Garden Tools for less..
Gardening can be an expensive hobby…
In this blog post, we’ll give you the inside tips top garden for less. Discover which tools you can cheap out on and which ones you really can’t!
1. Roughneck Mini Shovel: £15
There is almost nothing this mini shovel can’t do!
It’s the perfect size for turning flower beds and weeding, helping to dig out roots of larger trees, or even using it for landscaping tasks mixing cement or laying down mortar (using it as an oversized trowel).
Having personally rigorously stress tested this mini shovel, it does have its limits which I found digging out a large tree stump by standing on one end of the handle and it crunched in half. Other than that, it’s almost indestructible and never leaves my side!
You can find these in most builders merchants for around £15 or buy one online for only £10.25 here.
2. Magnusson Secateurs: £8.99
If you’re anything like me and easily distracted in the garden and constantly losing secateurs, these are brilliant. I tend to go through about 6 secateurs per year for various reasons and these are the sturdies and most affordable I’ve found so far.
These Magnusson secateurs are made really well with a sharp good quality blade and rugged handle/mechanism.
I often find secateurs move slightly away from each other and instead of slicing through branches, they seem to twist them apart resulting in ineffective cutting.
The build of these delivers every time and can get through larger branches too.
You can usually find these in B&Q or buy online here for only £8.99.
3. STIHL BG85 Leaf Blower: £300
Unfortunately there’s little room for manoeuvre on leaf blowers. Essential for any professional gardener to give your work a tidy and satisfying finish. It’s no good doing all the hard work if you can’t get it looking presentable at the end and using a broom can often eat through time and not give the desired finish, particularly in harder to reach areas.
I’ve personally opted for the advanced model which is the BG86 as it offers reduced vibration, noise reduction and more power.
If you’re lucky you can get these second hand but I really try to avoid second hand petrol equipment as they’ve often not been looked after or left to sit for too long and require new parts or stripping down to get them running again which can cost more time and money than you’re ever going to save anyway.
You can buy these from your local STIHL approved dealer for around £300.
4. STIHL FS85R Strimmer & Brush Cutter: £100
I’m going to contradict almost everything I said in the previous post about buying petrol equipment.
I’ve found strimmer’s to be slightly more robust and with good availability to buy second hand. Personally I’ve had bad experiences buying second hand lawn mowers and blowers. I use Facebook Marketplace to buy any second hand machinery and try to screen the seller with some simple questions to identify whether they’ve looked after the tools for example, ‘what’s the reason for selling’ which usually will be enough to qualify them.
I managed to buy an FS85R strimmer and brush cutter on Marketplace for £100 which had been serviced and runs perfectly. I would opt for the standard handle as per the picture rather than the bull horns as they’re slightly less manoeuvrable.
I’m able to use this tool for all strimming tasks in the garden including edging lawn boarders as it’s light and nimble. Always wear ear defenders and goggles!
You should be able to get this model for around £100 and make sure to get various blades and wire attachments to utilise as an all round garden utility tool!
5. Mac Allister MLMP500SP46-ROL 190cc Petrol Rotary Lawnmower: £250
I have 2 lawn mowers, one larger for big grounds maintenance and this smaller one which I take on the rounds with me.
This lawn mower is a brilliant all rounder. It’s light enough to get it over steps and through tight alleyways and nimble enough to get it round tight garden corners and flower beds.
This was available new in B&Q but doesn’t seem to be in stock anymore. I opted for this as it has a USA made briggs and Stratton engine as opposed to cheaper and less reliable Chinese made engines.
The roller is a huge plus as it offers lovely stripes on lawns too. Personally, I’d buy a lawnmower new as per points mentioned previously (section 3). You should be able to pick up this or similar spec for around £200/£300.
6. Hawksmoor Hand Pruning Saw: £6.98
The most popular hand pruning saw on the market is undoubtably the silky saw which start at around the £30 mark.
I’ve had bad experiences using a Hawksmoor strimmer which I also bought from Toolstation, but that’s a story for another day.. This hand pruning saw has been an excellent and reliable alternative to the Silky range and comes at about a tenth of the cost.
You’ll be able to cut through most thick tree or shrub branches in the garden with this. It’s ergonomic and has a relatively simple design so when it gets a bit loose just tighten it back up again with a screwdriver.
The blade doesn’t rust immediately as with other cheap tools I’ve used. They were so cheap I bought 2 of them and they’re both still going strong well over a year later.
You can pick these up from Toolstation Trade counters of online here for £6.98
Conclusion
Buy cheap buy twice?
Not always. Most hand tools can be flimsy, however there are many exceptions it’s just a case of trial and error.
Aldi and Lidl of all places can be a great place to pick up occasional tools some will falter and others will last. I particularly like Ferrex and Parkside tools and have yet to be let down by them.
If you’re buying petrol equipment, always best to get these new but do have a scour on Marketplace or Gumtree I’ve found some great additions to the gardening tool line-up, but have also wasted lots of time too.
Good luck and I hope you found this useful!
