife…

The short denim garden labellum with belt and 7 pockets 100% cotton (one size) is useful for protecting clothes from stains and snags (editor’s note: should you feel like gardening in an evening dress or a suit). The pockets allow carrying various accessories and small gardening or DIY tools: pruning shears, dibber, string line, seed or bulb packets, twine, ties, scissors, plant labels, tissues, gardening gloves, corkscrew or even smartphone…

Why is it useful ?

In the garden, everything gets lost! You put a pruning shear on a stone and only find it two years later, rusty and ruined. Our seed packets have somehow managed to get caught in a hawthorn when we would have sworn they were neatly placed beside the sowing furrow. Or the classic: “Love! Where did you put my dibber?” “Have you looked in the fridge?” In short, we gardeners are often “scatterbrained” and make tool manufacturers happy because we regularly have to buy replacement equipment. For pruning shears, there are specialised cases to attach to a belt. But you can also use more complete labellums fitted with numerous pockets. If that can reduce wasted energy and time and incidentally stop us from going completely mad…

Pruning shear with rotating handle Bahco PXR-M2

This Bahco PXR-M2 professional ergonomic pruning shear with rotating handle has been designed to provide maximum comfort for the user. This tool features a rotating handle, an angled cutting head and profiled handles for increased comfort. It is also equipped with crossing blades with a hollow lower face to reduce clogging. This pruning shear is perfectly suited to pruning green wood up to 2 cm in diameter.

Why is it good?

This type of pruning shear helps prevent tendonitis and greatly reduces risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome! Indeed, the lower movable handle follows hand movement, thereby reducing wrist fatigue during long pruning sessions. The cutting head is angled both horizontally and vertically to compensate for wrist flexion and allow the hand to remain in a neutral position. All this will help you tire less (and avoid injury!) but it will also allow cutting a wider range of branch diameters than a “classic” pruning shear. Hence time saved because you don’t have to change cutting tools every three seconds.

Rock'n Root dibber and weeder — De Pypere

This traditional De Pypere Rock’n Root dibber-weeder has an ash handle but, above all, a narrow blade sharpened like a knife. This tool is perfect for small weeding, pricking out or transplanting. Perfectly at ease in small borders or flower boxes, its narrow blade lets it sneak cleverly into rockeries or simply into overcrowded spots. Its head is hand-forged, with a steel body and a boron-steel finish. Rock’n Root is as manoeuvrable as it is sturdy and will accompany you for many years.

Why is it good?

It’s an extremely versatile tool! Usually when you hear “versatile” it means “mediocre everywhere, good nowhere“. But that’s clearly not the case with this dibber-weeder, which manages to excel in every situation. You can plant, transplant, work soil, weed, mix substrates… with the same effectiveness as a dedicated tool. Moreover, its narrow, sharp blade can cut through any soil, even the most compact, even short grass meadow or groundcover.