"Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade." -Rudyard Kipling

Sweat and toil along with gentle showers guarantee pleasant flowers and pleasing fruits and consoling shade. As Rudyard Kipling says, "Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade." It involves getting into the dust without hesitation. Long gone were the days when human beings consumed just what the earth produced. Now we have learnt to produce what we like to consume. It must have been an interesting episode for human beings to make the first association of plants and trees with water and rain. It must have been a tough lesson to grasp for our forerunners that there are seasons for everything, to sow and to reap. It must have been an even tougher lesson to calculate about season and off season. Along with these realizations, came the need for gardening tools. Because, when they consumed just what the earth produced, they did not have to do much other than gathering, but when they started producing what they wanted, they had to take control of the natural processes. In this newly learnt venture of gardening and cultivation they started utilizing simple tools to dig, to weed and to reap. The world of horticulture has now evolved a whole new generation of horticultural tools.

Though it is not the ideal way to classify gardening tools, I classify them under two categories - useful and nice but not necessary!!! Some of the useful traditional tools are, Garden shovel, Spade, Spading Fork, Hoe, Rake, Trowel, Digger, Pruning Shears, Lopping Shears, and Hedge shears. These are the basic tools of gardening. You can see gardening stores and gardening catalogs crammed with a huge number of other so called sophisticated, fancy, power tools that are Dollar Driers. These equipments keep you busy in maintaining them rather than helping you maintain the garden you are tending!!! However, carefully selected garden tools though basic they are, will certainly make life easy.

Another factor that enhances your garden and gardening is Liquid fertilizers. Not many who realize that rain water in itself is one of the effective liquid fertilizers. Besides this natural liquid fertilizer, there are a variety of artificial liquid fertilizers that give your plants a quick nutrient boost because plants assimilate liquid fertilizers through their roots and as well as their foliage pores. Liquid fertilizers in the form of foliar sprays are found to be most effective during the flowering and fruiting stage of plants. However, one has to be extra cautious in following the instructions carefully especially in conforming to the dilution formula and to the application method, lest you may spoil your crop. Liquid fertilizers sprayed in the early hours of the mornings and in the early evening hours prove to be safe as they will be absorbed most quickly saving the plant from foliage burn.

A good gardener always knows it is just not tools and fertilizers that make a successful garden but patience and consistent care are the essentials of effective gardening. Effectively used gardening tools and moderately used liquid fertilizers blended with tender care will make you a happy gardener.