At Frostproof Garden Supply, some of our largest clients are those who are looking for orchard supplies or nursery supplies. These are the managers and owners of large-scale plant operations who are looking for the best tools available so that they can make the most of their businesses.

But we also supply many backyard gardeners around the country, from those with many acres to gardeners who are just taking care of the landscaping around their small homes. Many of them might be here for basic garden hand tools — loppers, watering nozzles, and saws — but they all too often avoid the tools that the professionals use.

We’re here to tell you that no one should be afraid to step out of their comfort zone and try something new when it comes to improving their garden or landscaping, no matter how little space they’re working with. Let’s take a look at some gardening tools that might be intimidating but can still be used by anyone willing to learn.

Soil Moisture Meters

When many gardeners are choosing plants, they’ll start by selecting them for looks. After that, they check the tag to see if the plant they’ve chosen needs the level of sun provided by the spot they’ve chosen. If so, they’ll buy the plant...completely ignoring the tag’s instructions for the plants watering needs.

Accurately measuring the amount of water a plant is getting plays a surprisingly large role in how well it will grow. Unfortunately, it can be impossible to tell how much water is at root level, which makes a soil moisture meter an important part of helping plants thrive. While the average gardener might not need one that costs $300, using a simple $8 model can do wonders to test the amount of water in your soil and change your watering habits accordingly.

pH Testers

Have you ever purchased a plant that has a tag advising you “prefers slightly acidic soil” and just hoped for the best? Many gardeners have, hoping that whatever soil they have will suffice. Sometimes it does, other times the plants simply don’t thrive.

Soil pH can change quite a bit from area to area in the yard. Sometimes it’s due to runoff from grass fertilizer, other times from amendments such as compost. All soil isn’t created equal, which is why a soil pH meter is so important. Meters are easy to use, and if you find that the soil isn’t right for your particular types of plants, we can help you change it with a proper solution.

Grafting Supplies

One of our favorite subjects to write about here at Frostproof is grafting. Grafting involves taking a part of one tree (the scion) and grafting it onto a different plant (the rootstock). There are many reasons this is done, either to have a tree pollinate itself, to shape a tree so that the fruit are closer to the ground, or to keep strains going that would die out otherwise (navel oranges are a prime example).

Tree grafting is surprisingly simple, yet it scares many backyard gardeners. If you have reason to graft a tree, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get the three basic tools you need to make it happen — a grafting knife, grafting tape, and grafting wax. Even easier, Frostproof offers grafting kits that come with all of these and instructions on the best way to perform tree grafting.

Frost Protection

Plants tend to grow better when they’re in the ground, rather than in the same containers in which they started as seedlings. That’s why most us — nursery managers and regular gardeners alike — want to get plants into the ground as soon as possible in the growing season. Once plants are outside, there are two basic ways to protect plants from frost: 1) take the plants indoors at night, or 2) leave them in the ground and use frost covers. After all, frosts can come late in spring and destroy entire crops. With their livelihoods depending on it, nurseries are usually well-stocked with frost covers. They’ll often have row covers that can protect hundreds of plants at a time; Frostproof has them as long as 1000 feet.

Everyday gardeners can get in on the action as well, purchasing frost covers in order to keep plants safe from frost. While the typical gardener won’t need a row cover that’s 1000-feet long, many of them are interested in the frost covers we offer that’s 12-feet by 8-feet, perfect for covering small gardens and potted plants.

Harvesting Shears

If you just have one or two fruit trees on your property, you might not think you can benefit from harvesting shears like an orchard could. We’re here to tell you that a good pair of harvesting shears can actually be an important addition to your collection of garden hand tools.

Let’s say you’re picking apples from a backyard tree. Most fruit trees of today are bred so that they walk a thin line: staying on long enough to ripen (without blowing off in the wind) while coming off easily when ready to be picked. Unfortunately, some of those apples just aren’t going to come right off the tree when you want to pick them, and that can lead to more problems than you intended. You might strip the bark right off, or bring a few too many leaves. Stripped bark could lead to infection or insect infestation.

Harvesting shears might seem like an extravagance for just a few backyard trees, but they can really help make sure you’re not accidentally damaging a tree. We’ve got a great selection that will make sure you’re helping the tree instead of hurting it.

Tree-T-Pees

These simple little devices are absolutely amazing at saving water and fertilizer usage when a tree is starting to grow. Tree-T-Pees are cone-shaped structures that wrap around a tree after it’s planted, letting you water it much more efficiently. The black color of the Tree-T-Pee also absorbs heat, creating a little sauna for the plant that helps it grow faster.

Tree-T-Pees are often used by the hundreds by orchard growers and nurseries, but they’re also an excellent way to help get that one backyard tree off to a good start.

Get Professional Results With Frostproof!

We know you love your garden and want to improve your landscaping as much as possible. And while you might not be a professional, we bet you want to get the most out of the plants you put in the dirt. Frostproof is ready to help, so click on those links above and get planting like a pro!