HERE ARE THE TOOLS YOU'LL NEED TO CREATE YOUR DREAM GARDEN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993                   TAG: 9302250232
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Joe Hunnings
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
HERE ARE THE TOOLS YOU'LL NEED TO CREATE YOUR DREAM GARDEN
Garden catalogs and stores are full of gardening tools. Many are highly specialized, some are very useful, others are nice but not necessary and some are gimmicks.
The gardening equipment you need depends on the size of your garden, your age and strength, and whether you want to get the job done in a hurry or prefer to take your time.
The minimum equipment needed by most gardeners includes a shovel or a spade, a spading fork, a hoe, a rake and a trowel. A wide selection of styles is available in each of these tools, and the choice is really one of personal preference and price range. You can get the best value for the price you choose by knowing each tool's uses and qualities to look for when comparison shopping.

Hand tools for cultivating
A garden shovel with a pointed blade is lighter and smaller than most other shovels and is well-suited for use in the garden. Shovels are earth movers with dish-shaped blades mounted to the handle at an angle.
A spade has a flat blade and is designed for cutting rather than lifting or moving soil. Spades are excellent for shaping straight-sided trenches and edging beds.
For general-purpose digging, lifting and moving, a long-handled shovel is ideal. Shovels and spades both come with long or short handles in standard or D-shaped styles. Long handles offer greater leverage and are less tiring to use in many cases. Short handles often are thicker and stronger than long ones.
A spading fork is another useful digging tool. It is ideal for breaking and turning heavy soils and for loosening subsoil layers when double-digging a bed. Turning coarse compost, spreading mulches and digging root crops are other jobs suitable for a spading fork.
A hoe is essential in any garden for preparing the seed bed, removing weeds and breaking up encrusted soil. Several styles are available.
The pointed hoe with a heart-shaped blade is lightweight and useful for opening seed furrows and cultivating between plants. The hula, or action hoe, is a type of scuffle hoe that is lightweight and maneuverable. Pushing and\ pulling it just under the soil surface eliminates emerging weeds and breaks up any crust on the soil surface. This type of hoe is most easily used on soil that is not compacted, because the blade is relatively thin and lacks the clod-breaking capabilities of a heavier hoe; it is also less effective where weeds have gotten a good start.
Other types of scuffle hoes are somewhat more sturdy and are used with a pushing motion rather than pushing and pulling.
Probably the most commonly used hoe is the square-bladed hoe, which lends itself well to many garden tasks.
A sturdy rake is useful in clearing the garden of rocks and debris. It also spreads mulches and smooths seedbeds. The size of the rake for you depends on your size and strength and the uses to which you intend to put it.
As the number of tines increases, the rake weight also increases; avoid choosing a rake so heavy it will tire you after a short period of use.
The length of the rake handle is important, too; the tip of the handle should come to your ear when standing upright. A handle that is too short will make work harder, causing excess bending and back strain.
Especially in the spring, a trowel will be in constant use for those many digging jobs that don't need full-sized tools. The trowel is perfect for transplanting seedlings and bulbs or digging shallow-rooted weeds.
Small hand cultivators, often sold in sets with trowels, are good for weeding in small areas and between closely spaced plants.
Another useful small digging tool is appropriately named a digger (or weeder, cultivator, asparagus knife). This tool is available from most hardware or discount stores for a few dollars. It is indispensable for digging up weeds with long taproots, such as dandelions or Queen Anne's lace, or for prying out Johnson grass rhizomes. It consists of a long (10 to 14 inch) solid metal rod with a two-pronged blade at one end and a handle at the other. This tool is practically indestructible and well worth the small investment.
Some other tools that may have a place in the garden tool shed include the pickaxe, mattock and wheel cultivator.
Pickaxes are used to break up extremely hard-packed or stony soil. Mattocks are for the same purpose, but are equipped with a cutting blade for areas where roots need to be removed. A mattock also may be used to chop up debris for composting.
A wheel cultivator has attachments for soil preparation and weed control and may be a good investment for those with larger gardens.

Joe Hunnings is the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service agent for agriculture in Christiansburg. If you have questions, call the Montgomery County extension office at 382-5790.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB