If you’ve ever had a cheap garden hand tool break on you just when you were in the middle of a big project, you know how frustrating it can be. Not only do you have to stop, but now you have to replace the tool. Plus, if you want to finish the project that day, you might end up heading to a discount store and picking up another less-than-worthy version of the tool, which itself won’t last you as long.

Here at Frostproof Growers Supply, we always advocate purchasing the most high-quality tool available, one that perfectly fits the job at hand. Let’s take a look at a few reasons that it’s so important to purchase a high-quality gardening tool, as opposed to purchasing a throw-away item.

Avoid Multiple Purchases

There are a lot of cheap tools out there. In fact, during the spring and summer you can even find them at dollar stores. But in every case, it’s not a tool that’s going to last you. Let’s take a little hand trowel, for example. If it’s metal, it will start to bend if it’s used in soil that’s too compacted. Bending it back the other way won’t do any good, because if you do that it’s going to work back and forth until it comes back completely. On the other hand, if it’s plastic, it’s might just snap off in your hand, especially if you leave it outside for too long and the UV rays cause the plastic to become brittle. Both of these situations can actually be dangerous if it breaks while you’re putting presure on it, because that pressure could end up causing you to cut your hand on the broken bits it leaves.

Avoid the Frustration

We’re coming back to this one, because it’s so important. If you end up breaking a tool, you’re out of luck until you can get another one. If you follow the advice of this article (and we certainly hope you do), it could take days for the high-quality replacement to arrive in the mail. While it’s better to wait and do the job with a good item than a bad one (more on that in a moment), it can certainly be a bother to have to wait, which might delay you getting plants in the ground or heading to the recycling center.

Get the Cleanest Cuts

Whenever you cutting something, whether it’s a rose bush, a shrubbery, a garden plant, or a tree, it’s always important to get the cleanest cut possible? Why? Because unsharp, low quality garden hand tools can tear or crush a branch instead of cutting it, which means the damage is much worse than it needs to be.

Yes, when you prune any plant you’re technically wounding it, but a clean cut is much better because it doesn’t open up as many places where the viruses, bacteria, and insects pests can get in. Far too often a poor cut will not only tear the part you want to remove but also cause more bark to be lost as well, opening up more places where infection can take place.

It Could Become an Heirloom

While many of the customers we have are here looking for supplies for orchards, others are simply hobby gardeners who are looking for the best in garden hand tools. Take our budding knives, for instance. Are they expensive? Yes, they are pretty expensive. But they’re also the last budding knife you’ll ever need, especially if you keep them sharp with one of our sharpening stones. If tree or flower budding is really what you’re most interested in, you want the best. And if it gives you joy, perhaps you’ll teach your children or grandchildren the tricks of budding and pass the knife along to them. Then it will be the last budding knife they ever need.

When people are young, they don’t quite understand the idea of “buy it nice or buy it twice.” But as we age, we start to understand the importance of quality in our products, whether it’s a watch, wallet, camera, or garden hand tool. Check out everything we have in garden products right here, and leave the discount tools at the discount store.