Five Outdoor Tips for Beginner Gardeners

Tip 1:Prepare your hardy vegetable, fruit, and herb plants by trimming old, dead growth, weak stems, branches, and diseased leaves. For smaller plants like thyme, you can use the Softouch^® Micro-Tip^® Pruning Snips. For larger berry bushes, like blueberry and blackberry bushes, use the PowerGear2™ Pruner as it is able to cut through branches up to 3/4" thick.

Tip 2:Take care of those large, overgrown spots with Fiskars new clearing tools. The diversity in the set of clearing tools is helpful when you need to trim back old brush around the yard or clear tall grasses to rebuild a path. These tools are designed to work with one hand, leaving your other hand free to grab and pile cuttings.

Tip 3:Keep your trees healthy with trimming. Remove any damaged or diseased branches from the winter, making sure that no more than 25% of the tree's branches are removed. The PowerGear loppers make this task a breeze. For smaller limbs, you can use a pruner.

Tip 4:Prune your favorite springtime flowering plants and shrubs to encourage new growth this season. The PowerGear2™ Pruner is the perfect tool for this task, saving you energy and time. You'll want to cut just above existing branches, at a 45-degree angle. Keep in mind, each cut will typically stimulate two new growths just below the cut; this is why pruning in late winter to early spring is perfect for kick starting your plant's growth.

Tip 5: Move indoor plants outdoors, or begin planting seeds for the upcoming growing season.

With the right tools, it's easy for any beginner gardener to feel like a professional gardener. Adopting these tips will help you make any job a quick and enjoyable one!