Not as vital but very useful are an edging sickle which utilizes old razor blades; lawn edger and grass edging shears. You should also have long-handled or pole-pruning shears, hedge shears and lopping shears. Other essential items include:

• A good sprinkler
• A deep cultivator such as the potato hoe
• A dibble for seedlings
• A stapling gun
• A pruning saw
• Soil sieves
• A wand for soaking the soil without getting water on the leaves

The following are luxuries, perhaps, but they will help you do a professional job:

• A pressure sprayer
• A root feeder
• A wheel hoe and cultivator
• A spreader
• A soil-testing kit
• A garden tractor and garden lawn sweeper
• A mechanical garden mower with mulching attachment and power rotary tiller
• An electric hotbed
• Garden water features

The mechanical, or power, machines are bringing about changes in gardening. The mower mulcher, for example, suggests a new way to gather fall leaves and use them for mulching. You run it over the lawn in the usual way. The leaves are then cut into small fragments and deposited beneath or to one side of the machine, where they sift down among the grass leaves and form a light, protective mulch layer.

This decomposes after a while and adds to the organic fertility of the lawn. For your hose, a reel is good to have, as well as a canvas hose. Other equipment to have on hand that will keep you from running to the store just when you want to be out working on the grounds, includes:

• Plant ties
• Stakes
• Labels
• Burlap or canvas
• Chicken wire
• Garden line
• Yardstick
• Measuring cup and spoons
• Creosote and other needed paints
• Paintbrush
• Sand, peat moss, lime, plant foods, insecticides, and other chemicals
• Pots and flats

Storing Your Garden Tools

Storage of garden tools in a precise fashion helps keep them in good working order, and saves you time in locating them. A tool house measuring 3x6 feet can take care of a great deal of equipment. Because tools are usually kept in unlighted places and often not wiped off after use, rust is the major enemy. One way to safeguard against rust is to keep vulnerable tools away from air when not in use, storing them in a box of sand saturated with crankcase oil.

Avoid having so much oil that it makes the tools greasy and hard to handle, and do not put the working parts of the tools, such as the pivot part of shears, in the sand. The garden hose is often badly taken care of. Besides using a reel, you can preserve the life of your hose by not letting it kink while water is running through it.

Don't leave it in the hot summer sun (especially if it is a plastic hose). Coil it loosely on your reel or rack made on the exposed studding of your garage. An improvised reel can be fashioned from wooden TV cable or wire reels. After you are finished using the tools, it is important that you clean them properly before you put them away. This will help them last longer and avoid running into problems that will cause you to have purchase new tools for your needs.

Cleaning Your Garden Tools

Tools should be cleaned immediately after use, while the soil is still moist. Use emery cloth, a wire brush or steel wool. Rub in crankcase oil. Keep your wooden handles sanded down and preserve the wood with linseed oil. Sharpen hoes with an 8-inch mill file, stroking toward the cutting edge, but don't sharpen digging tools too keenly for when they are thin they nick easily.

Apply your file to only one side of your sickle, with the bottom edge kept flat. Power sprayers should be washed with clean water and washing soda after each using, and the nozzle should be examined to get out the grit particles. Clean the sprayer's rubber hose with vinegar and the shower, and the nozzle .with kerosene. Oil the leather plunger washer after using to prevent the leather from drying out.