Gardening tool kit?

May 6, 2013 1:11 PM

Say you had a team of three to five people working once per week over a year doing a gardening project on one acre of land and poly tunnels in a cold-to-moderate climate with clay and loamy soil (England). What tools would they need a weekly basis and what tools would they need on a once-per-year or quarterly basis?
posted by parmanparman to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

What type of gardening, how much area are we talking about?
posted by Think_Long at 1:12 PM on May 6, 2013

Best answer: As you've probably already learned, clay loam is really tough to work with when it's wet because it gets heavy, thick, and impenetrable and also tough to work with when it's dry because it gets compacted, rock hard, and dusty, so your first orders of business will be to aerate and amend.
My longstanding personal belief is that you should never aerate with a rototiller because it disturbs the natural balance/ecosystem of the soil way too much, but an acre might be a lot of land to till manually if you only have 3-5 people available to work on it. If it were my garden, I'd order an actual truckload of humus, compost, and/or manure, dump it in the center of the field, and get it all worked in from there with pitchforks, but you may want to rent a tiller to minimize the backbreaking labor that would entail -- just make sure the rototiller doesn't accidentally get caught on any giant buried rocks, because that can eff up your machine.

I'd recommend having at least one of each of these on hand to share between the whole team:
* Flat spade for cutting/digging straight down
* Standard shovel for moving dirt (probably want at least a pair of these)
* Pitchfork for cultivating/turning over soil/extracting big rocks and root balls (ditto)
* Hoe for between-row weeding
* A standard leaf rake for gathering plant debris
* Large pair of pruning shears (loppers) for chopping unruly branches/thick roots
* Wheelbarrow or wagon to truck out rocks, weeds, etc.
* A roll of sheet plastic and duct tape to repair tears in the poly tunnels
* A heavy-duty, kink-free watering hose (unless you are planning to drip irrigate)

Plus one of each of these for each gardener, if possible:
* A pair of thick, insulated gardening gloves with an extra layer of fabric/leather on the palms to prevent injury from sharp rocks and thorns
* Trowel
* Hand cultivator (example)
* Small pair of pruning shears
* Gardener's apron

I'm not sure how to break those down into daily/weekly/quarterly usages, because aside from a wheelbarrow, I own all of them and use them in my tiny (0.1 acre) backyard farm multiple times per week during the growing season.
If you're looking to minimize purchases/equipment and maximize efficiency, you may want to assign pairs or singletons to specific duties so that no one is going after the same piece of equipment at the same time.
posted by divined by radio at 1:40 PM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Divined by radio has a good list.

I'd modify it to say that you'd want loppers and shears.
A small saw for larger pruning tasks
More than one hose - and accessories: breakers, shut offs, sprinkler (fan or tripod is up to your preference) - something to avoid getting the cheap version of because the cheap ones break easily.
Some sort of bucket/trug to put stuff into like leaves/weeds/rocks so you can move it out of the way - wheel barrows aren't the most useful thing in some situations.
Iron rake for grading beds
A manure shovel (scoop shovel) which can be used for wood chips and other mulch or as a large dustpan.
A broom and dust pan
Watering cans - don't go cheap on these as the good ones are quite worth it. Dramm is good.
Small tool kit with screw drivers, hammers, electric drill, and a small collection of relevant screws and nails and nuts and bolts.

For gardening gloves: get more than you think you need. They get lost and destroyed quickly.

But for better answers:
Does this include turf?
Are they going to be working through the cold season?
Flowers/veggies/annuals/perennials/propagation?
posted by sciencegeek at 2:11 PM on May 6, 2013

Best answer: I have a hobby garden in the Willamette Valley of Oregon (a moderate/wet climate that is similar to England but with Much drier summers from what I have been told). These are the tools I consider Essential.

A good spading fork.

a good shovel. And make sure you sharpen whatever shovel you get. It doesn't need to be kitchen knife sharp, but it should have a respectable edge. It makes digging MUCH easier. This is true for any of the tools I list, so be sure to get a file also.

a good hoe (rogue hoes are the best, but they cost)

A good knife.

a couple of rakes.

at least two of each of these. I wouldn't actually buy them off amazon, but from your local lowes, home depot or whatever hardware superstore you have in England (I have no idea). Probably cheaper and you might get lucky and be able to find some on craig's list (or England Equivalent) or second hand shops. Estate sales also are a decent place to pick up cheap equipment.

At least one wheel barrow. I would get one with two wheels and a plastic bin.

any of these would be ok and useful. The wagons are the best for heavy loads and moving things like dirt and compost around, the one wheel models are the most versatile and easiest to get into the garden between rows but the hardest to use physically. If possible I would get a wagon and a small one wheel model. If you can get just one, get a two wheel model.

A good manual on how to do it with minimal inputs and on the cheap (except for tools, always, always buy the best tools you can).

Everyone is going to need gloves. I like using mechanix gloves, but just regular old gardening gloves are just fine. And a Hat. And a seat or knee pads.

I would also get an axe and a pair of loping shears, but you can get by with one of either. If you have an orchard you will need a pole saw.

For watering I use soaker hoses laid out on rows off a manifold. I don't know if this method can be scaled to an acre but it works great for poly tunnels. You can water with the tunnel cover on!

And I rent a rototiller for about 200 sq ft every year to turn it all over and mix in my compost (a mix of leaves and grass from my yard). For an acre I would hire it out to someone with equipment or if I had the money get a walk behind tractor and attachments. I use a homemade fertilizer mix of cottonseed meal (any kind of seed meal is fine including coffee grounds), calcium line, magnesium lime and blood meal (or bone meal). I occasionally use round up (once a year or less) in small areas to take out a stubborn patch of grass or two that crops up but I prefer to manually pick out/remove any weeds after rototilling.
posted by bartonlong at 2:16 PM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]