10 techniques to put in place in your garden to limit chemical inputs and why not, do without! 8th point of this theme, "the right tool, adapted, maintained"
A good gesture is nothing if it is not done with the right tool in good working order. Too many cuts heal badly because of a badly sharpened blade. Too much muscle fatigue from a blunt-edged hoe…
You can't spare a tool for a specific job. It can be bought, borrowed. But each tool is made to meet a very specific need, with increasing emphasis on ergonomics. I remember my beginnings as a gardener in a garden design business. I was 16 years old and I had to make the holes with a 3 kg pickaxe. I was exhausted long before the end of the day. Some time later, having changed company, the boss entrusted me with a 2 kg pickaxe. I had become very efficient.
There are secateurs for small hands, hedge trimmers with a pole and a harness, spades with a shape that allows better penetration into the ground... Choose the right tool adapted to your morphology.
A pruner, a hedge trimmer, a lopper are made to cut, so the blade must cut. An unsharpened blade is a badly made cut, which will have difficulty healing and it is also pain in the joints in addition. If you force too much with a pruner for example, it is either that it does not cut enough, or that the tool is not suitable. Perhaps it is necessary at this time to take a small saw, and therefore, to force less...
A hoe also sharpens. A stroke of the file makes the blade sharper, so less force in weeding work.
Tools that have worked the soil should be cleaned with water at the end of use to remove any soil residue. But at the end of autumn, before handing over the tools, oil the metal parts to avoid rust.
The systematic disinfection with alcohol of the cutting tools before starting to prune a new plant is the best preventive process for diseases (prophylactic method). At the end of pruning a shrub, a small spray of alcohol or white vinegar prevents fungi, bacteria or viruses from spreading to the next shrub.
1. the plant adapted to its environment
2. Biodiversity
3. soil fertility
4. Irrigation management
5. mulching
6. Managing invasive plants
7. the right gestures at the right times
8. The right tool, adapted, maintained
9. Companion plants
10. Crop rotation:2 years of vacation!
Conclusion
