First time garden owner/gardener!
Discussion
We have FINALLY bought a house after many years of trying and have a nice sized garden. So, now we're in and we have zero clue of what we need to take care of it!
All advice gratefully received.
In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
All advice gratefully received.
In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
Im slowing building up my collection. in my order of importance so far:
1. Robot Mower - Ive got the older boundary wire type landroid. Its been perfect other than late season where on a particular couple corners its alternative wheeling spinning have dug little mounds. should hopefully now been fixed with some weight over the rear. Having it cut the grass every other day and leaving the fine clippings to compost into the ground. means no trying to get rid of mounds of cut grass which you will have a lot. Compost heaps dont like 95% grass cutting apparently. Frees up time to do the little annoying jobs like weeding/trimming etc.
I would look at spending the extra and getting one of the all bells and whistles LIDAR ones that can cut fancy stripes etc. I wish i had.
2. Strimmer - Robot mower cant get everything. Will always be edges etc to knock down. Depending on how you go with other tools its either battery/petrol. I cant be arsed with petrol going off etc so everything of mine is makita as i had the batteries. I do a once weekly lap around the house with it in 5 minutes. also great for whacking alternative things down that may be in the way.
3) pressure sprayers - for applying various liquids to grass/weeds/patios etc. i have 1 basically just for glysophate for patio weeds/wet&forget and then 1 for everything else. just dont want to risk something that will kill the grass
4) spring tine rake - come leaves dropping season. ive tried blowers to make piles/in reverse to suck them up. never worked for me. a rake does it in no time. also good for general raking of stuff i guess
5) Big Iron Rod - an odd one but probably my most used tool. payed £1 from a carboot sale. Its just a 1" thick pole with some spike/flat bit on the end. anything i cant move by hand gets this jabbed underneath it and levered up. Ive pulled up bamboo root balls, 3 generations of rock gardens, slabs, whatever is in my why this has managed it.
6) garden waste bags - lidl have them for 4.99 at the moment. heavy duty sacks from crap thats awaiting a run to the dump. weeds/clippings/soil whatever. having something to store it in and drag it to a hidden corner is handy. having multiple is good for whenever you have filled the others and then realise you no longer have any dumping space. Builders ton sacks work just as well.
7) Wheel barrow - try not use a dumping ground as above as then you dont have a wheel barrow any more (lessons learned), decent ones are expensive but i reckon they fall into buy it for life category. a double wheeler is much more easy to move heavy stuff around than singles at cost of manoverouability
8) spades/shovels - i seem to misuse them all the time so i go with the screwfix/toolstation brands rather than the pricey ones and just accept i will be replacing them every couple years for £10/15
9) little hand tools - again the lidl/aldi middle isle stuff is good enough. just pick it up over time. make a collection in the shed. it will get used....eventually
thats what i would say the core of it is. Rest is a bit more specific if your doing any renovations or becoming a grass nerd. depending if your car boot sale is a good one or turned into one the temu reseller crap. they can be great for picking up stuff that will last many more years to come for pocket change.
1. Robot Mower - Ive got the older boundary wire type landroid. Its been perfect other than late season where on a particular couple corners its alternative wheeling spinning have dug little mounds. should hopefully now been fixed with some weight over the rear. Having it cut the grass every other day and leaving the fine clippings to compost into the ground. means no trying to get rid of mounds of cut grass which you will have a lot. Compost heaps dont like 95% grass cutting apparently. Frees up time to do the little annoying jobs like weeding/trimming etc.
I would look at spending the extra and getting one of the all bells and whistles LIDAR ones that can cut fancy stripes etc. I wish i had.
2. Strimmer - Robot mower cant get everything. Will always be edges etc to knock down. Depending on how you go with other tools its either battery/petrol. I cant be arsed with petrol going off etc so everything of mine is makita as i had the batteries. I do a once weekly lap around the house with it in 5 minutes. also great for whacking alternative things down that may be in the way.
3) pressure sprayers - for applying various liquids to grass/weeds/patios etc. i have 1 basically just for glysophate for patio weeds/wet&forget and then 1 for everything else. just dont want to risk something that will kill the grass
4) spring tine rake - come leaves dropping season. ive tried blowers to make piles/in reverse to suck them up. never worked for me. a rake does it in no time. also good for general raking of stuff i guess
5) Big Iron Rod - an odd one but probably my most used tool. payed £1 from a carboot sale. Its just a 1" thick pole with some spike/flat bit on the end. anything i cant move by hand gets this jabbed underneath it and levered up. Ive pulled up bamboo root balls, 3 generations of rock gardens, slabs, whatever is in my why this has managed it.
6) garden waste bags - lidl have them for 4.99 at the moment. heavy duty sacks from crap thats awaiting a run to the dump. weeds/clippings/soil whatever. having something to store it in and drag it to a hidden corner is handy. having multiple is good for whenever you have filled the others and then realise you no longer have any dumping space. Builders ton sacks work just as well.
7) Wheel barrow - try not use a dumping ground as above as then you dont have a wheel barrow any more (lessons learned), decent ones are expensive but i reckon they fall into buy it for life category. a double wheeler is much more easy to move heavy stuff around than singles at cost of manoverouability
8) spades/shovels - i seem to misuse them all the time so i go with the screwfix/toolstation brands rather than the pricey ones and just accept i will be replacing them every couple years for £10/15
9) little hand tools - again the lidl/aldi middle isle stuff is good enough. just pick it up over time. make a collection in the shed. it will get used....eventually
thats what i would say the core of it is. Rest is a bit more specific if your doing any renovations or becoming a grass nerd. depending if your car boot sale is a good one or turned into one the temu reseller crap. they can be great for picking up stuff that will last many more years to come for pocket change.
My first question is, what do you want to achieve? Looks like a reasonably high-maintenance garden in terms of lawn space and established trees. How much time/paid-labour do you want to invest in it?
Or, do you want to put some effort in up-front and reduce the level of long term effort? e.g. smaller lawn, fewer ornamental plants
Do you want it for wildlife, for practical use (kicking a ball about) or something you want to look out upon?
Some idea of that will help understand what equipment you need beyond the bare minimum (pruning saw, secateurs, mower etc).
Or, do you want to put some effort in up-front and reduce the level of long term effort? e.g. smaller lawn, fewer ornamental plants
Do you want it for wildlife, for practical use (kicking a ball about) or something you want to look out upon?
Some idea of that will help understand what equipment you need beyond the bare minimum (pruning saw, secateurs, mower etc).
Stuff you need immediately to stop things going wrong in the next few weeks:
Lawnmower
Secateurs
Garden fork
Gloves
From what I can see in the photo, that'd be enough to keep on top of the routine maintenance ... i.e. stopping the grass getting leggy, basic pruning and weeding. If you let things get out of hand, it's then always harder to sort them out than it would have been to keep on top of things in the first place.
Lawnmower
Secateurs
Garden fork
Gloves
From what I can see in the photo, that'd be enough to keep on top of the routine maintenance ... i.e. stopping the grass getting leggy, basic pruning and weeding. If you let things get out of hand, it's then always harder to sort them out than it would have been to keep on top of things in the first place.
Ffffaster said:
We have FINALLY bought a house after many years of trying and have a nice sized garden. So, now we're in and we have zero clue of what we need to take care of it!
All advice gratefully received.
In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
That looks like a beautiful garden, congratulations on the purchase OP. All advice gratefully received.
In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
As for the garden tools, looks like a good list has already been provided.
Some good advice on the 2026 lawn thread on here too in terms of lawn care.
Starting from scratch I would strongly recommend EGO equipment ... It's not cheap and a few years ago I would have said by petrol kit (STIHL) and not battery, but battery technology has improved so much it's brilliant.
The investment is in the batteries at £500-£600 for 12Amphour 56v and a fast charger and back pack (large capacity batteries are heavy)
But then you can add the tools you need :-
Lawn Mower (either EGO or ALLETT)
Multi Tool Head ( Hedge trimmer , tiller , edger whatever)
Leaf Blower
Handlebar Strimmer
Chainsaw
even an inverter to provide 240 volts away from home
or a ride on buggy
The investment is in the batteries at £500-£600 for 12Amphour 56v and a fast charger and back pack (large capacity batteries are heavy)
But then you can add the tools you need :-
Lawn Mower (either EGO or ALLETT)
Multi Tool Head ( Hedge trimmer , tiller , edger whatever)
Leaf Blower
Handlebar Strimmer
Chainsaw
even an inverter to provide 240 volts away from home
or a ride on buggy
Edited by The Three D Mucketeer on Saturday 30th May 18:49
That's a lovely garden - those trees, if they need work; aren't DIY job at all... They need someone who knows what they're doing
As for tools; I can wholeheartedly recommend the Ryobi One+ range - I've got all sorts of theirs across x4 5Ah batteries and they've been faultless - their 40cm mower makes easy work of both our gardens and cuts very well too, plenty of oomph (although that's on a battery of it's own)
But for the rest of the garden tools (hedge trimmers, strimmer, blower etc) have been superb since I bought them and they get used, a lot
As for tools; I can wholeheartedly recommend the Ryobi One+ range - I've got all sorts of theirs across x4 5Ah batteries and they've been faultless - their 40cm mower makes easy work of both our gardens and cuts very well too, plenty of oomph (although that's on a battery of it's own)
But for the rest of the garden tools (hedge trimmers, strimmer, blower etc) have been superb since I bought them and they get used, a lot
Ffffaster said:
All advice gratefully received.
In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
I was about to start a similar thread apart from the fact we've lived in the house for a decade now but because the gardener came recommended from the previous owners we just asked him to carry on we have never really don't any work in the garden.In particular: what tools do I need to get to keep it in good shape? Is there a "top ten" list of garden equipment?
However at the back of the garden (where no peas live), there is an essentially dumping area which is a bit of state. If borders the brook running at the side of the house, I asked AI what it could look like which is great, but about as helpful to chocolate tea pot for someone like me.
By chance we have some builders onsite and I showed them the AI image. They somehow have created the rockery, and this week I've been experimenting using garden tools. Noting my day jobs is Outlook and Teams meetings, I think I'm making OK progress. Was fighting the Laurel bush this afternoon, and tomorrow I'll put down the weed membrane for the path to the bench. Haven't decided on what to cover the path with yet, probably going to for slate chippings.
Amazing I'm really enjoying the process, and considering what other bits of the garden I can start working on once this first project is done
.
Evanivitch said:
Simpo said:
Evanivitch said:
My first question is, what do you want to achieve?
Just keeping it as nice as it is would be a fair target.A list of tools to buy is all very well but it doesn't impart any knowledge of gardening.
A lawnmower, spade + fork and secateurs would fill most of the 'tools' list I think.
If you can afford it get a Robot Mower, it will save hours and keep the lawn in good shape. My son-in-law bought one and I thought he was nuts but it has saved him hours and hours of mowing in the summer, there's a lot of grass as it's a big garden but there's no room to store a ride-on so he was using an oldish Massey rotary which was OK and well maintained but gave constant problems (like gear box failures). Best thing he did was to buy the Robot, when he gets up all the grass has been cut and the lawn looks pristine.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff