All major gardening tasks require a tool of some kind. Today, with the rapid proliferation of equipment, it can be hard to know which is the best tool to use for a particular job, let alone choose between the different makes and materials. Is a soak hose more cost-effective than a sprinkler? What's the best way of protecting tender plants in winter? What do I need to propagate plants? The Essential Garden offers clear, invaluable advice on choosing the best tools for the job. Sensitized to the consumer's point of view, the author, an 11-year veteran product tester and researcher for the UK's Consumer Association magazine Gardening Which? draws on her experience to provide an independent, tough-minded assessment of the best and safest equipment available today. This uniquely accessible book answers these and myriad other questions. It presents over 350 tools and pieces of equipment for every important horticultural task, from routine jobs such as weeding to the intricacies of pruning. The first independent guide to contemporary-rather than antique-gardening tools, it sorts the essential items from the mere gadgets and guides you through the huge range of tool types and materials. As well as helping you choose between different versions of the most basic items, it profiles all the latest power tools, such as robot mowers and other equipment used by professional gardeners. Concise captions describe the main features and uses of all the tools, while step-by-step sequences show how to use them for specific tasks and effects. Accomplished garden experts provide numerous tips and tricks of the trade, many are household names and well-known gardeners. As well as covering all themajor horticultural tools, the book features equipment for surveying a garden and creating a new design, and for key landscaping jobs such as laying paths and terraces. There will be a section of invaluable advice on storing and maintaining tools as well as using them safely. It concludes with a useful list of sources and suppliers, enabling the reader to find all the items featured. Whether planning a complete garden from scratch, replanting a border, or simply want to improve your lawn, The Essential Garden is an invaluable resource. * Michael Pollan on mowing a meadow* David Austin on pruning roses* Beth Chatto on weeding a gravel garden* Penelope Hobhouse on planting bulbs* Piet Oudolf on creative hedge design* Ken Druse on designing container plantings