These manual and electric implements are vital for growing plants and maintaining a perfectly manicured lawn

WORDS AILSA HARVEY

For around 12,000 years, humans have been deliberately sowing seeds to grow plants for our species to benefit from. It’s a practice that enables communities to settle in one place and claim a patch of land as their home. Stone, bone and wood were first crafted to make digging and raking tools for agricultural purposes, and the essential pieces of equipment that most gardeners use today haven’t changed much. However, the use of stronger materials, like steel for blades, and today’s electric appliances have changed the gardening game.

The average European gardener uses three powered gardening tools. As modern technology advances, more efficient garden tools reduce the time and effort required by gardeners to carry out simple gardening tasks. For example, before lawn mowers were invented in 1830, individuals would cut entire lawns by hand using simple shears. The latest lawn mowers have almost completely cut out human assistance aside from setting up the machines: autonomous lawn mowers can be scheduled to begin cutting a lawn without the direction of a gardener, then return to the charging port to prepare for their next shift.