Must-Have Pruning Tools for Gardeners

Having the right pruning tools for your tasks will make gardening easier and make your garden healthier and more beautiful. Start with high-quality, well-made pruning tools that are kept sharp and rust-free - clean cuts will ensure your plants recover quickly and look better than ever.
What pruning tools does every gardener need in his or her garden? Here's our list!

Hand pruners
Manual pruners are best for cutting small stems, and they have scissor-like blades for clean cuts. There are also ergonomic handles for a more comfortable grip.
Use hand pruners on branches that are no more than 1/2 inch thick. Do not wrestle with the blade on large branches. You may damage the tool and the plant.

Needle-nose pruning shears
You most likely already have a good pair of pruning shears. But you may have noticed that when it comes to delicate pruning, they don't fit in tight places or are bulky.
Needle-nose pruning shears allow you to get into small areas and cut off a damaged leaf or two. They carry more weight than scissors when cutting woody plants and clipping fibrous stems from perennials. Once you see how handy they are, you'll be picking them up every time you go out in the garden.

Loppers
Stronger than hand pruners, but less work than a pruning saw, loppers take the middle ground. The longer the handles, the more leverage you have, so the larger the branch you can trim. Some loppers have ratcheting gears to assist you in cutting hard wood wood with less effort. These models often have anvil blades, where the cutting blade meets a flat surface of the opposite blade, much like a knife on a cutting board.
Loppers will cut branches from ½ in. to 1½ in. thick. Use bypass loppers for green wood, but anvil loppers to cut hard, dead wood because they tend to crush stems as they cut. Get loppers with telescoping handles to reach out of the way branches.

Hedge shears
With hedge clippers, you can cut off a few stems at a time, or even a light cluster of branches. But they will prune indiscriminately, leaving stubs and partially cut leaves, so don't use them for precision pruning.
Hedge clippers can cut branches 1/4 inch thick or less. Use them often to trim for a more formal look. They are also effective for deadheading flowering shrubs, or cutting back ornamental grasses in the spring.

Pole pruners
Pole pruners help extend your reach and make pruning trees easier. They operate similarly to regular saws and shears, except that to close the blades of the shears, you pull a corded pole.
You can use a pole pruner when you want to trim branches from trees or shrubs that are out of reach of other tools. Get one with a telescoping handle for a larger reach.

Pruning saw
Pruning saws are great tools for working on larger branches. Most are cut during the pulling process. This allows you to put some physical force into the cut and keeps the saw teeth from sticking. Folding pruning saws are a good choice because they are easier to store.
Use a pruning saw on branches between 1 inch and 10 inches in diameter. Choose a fine-tooth saw (8 teeth per inch) for green wood and a coarse-tooth saw (4 teeth per inch) for dead wood.

Pole saw
If you have a lot of trees to prune or maintain, a battery-powered or gas-powered pole saw is a worthwhile investment in order to avoid wear and tear on your arms. It has the ability to cut larger branches quickly, but can become a bit heavy after prolonged use.
Use a pole saw when cutting large, tall branches that can be tedious with a manual saw. When cutting branches above your head, remember to use protective equipment to avoid accidents caused by falling branches and debris.

At GarDepot, we offer a wide variety of pruning tools to build and maintain our customers' dream gardens.

3 Uses For Hedge Shears In Your Garden

Hedge shears look a lot like large scissors with a pair of long, straight blades. They are designed to cut as many plants as possible in one clearing. When you trim your shrubs with hedge shears, they create long, sharp edges on what you cut. This makes them perfect for maintaining rectangular hedges.
However, hedge shears are not very good at shaping shrubs and plants with strong woody branches and stems. Because hedge shears are suited for cutting soft stems, their blades are damaged when used on hard wood. They can also create imperfect cuts on plants.

Hedge shears are somewhat limited by what they can cut and are primarily used for soft, non-woody stems. But you shouldn't underestimate their usefulness. Because hedge shears can cut plants so quickly, they are one of the main tools that every beginning gardener should have.

In this article, let's take a look at three uses for hedge shears in the garden.

1 - Maintaining a straight-edged hedge
Hedge shears are ideal for maintaining straight hedges.
As mentioned above, hedge shears are suitable for cutting long, straight lines. Their design is suitable for trimming geometric designs and straight lines to create "boxy" shapes. If you want to trim your hedges and prefer a long, manual design, hedge shears are a great choice. Since these large plant shears can cut long, straight lines in one motion, the professional gardener's job of shaping the shrubs will be done in no time.
However, if you prefer a more rounded, natural-looking hedge, you should avoid using hedge shears. It is almost impossible to achieve a rounded effect with these long, straight blades.

2 - Cutting back perennials
Hedge shears can also be used to cut back perennials.
Perennials are long-lived and can grow indefinitely, expanding their territory in a matter of months. Overgrown perennials can look messy and cover other slow-growing plants nearby, blocking them from sunlight. Hedge shears can effectively manage their growth by trimming regularly throughout the year. This will keep them looking neat and allow delicate plants to compete for sunlight.
Shears are most effective when pruning soft plants such as catnip and lilies, which requires little effort to do. Despite the imprecision of the shears, you don't have to worry too much about being completely precise when pruning perennials. These plants will quickly grow up and hide any unnatural cuts you make, making your garden look great again.

3 - Other general hedge shear uses
Thanks to the considerable cutting force produced by the sizable blades, hedge shears can cut down most soft-stemmed plants. If accuracy is important, you may have to spend some time, but if you just need to get rid of excess growth, the job can be done in a matter of minutes.
Hedge shears can be used to manage greenery, as they can successfully cut most plants in the garden. Hedge shears with long blades can easily cut off troublesome plants, even stems that are hidden in large bushes and hard to reach.

At GarDepot, we offer a wide variety of pruning tools to build and maintain our customers' dream gardens. We are always happy to discuss your requirements, get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.

Top 5 Gardening Tools

If your job is to grow plants, you know how important it is to have all the core gardening tools you need to maintain the health and appearance of your garden.
While there are many premium gardening supplies available online, there are only a few basic tools that are necessary for professional gardeners. With these top gardening tools, you can keep your garden looking neat and properly landscaped.

1.Telescopic Pruner
Also known as shears or loppers, the telescopic pruner is an absolute must if you do a lot of pruning in your garden. It is essential for pruning trees and shrubs, removing excess green leaves and dead branches, and trimming and shaping taller plants.
The advantage of telescopic pruners is that they come with an adjustable handle. You can use a locking mechanism to shorten and extend the handle. This is a great tool if you are used to carrying a ladder when doing sporadic yard work. Pruning shears come in different designs, but the most popular ones are the ones with bypass blades.

2.Hoe
What's a garden without a hoe? The humble hoe happens to be one of the oldest gardening tools ever made, and it remains one of the most rewarding tools for gardeners of all skill levels to own. The hoe is known for its versatility; it can be used to till the soil, remove unwanted debris, create clean edges in the lawn, and dig in the garden.
It has a wide paddle or stirrup and a long handle. The hoe is perfect for tilling the soil at the beginning of the growing season. It removes unwanted debris from the garden while breaking up compacted soil.

3.Hand Trowel
Professional gardeners are always planting, transplanting and potting, and these tasks require a special tool that provides versatility and accuracy - such as a hand shovel. Think of a hand shovel as a small spade - it is used to transplant and spread small plants and seedlings. It can uproot weeds, dig holes in the ground, loosen compacted soil and move it out of the way, or remove unwanted debris from the garden.

4.Rake
Just like a hoe, a rake is another basic gardening tool that every garden should have. A standard rake has a tined rod set horizontally on a long handle. This tool breaks up clods, moves soil, and removes fallen leaves, twigs, hay and other unwanted debris. A rake is also useful if you are composting or weeding.
Not all rakes are created equal. Some rakes have plastic tines, while others have more traditional steel tines. Plastic rakes are often used for delicate tasks such as raking up leaves and dry trash, while steel rakes are better suited for more strenuous tasks such as tilling soil, removing unwanted debris from large areas or breaking up compacted soil. Short-tined rakes are suitable for narrow areas, while wide rakes are suitable for large areas of lawns and gardens.

5.Shovel
A shovel, also known as a spade, has a flat, wide blade that is either rectangular or almost domed with a pointed blade. It is used for a variety of garden tasks, including digging, transplanting and moving materials.
The shovel is commonly used to work with compacted soil, dig holes, lift sod and move mounds of soil from one area to another. It can also be used to create a clean edge to a lawn. Shovels come in a variety of designs, but professional gardeners tend to stick with the traditional, plain shape (the kind with a pointed tip) because it's the most versatile.

Even the most experienced gardeners need the right tools, otherwise, they can't get any work done. The gardening tools we listed above are not only the most versatile, but they will also help you work safely in your garden. By investing in these gardening supplies, you can create and maintain the garden of your dreams.