Paul James, host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, discusses some of his favorite garden gear. A well-equipped gardener is likely to have on hand all kinds of miscellaneous equipment and supplies to make gardening a lot easier and more convenient. A tough canvas tote, for example, allows you to carry seeds, trowels, pruners and similar items as you work in the garden. Even better is a 5-gallon tool bucket made of recycled plastic. It comes with a tool belt that slips right over the bucket, and it's loaded with pockets for storing gardening equipment and supplies. Also available are stackable organizer trays for small items; four trays fit neatly into the bucket. The bucket serves double duty as a garden seat. If you've got a lot of weeding or harvesting to do, or you're tired and need a break, put the air-cushioned seat cover on top of the bucket, and you've got a comfortable resting spot. Gardeners spend a lot of time on their knees, which is why several products aimed at providing knee relief have popped up on the market. The simplest is an inexpensive foam kneeling pad. A bit more expensive are kneepads, most of which go on easily, are comfortable and provide a good deal of protection. Another combination is the seat/kneeler. Placed one way, it's a seat; flipped over, it's a kneeler. You'll probably want to have several different kinds of sprayers. Small pump sprayers are great for small jobs such as spraying a row of corn with Bt to protect the crop from corn earworms. They're also useful for spraying compost tea or liquid seaweed on plants as a foliar feed. For larger jobs, pressurized sprayers come in handy. On most models, you can adjust the spray from fine mist to jet stream, and despite their size, these sprayers can build up quite a bit of pressure -- enough to spray something 10' or 12' away. For even larger jobs, it's hard to beat a tank sprayer. They're available in several sizes, and also have adjustable nozzles. You can find spare parts for them at most nurseries and home-and-garden centers. If you have an entire yard or large garden to spray, consider a hose-end sprayer, preferably one with a dial that lets you fine-tune the dilution rate. Hose-end sprayers should be rinsed thoroughly after each use. Make sure to pump clean water through the nozzle as well. This is a good safety measure and helps keep them from clogging. Every gardener should own a rain gauge or two -- perhaps a small one in the vegetable garden so you can keep track of how much water the sprinkler delivers and a jumbo version mounted on a pole that can be read from far away. Another weather-related tool is a minimum-maximum thermometer, which records both the low and the high temperatures over a given period, depending on how often you reset it. To prevent tracking dirt and mud into the house after you garden, consider a sprayer or scraper to clean your shoes. If you wear boots while gardening, consider buying a wire boot rack, which holds two pairs of boots upside down so rain, leaves and bugs can't get in them. Aerator sandals may seem a bit goofy, but they do benefit your lawn. Aerating the lawn routinely is one of the best things you can do for the grass, and the point of wearing aerator sandals is to do the job while you walk around the lawn. Of course, if you have a very large lawn, you may need to rent a power aerator. No gardener should be without bushel baskets and buckets. Bushel baskets are great for hauling scraps to the compost pile and compost to the garden. They're also useful when it comes to harvesting and storing large crops such as potatoes. Buckets are terrific for blending potting mixes and fertilizer, and in a pinch, they make a decent makeshift stool. When you don't feel like hauling water, watering cans, especially those equipped with rosettes that deliver a fine, gentle spray, are the next best thing. They're ideal for watering newly planted seedbeds or container plants. Galvanized cans are expensive to replace, so make sure you don't leave them out during the winter with even the slightest bit of water in them: if the water freezes, it can cause a leak in the can.
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