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As the weather warms up and the days get clearer, attention will be turning to the garden. Coming out of its winter hibernation, it will be in need of some TLC; and while many of us will be grabbing the old reliable of lawnmowers, rakes and strimmers, spare a thought for the lesser-known tools in the gardening arsenal.
Elevate your green fingers with 3 underrated gardening tools, all available to hire from Greenplant. See why hiring garden equipment is the way to go.
3 Underrated Gardening Tools For Spring
With a name like an old-school James Bond villain, the scarifier (also known as a lawn rake, but that’s just boring) is an essential tool for lawn health and tidying up. It removes what is known as ‘Thatch’—old grass stems, moss, and other debris from the lawn floor.
Thatch gets compacted in your lawn over time and prevents water and nutrients from getting into the soil, slowly suffocating it. Moisture sits on top of an untreated lawn, making it soggy and patchy and allowing moss and weeds to take over.
The Scarifier digs deep to remove the debris and aerate the lawn for improved health. It does take a toll on the lawn, and it is best practice to scarify your lawn only once a year.
If the scarifier is too much, you can manually scarify your lawn with the humble rake, also available for hire at Greenplant.
Continuing with the Bond villain theme, a flame gun feels more suited to combat than gardening. However, what is essentially a garden-specific blowtorch is effective against the age-old garden enemy. Weeds.
Traditional weed killers contain many harsh chemicals which, when exposed to the ground, can contaminate ground water and seriously affect your garden, especially if you grow vegetables. The flame gun offers a contaminant-free method of killing weeds that keeps groundwater safe and looks really cool.
The trick with the flame gun is not to burn the weeds completely but to destroy the plant tissue within the weed so it dies. The weed will only need 1/10 of a second exposure to the flame and should turn from glossy to dull. If you’re not sure the weed has died, once cooled, squeeze the weed between your thumb and finger. If you see your thumbprint in the leaf, it has been successful.
Flaming is effective with annual weeds but less so against perennial weeds. With any weeding, if you kill the tops (rather than the roots) enough times, the weeds will give up. As this is an open flame and propane gas, please be careful when operating.
Heavy, bigger than expected and stubborn, tree stumps present a hurdle to overcome when tidying up a garden. Luckily, the handy stump grinder is here to do the heavy lifting for you.
Boasting a large tungsten carbide tipped blade, the stump grinder is a heavy-duty piece of machinery and must be operated safely and carefully. When using the grinder, make sure to grind the exposed roots first, as these will be hard to find in the debris later. Sometimes, grinding the roots is enough to remove the stump with hand tools.
If you continue to grind the stump, make sure to be careful and use smooth sweeping motions over the stump as it grinds. Watch out for flying debris and keep onlookers 75 feet away when cutting. Cover nearby cars and windows to avoid unnecessary damage.
So, when you’re planning your big garden renovation, spare a thought for the hard-working, underrated tools in the gardening section. Maybe you’ll grind, rake and flame your way to perfection in the garden. Whatever your mission this spring, Greenford has you covered with a wide range of hire tools available.
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