Gardening with Fiskars Tool Review
Let’s put another set of tools through the Shawna-Marator Tool Review Machine, shall we? Today we have two tools from Fiskars to review. Both these tools were built to engage your garden cutting with more power and less effort, thereby making them a choice if you have a physical condition such as spinal osteoarthritis like I have that might make it difficult for you to cut. I used the tools most of the season. This is a good time of year to reconsider tools since we are rapidly approaching “fall clean up” – a time when I snip and cut both shrubs and perennials back frequently. Having sharp, strong tools helps make your projects easy to do. At the end of this post please leave a comment letting me know your favorite fall garden clean up tips for a chance to win a tool give-away contest (I hope to select a few problems and help solve them in upcoming posts).
PowerGear2™ Pruner $24.99
Fiskars says this tool also gives you 3X the power on every cut compared to their regular pruners. However, I give it a B to B+ rating because while it is a tough pruner, I found the closing and twisting action on the pruner handle a bit uncomfortable. Definitely a tool which offers “light squeezing” for those of us who have trouble doing that action. In order to confirm that you like the twisty feel of this tool, I think you should go to a store and try the tool out first before you purchase it. Perhaps it will be a comfortable pruner for you.
PowerGear2™ Lopper (25″) $38.99
This is a tough tool – I liked it and give it an A rating. Fiskars says this lopper gives you up to 3X the power on every cut compared to their regular loppers. Smart idea, because if you have arthritis or another condition, you could easily squeeze the tool closed. To test its strength, I ran it over with my Prius C — this lopper held up well to being ran over by a car. If it can survive that, I’m thinking it will survive me dropping it repeatedly on my flagstone and generally beating the tool up in normal use.
In both of my homes, one in Florida and one in North Carolina, I have many places that need pruned. These type tools are excellent in accomplishing this garden work in quick and beautiful way to have my garden looking like a professional gardener has completed this. I highly recommend these type of tools for a beautiful garden.
I have found that doing big garden clean up can help especially in fall. I like to leave seedheads I know the birds will love, but I do have to cut back many plants in fall as it is too much work in spring and too wet here in spring to get to all areas. So I especially cut back the areas now that are very wet in spring. I would love these tools to help especially with bushes and heavier, thicker stems.
I discard all my “sick” and dead vegetable plants by placing them in a plastic bag and discarding at the transfer station. This includes all dropped leaves and all mulch. This is especially true for my tomato plants with the rot.
I usually plant some more plants since Florida has along growing season. I also trim up my bushes and cut back some of my perennials.
WE DO A FALL CLEANUP RAKE AND DISARD LEAVES TRIM BUSHES AND CUT BACK AND GET RID OF ALL DEBRI. THESE TOOLS WOULD BE OF GREAT USE IN OUR YARD WITH ALL THE PLACES THAT WE HAVE TO TRIM AND CARE FOR WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY OVE THEM!!!
I haven’t been in the garden for a few days – it’s been in the mid-90s and there is NO shade, yet (my trees are young, still) – but I could certainly use those pruners. Mine aren’t that fabulous and I find my hands are starting to hurt, sooner. 🙁
Living and gardening in South Florida is quite the challege. The heat and humidity makes it impossible to comfortably prune and clean up the garden during the morning and afternoons. I try gardening in the evenings and if I had some fiskars helping me do the job, my gardening experience would definitely quicker and more pleasant!
My favorite fall tip is to leave grasses and perennials with seed heads for the birds and winter interest. I love the way they look when covered in snow or ice. I also like mowing over and bagging fallen leaves to use as mulch in the fall. Saves money on mulch and doesn’t overwhelm the compost bin.
I wish I had some fall cleanup tips. I tend to leave a lot and hope the good bugs overwinter. The downside to that is some of the bad ones do really well too – like grasshoppers. This last weekend my dog and I attempted to catch a good 3 1/2 incher. Sadly, it got away. They’re monstrous!
I let leaves sit under my perennials, as mulch, and leave the seed heads for the birds. I do trim back the roses in fall and also do a last weeding. And I will often split perennials early in the fall and start a new garden area, to get a head start on next year. I leave the trimming back of my evergreens (never a huge pruning) until Advent, when I can use the trimmings for decoration.
Peeling away mulch and cutting away landscape fabric this morning, trimming away dead leaves and branches. And picking up the first of the leaves to fall.
Here in Southern California fall is the perfect time to set in new plants and take advantage of the rains that come in the winter. It is really the best choice when installing natives. This year we are adding as many pollinator and bird-friendly natives as our budget will allow. The best guess now is that we will have a wet winter and so we also have to do our clean up with an eye to protecting the soil from erosion since we live on a slope. I’m placing river rock strategically to help create and maintain swells.
This summer the finches have really taken an interest in my dying coneflowers so I have decided not to cut them back this fall like I usually do. We usually gather up any leaves that have fallen & throw them on the garden to add great nutrients.
2 years of neglect due to my wife’s medical situation means some major garden restoration. Saplings have sprouted, wild honeysuckle is consuming everything. We tend to leave summer blooming perennials and zinnias for the goldfinches. Leaves get raked together and chopped with the mower, then added to the compost bin to break down to spread in the spring. If you have a lot of branch pruning to do, and have the room, create a hedgerow/hiding place for the various yard birds and other critters. Good luck, everyone!
hi thanks for sharing this can you also share some ideas as how to grow flowers plants fast .
I haven’t ever seen Fiskars that extreme before, but I might need some for this current tomato harvest I have going on! Ah, the joys of zone 10b…
Hi my name is Sandra and I just wanted to drop you a quick note here instead of calling you. I discovered your Gardening with Fiskars Tool Review – Shawna Coronado page and noticed you could have a lot more hits. I have found that the key to running a successful website is making sure the visitors you are getting are interested in your niche. There is a company that you can get targeted traffic from and they let you try their service for free for 7 days. I managed to get over 300 targeted visitors to day to my website. Check it out here: http://innovad.ws/2dttq