After years of trialing products for the Daily Telegraph I’ve had the pleasure and horror of trialing a huge variety of gardening tools, products and accessories for more than twenty years. Here are five of my all-time favourites
Whether you are starting out gardening, or buying a gift for a garden-mad friend or relative for a birthday or for Christmas, it’s a good idea to do a bit of research. You can’t test or try many things before you buy, but over the years I’ve done that for you, trialing and testing gardening accessories and products for the Daily Telegraph for over twenty years. In fact, my product testing career goes back a lot further than that. I cut my teeth working for Which Gardening (formerly Gardening from Which?) for two years in the late 1980’s and then honed my skills working for Garden Answers magazine as the Products Editor for four years before I went freelance.
There have been so many great gardening innovations and also a few lemons, so to save you some money (and a lot of time), here are five of my all-time favourites. I have many more, but in my opinion, these would make the perfect gift for your green-fingered loved-ones.
All gloved-up
Every gardener needs a good pair of gardening gloves. In fact, you should have more than one pair and I do. But my go to gardening gloves are the well-designed and bright orange Donkey Gloves. I can find them easily when I put them down. These are nicely padded in all the places you need padding. They are really well-made, offering protection but still allowing dexterity. They are not made from Donkeys, but sales help to fund a private animal sanctuary that includes some gorgeous donkeys and goats.
Donkey Gloves are ideal for simple garden tasks, weeding, pruning and they offer some protection from thorns and stings. Designed by horticulturalist and former Blue Peter Gardeners, Clare Cooke, they have been designed for gardeners by a gardener. They have been my Best Buy in the Daily Telegraph two years running. Price £16; donkeygloves.co.uk
The perfect snip
Over the years I’ve trialled dozens and dozens of secateurs and the truth is that usually you get what you pay for. I’ve had a pair of these Japanese pruners for a few years now and I’m hooked. The trouble is in my garden they are now magical disappearing secateurs, since my other half borrowed them and also became hooked. They boast a clean, precision cut with the razor sharp bladed. These are top-quality drop-forged from one-piece of high carbon Yasugi steel, the Tobisho A-Type secateurs, from Niwakie, price from £99, are outstanding for precision pruning and taking cuttings. Razor sharp, well-balanced with a strong, easy-to-use safety clip, they are left or right-handed and a must-have for serious gardeners (0345 4741 041; niwaki.com).
Shear Delight
There are few more satisfying gardening tasks than precision pruning, shaping topiary and general hedge control, as long as you employ some really sharp shears. There are many variations of these useful garden tools and for me they need to be light weight, ergonomic and precise which is why the ARS Shears KR-1000, £105 are my top choice. These shears are beautifully designed, perfectly balanced and a joy to use. Light, sharp and versatile, they make quick work of trimming, shaping and cutting green growth. All parts are replaceable too so these are repairable and a quality choice for your garden kit. (01373 475540; sorbus-intl.co.uk).
Neat and tidy
I am well-known for being Mrs Messy, especially in the greenhouse, but when armed with my trusty Sophie Conran compost scoop, £22.49, from Burgon and Ball, (0114 233 8262; burgonandball.com) every crumb of compost reaches the pot and doesn’t hit the greenhouse floor. That means that nothing goes to waste and I’ve kept my work space and potting bench tidy, so this is a very valuable product. Beautifully made with a beech wood handle, brass ferrule and stainless-steel scoop, it is also an ideal gift because most gardeners don’t have one already or even know about this great piece of kit. Or treat yourself, you won’t be sorry.
Multi-functional
Is it rake, a sieve or a shovel?? No, it’s the Golden Gark! A garden tool that does all of that and more. I first discovered this quirky piece of gardening kit during a visit to QVC and ended up featuring it in an article for the Daily Telegraph.
Jan Luik, Dutch inventor and producer of the Gark, told me that the name is a blend of two Dutch words – A shovel in Dutch is a greep and a rake is a hark. So a shovel and a rake make a Gark. I was given a Golden Gark to use in my garden and I loved it. I use it every auatumn when I gather us some leaves off my garden path for my hens. That keeps my paths safe and clear and provides copious bedding for my chooks. The Golden Gark helps me rake the leaves from the gravel paths into a pile, and then you turn the GG over and lift the leaves into a bucket, leaving the gravel behind. So it rakes, sieves and shovels the leaves as you work. I’ve had this device about ten years now and it’s my go to device when collecting bedding for my hens. Price around £40.
Disclosure – I was given samples of all of these tools to test for The Daily Telegraph. But I do not receive any commission or monetary reward for writing about them or recommending them.