It takes all kinds to make the world go around. Some of us get tense as to how to get a job done while others just do it. Some spend hours to finish a job; others take just half an hour.

The difference lies in their attitude and planning. Most people follow traditional ways. Others know there’s always a better way. The only thing you need is to know how better you can do it.

Cleaning up your lawn and garden may seem tiresome but there are some tools that could very well make it fun and save you some precious time. In this article, we will discuss all the tools you will need to maintain your lawn.

Before you Start Cleaning up

1. Did you know you could give your lawn and garden natural supply of nutrients as you mow? Yes. All you need is to mulch grass instead of collecting them. Grass clippings decompose quickly to provide a natural fertilizer, and help your lawn retain water.
2. Check your tools if they are usable. It would be quite frustrating to find your tools blunt and requiring resharpening in the middle of your pruning work.
3. Before you rake the leaves in the yard make sure you clean the gutter with a leaf blower to get all the leaves off your property.
4. Wearing a tool belt is a good practice. You don’t have to move back and forth while using pruning shears, weeding knives, cultivators, loppers and hedge clippers one after another.
5. Instead of making a pile of dry leaves, raking them into rows would be a better practice. You could then start bagging them as much as you need for one container. Doing it from a pile is a little messier.
6. If you’re cutting grass that is long, then it’s a good practice to make sheaves before you cut them. Then it becomes easier to remove them.

The Tools

Here are some essential tools that will make lawn care a breeze.

The Lawn Mower

The main reasons why people use it are very simple. It offers precision cut, reduction of effort, it’s suitable for large and small lawns equally, it’s affordable in the long run and it’s time-saving.

The only problem with it, however, is its higher upfront cost.

Chainsaw

There are gasoline chainsaws and electric chainsaws. Both have their respective pros and cons.

The gasoline chainsaws produce more power and thus are suitable for almost all kinds of jobs. In turn as they are quite heavy and powerful, the user needs to hold steady and have control of their upper body. New users may find it uneasy until they get used to it.

Being smaller and less powerful this is best suited for new and non-professional users to use on light cutting. The biggest problem is that you need to plug it in the power line all along and you’re vulnerable to accidents.

Now we’ll move on to smaller simpler tools. Simply speaking, working in the yard has never been so easy with all the handy and easy-to-use tools at our disposal. Here are some essential ones:

Machete

You can swing it with one hand while clearing debris with the other. Some of them come with slippery coating on its blade so that no sticky object can slow down your cleaning. To add style and reduce weight they have holes on the blade.

Gloves

To protect from thorns and the numbing vibration of gas-powered machines a pair of gloves is always essential. Some of them can be washed after a cleaning session. Most of the gloves that are available in the market are tougher and protect your palms from getting blisters.

Special Sprayer

Some newly introduced surfactants are there to reduce the surface tension of water and allow it to be sucked by the soil more easily and quickly thereby reducing the consumption of water.

Grass Seeds

Cleaning up is not enough. Sometimes you need new grass growth to fill damaged patches in your lawn.  You will need seed for that.  Some grass seed varieties are engineered to grow in shade, while other varieties can withstand direct sun and the heat.  These new grass seeds are also resistant to pests and diseases.

Weed Killer

This is sometimes an excellent way to get rid of the unwanted weeds. New technologies have used glyphosate that prevents the weeds from absorbing nutrients from the soil. Wherever you apply them they’re gone.

A Brilliant Wheelbarrow

Think of huddling all the stuff on your wheelbarrow and moving through a bumpy lawn while one tips over the other or one spoils another— those old days are long gone! Now you can get a wheelbarrow organizer. It is a tool for hauling fertilizer, organic matter, plants, and much more in different compartments so that all in there are stable and safe. You can even carry your cell phone, keys, and drinks. This means it’s just a one-trip job that requires less time.

How About a Burn Cage

Burning dry leaves and shrubs in a big drum is a hazardous job. Wind carries off parts of burning leaves, the lawn looks messy with the burnt spot and the drum gets roasted or blistered with the intense heat (that can rise as much as 1600 degrees F) that the process creates.

To solve the problem, you can get a big burn cage for you. It’s a perforated stainless steel cage with burning embers where you can burn all your dry organic debris. The holes allow enough air to burn well and the heat doesn’t spread further. At last you get a clean lawn bed and the burning job neatly done.

Smart Irrigation Controller

You can now control irrigation decisions with a smartphone app. The app will access local weather data online to decide in real-time whether or not to water your lawn. Although the smart irrigation controller is a bit costly, it can pay you back by reducing your water usage to a large extent. Experts say you can save more than what you invest on this device.

In Short

Taking care of your lawn and garden can be tedious, but it can also be fun.  With a little aid of your essential gears it could be more time saving, easier and less tiresome.

Good luck with your cleaning.