At the moment, the one's I don't lose in the garden!!! Seriously, I am going to paint all my tools florescent! I just lost my new gifted pruners somewhere in the back forty. I use a motley assortment of gloves, but have found heavy denim and a baseball cap best for avoiding the slings and arrows of pruning. My plastic clogs are great, but don't provide much ankle support. I would like to find something better for summer gardening. A little basket for small garden tools with a utility belt for miscellaneous goodies are both great for impulse gardening. No need to lug out the big guns and everything's corralled.

I think Felco pruners are the ones most recommended here, although mine were made by Fiskars and were very good. : ((

Hi chey ! My favorite shovel is this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004DTU810/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523802697&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=spearhead+garden+shovel&psc=1&smid=A19NVE4G6SOT2C

They also sell a short handled version on qvc

http://www.qvc.com/Spear-Head-Garden-Shovel-%26-Spade-with-Reinforced-Handle.product.M56539.html?sc=SRCH

I have clay soil with lots of rocks. When the clay is dry it is so hard to get through. No matter what the conditions of the weather, this shovel makes planting almost effortless. I never thought a shovel mattered much , but this one has allowed me to easily plant all my roses. Slices through my Bermuda sod super easily. Strong to wedge out countless rocks .

I haven't found perfect pruners for me yet but I haven't spent more than $20 on mine either. I too lose them left and right.

vapor I just remembered there is neon duct tape at Walmart for $4. We should use that ! Easier than paint.

You're brilliant!!! I still need to get that shovel. I have so many others that it's hard to justify.

So smart about the neon tape! Great idea. I'm doing that! Also, going to look into that shovel and the pruners recommended. I live in "Rockland" so you can imagine how many rocks I fight with.

DIFFERNT TIP: If you buy from Amazon and read the reviews like I do, you can now go to a website to confirm if the reviews are legit or fake. Go to FakeSpot.com. Copy the Amazon URL of the product you want, and paste it into the field on FakeSpot.com. It will grade the company for legitimacy. Also, sign up for Smile.Amazon.com and select Double Dog Rescue as your non-profit. A portion of the proceeds will go to the rescue my sister and I founded 12 years ago. It will help us save more homeless and unwanted dogs. Same prices, same selection, and you can use PRIME. Thank you in advance if you sign up :)

On a side note, I could just burst into tears because it just started snowing. I'm so in the bitter barn about our weather this year.

Chey,

The most important rose gardner's tool is your hand pruner. It must be super sharp to give surgically clean cuts, and super strong to take on your most intimidating canes.

The pruner whose reputation precedes it is the Swiss Felco pruner. You will pay more for them, but in the long run every penny spent on the best pruner is well worth it.

Good is not cheap, and cheap is not good.

The only drawback my Felco had, was that the locking mechanism was always engaging as I pruned....very annoying. Part of the problem was that although I am left handed a left handed pruner does not feel comfortable, only a right handed one does...go figure.

The solution came when I switched to an Okatsune hand pruner. It locks and unlocks with a clever end of handle locking device swiped across your leg. It never locks while being used. Also, to lock or unlock it you don't need to use your free hand, which may be holding a cut stem at the time. Just swipe the locking device at the handles' end against your leg to operate it. Okatsune pruners are legendary for their durability and super sharp Japanese steel. Mine is my Felco's equal if not even better.

Moses

I really like my ARS pruners, also Japanese steel and very sharp.

Chey,

Jasminerose's recommendation, which I heartily endorse, of the ARS hand pruner is another excellent, top of the line hand pruner. I have had my eye on it for a backup to my Okatsune.

Moses.

Thank you! It's amazing how often you wonder about things when you just have to ask fellow gardeners. I already ordered the shovel that LilyFinch suggested and the Felco Pruners that vapervac suggested. I will check out Okatsune Pruners.

Does anyone have a miracle for Japanese Beetles? Already doing Milky Spore and am trying something new this year, Merit Granular Systemic Insect Control.

Felco makes a little diamond sharpener, and the package has very good directions for how to use it. Now that I understand how to sharpen my clippers, I do it easily before I head out with them. What a difference it makes to have sharp clippers! To think that years ago I took them to the locally owned garden store and paid $5 for sharpening!

I have magnets stuck inside an old 9x13 cake pan. The diamond sharpener "lives" on a couple of magnets inside the cake pan, as do some tweezers which I use for plucking diseased rose leaves from tight spaces in or under the rose bushes. Generally I load the cake pan w one or two pairs of clippers and a weeding tool as well, or whatever I'll be needing, and then carry it out to the garden. At pruning time, I add one or two small bottles of Elmers glue. I've just bought some Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer and will be spraying my old cake pan with it soon; the pan is not aluminum and does have a bit of rust.

Favorite weeder is the Ken Ho.

Large garden scoops are handy for transferring material. Additionally, if you have a pair of them, you can use one to lift a seedling and another to make a receiving hole. Slide the seedling and its soil right off the first scoop into the hole made by the other scoop.

The "Trake" is a handy tool in the garden, and also it extends my reach when I go up the ladder to clean eaves troughs.

My Gardening Notebook is a Circa disc binder notebook from Levenger. I
make my own narrow-ruled paper using WordPerfect tables and a Circa
punch.

(Bose noise-cancelling headphones and Spotify on the cell phone make gardening an indulgence. I enjoy radio stations based on new age artists such as Karunesh, John Adorney, Medwyn Goodall, Chris Spheris, and Parijat when working outdoors.)

Felco pruners. A word of caution: #2 is the classic model but I find them large for my hands and use instead #6-compact. It's basically the #2 model for smaller hands (mostly women size). My friend swears by his Corona Classic Cut pruners, much less expensive than Felcos but a great quality.

Cori Ann mentions her gardening tool belt and I have to say it's awesome. I ordered it after she wrote about it on this forum. It's fantastic, very convenient and the belt is adaptable to fit all kinds of body sizes.

The most useful larger tool for me is a garden fork. Once I read that the best are with square tines and I found it makes a world of difference.

I also love my Muck boots, practically indestructible.

Awesome vesfl! :-)

I will look for the brand of my gear and will write you.

I bought my shares one year ago, from https://www.hausandgarten.com/products/haus-garten-classic-titanium-bypass-pruning-shears, and they still work perfectly, I didn't even sharpen them from the purchase. If someone likes to buy or see them, I will leave a link above. Also, thanks for your recommendations, I also had a pair of pruning shares from Smile, but unfortunately, I somehow managed to broke them, and just after that I bought the ones that I have now. I hope that at least for someone this thread will be useful, and you will manage to find a good pair of shares for your garden.

ARS brand pruners are outstanding--I've used them for years on many a huge rose. I have two in different weights. Nothing beats that Japanese steel. They are used for Bonsai, too. I also have the excellent ARS pruning saw. Diane

I'm curious about @Cori Ann - H0uzz violated my privacy's gardening belt now--who makes it? Where do we get it? I'd also love to know everyone's favorite hari hari :D

I just wanted to say that I got a pair of the Mud gloves, but unlike @Cori Ann - H0uzz violated my privacy, I had a bad experience with them and got stabbed when trying to prune my Seven Sisters rose. I replaced them with Garden Supply's Rose Gloves and they work much better for protecting me against the super sharp thorns.

@bananastand is there a link to those? I purchased the Mud ones from ARE after reading the above comment but may have to consider something else

Bee keepers. Gloves. I mentioned them in another post. Cheap and great protection with good finger dexterity from goat skin. . Many size available.

@Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b here you go: Rose Gloves