Help for Your Hands, Feet and Plants

Good footwear, gloves, tools, irrigation and plant-enhancing materials can make gardening safer and more enjoyable. Here are some new products that my associates and I have tested recently.

Footwear

Proper foot gear is essential to safety when doing heavy work outdoors. Work boots should be comfortable all day and offer the protection of steel toes. The LawnGrips Brutus waterproof boot has these qualities and more. It's a newly designed boot for landscape pros and homeowners that has all the features of quality footwear: It's flexible, comfortable and waterproof, and has a firm heel counter that holds the foot in place, generous room in the toe box and steel toes. Soles have beveled lugs that resist soil and provide traction on wet or dry surfaces. $154.95.

LawnGrips also has redesigned its women's Nimbus garden clog, lightening its weight and making it more comfortable. The new clog offers the same Grip-N-Go outsole with a non-slip, self-cleaning lug sole based on a soccer-shoe design for maximum traction. Nimbus clogs come in three colors -- brick, merlot and spice, available in sizes 6 through 12. Tested in the garden by landscape professionals, these clogs withstood slopes and unstable ground. They can kick a shovel or give traction for pushing a wheelbarrow. They're equally comfortable in and out of the garden and easy to slip off and on at the door. They have antimicrobial insoles, waterproof leather uppers and Dri-Tech lining to absorb moisture. $64.95. For information, see http://www.lawngrips.com or call 877-447-4771.

Gloves

There are gloves for everyday protection that will shield your hands without reducing your tactile ability when working with tools, especially operating switches on equipment. Mechanix Wear makes a complete line of gloves that you can wear while turning nuts and bolts, pulling weeds, pruning trees and shrubs, installing plants and safely using hand tools. The palms are made of synthetic leather, the top from stretch Spandex for ventilation, with Lycra panels between the fingers for maximum flexibility. These fabrics are tightly bonded and machine-washable.

Mechanix Wear gloves are manufactured in various fabric weights that retain their strength while protecting your hands from poison ivy, buried objects, blisters, cuts and abrasions. There are women's and men's styles, and both come in small, medium and large. The women's line is designed for a slimmer, smaller hand, offering the same protection as the Utility and Original models for men.

The Utility is a thin-fabric glove for everyday use, with elastic at the wrist to keep dirt from getting inside. It's tough enough to pull weeds and plants and thin enough to pick up a dime. The Original is a thicker glove for more protection, with a Velcro closure at the wrist. The men's line is designed for high performance and also includes the Impact model. The Impact has additional thermal plastic rubber ribs for extra hand, knuckle and fingertip protection. Prices: All-Purpose Utility, $14.99; Women's Utility, $16.99; Women's Original, $24.99; Men's Original, $24.99; Impact, $29.99. See http://www.mechanix.com or call 800-222-4296.

Tools

Raking leafs; cleaning up from lawn dethatching; shredding leaves to reuse as mulch; and sweeping your driveway, sidewalk, patio and deck have become easier. Toro's electric Ultra Blower Vac is engineered to use a metal impeller to vacuum and grind leaves into a bag, reducing them to one-sixteenth the volume of a pile of raked leaves. The shredded debris is collected in a bag that slips over your shoulder and attaches to the blower. Remove the bag and attach the blower nozzle to clean up after yourself.

Most debris is collected without blowing particulate material into the air. It shreds material to the perfect texture for composting in much less time than unground leaves. The blower's wind speed varies up to 235 miles per hour, controlled with a dial. Because it's electric and the engine speed is adjustable, this blower can be more quiet than others. $85.99.

For light sweeping, the Toro Power Sweep electric blower is a smaller, lighter tool. It's almost as efficient as the Ultra for blowing leaves into a pile. I was impressed with its efficiency (up to 160 mph wind) but was surprised that it ran so loudly. It was considerably quieter on the lower of its two speeds. Best used for occasionally sweeping the driveway and walks or cleaning rain gutters, not major accumulations of leaves that can be raked.

The Power Sweep could keep you from injuring plants by blowing out around shrubs and other obstacles on your property, as opposed to using a rake. $34.99. For more information on both products, check http://www.toro.com/home/yardtools or call 888-384-9939.

Plant Helpers

Soil preparation is one of the most important elements in plant health. A new product by Nature's Lawn & Garden, Aerify Plus, uses a combination of popular growth stimulants and a soil conditioner. Initially, use it every one to two months to boost plant growth and improve soil drainage over several seasons. You should notice a difference in plant vigor within an application or two. Substances build up over time. Plant and soil activators are excellent organic additions to your soil. This conditioner won't burn plants, and it reduces soil compaction; helps condition clay; improves aeration; stimulates plant growth, rooting and structure; and increases humus. Works best watered within several days after application. Price for a quart with ready-to-use sprayer: $21.95. See http://www.natureslawn.com or call 716-681-7793.

In terms of watering in soil conditioners and fertilizers, as well as general irrigation during summer heat, one of the simplest do-it-yourself irrigation systems I have seen is made by Toro. You will find its 1/4 -inch Blue Stripe tubing Drip Valves starter kit ( http://www.toro.com/sprinklers/bsd/kits) to be an excellent beginning. The kit comes with a hose, a selection of emitters, connectors and a faucet connector. It is versatile; simple to install; and practical for use on trees, shrubs and perennials. The starter kit is $9.99. Extra 1/4 -inch hose: $15.47 for 100 feet.

Your plants can benefit greatly from wildlife repellents, used properly. Liquid Fence ( http://www.liquidfence.com) and Plantskydd ( http://www.plantskydd.com) are two we have tried. All herbivore repellents have common traits: They are based on exuding a scent or animal flavor, and they must have residual value. Many plants are salad bars for deer and rabbits. The longest residual value we could discern was about two to three months, without heavy rain.

Plantskydd is considered to be effective for up to six months, even with rain, if applied 24 hours before any precipitation. Liquid Fence comes with a money-back guarantee. One quart of ready-to-use Liquid Fence is $15 to $18. Plantskydd is $25 to $30 but is considered more effective because the plant retains its repelling ability for up to six months.

Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site,http://www.gardenlerner.com.