I wrote yesterday of the importance of keeping your grass edges neat and tidy to give the overall impression of a well kept garden.

We have a lot of these kind of edges around the vegetable and flower beds, but also around the patio and lots of stepping stones.

Long handled shears are the tool of choice for the beds, though I might try doing them this year with my new cordless strimmer.

Cutting the grass that encroaches on to the patio and stepping stones is a different job entirely. It is hard, back breaking work, and the tool of choice for this is an old bread knife.

I know that doesn’t sound very inspiring, but it has served me well over the last 7 or 8 years and is still going strong.

It’s blade is worn to a ludicrous shape and it has lost all it’s serrations, but it does a splendid job and I would be lost without it. Fancy garden tools are all well and good,but sometimes it’s the most simple and unlikely things that are exactly what you need to do a good job.