Really, as a gardener you can be found pondering buying that garden fork UK or perhaps marveling at that Bulldog garden spade - but of course, it’s taken much of history to reach a point where you can. Hoes and shears are relatively recent innovations, but you probably already know, gardens are as old as Man. The activity we know as a favorite pastime actually began over sixteen thousand years ago.

In Egypt gardeners worked by a blending of spirituality, practical reasons, and pleasure. The vital flowers as well as similar food-bearing plants would mingle with pools for fish, being confined by stone walls. Some of this was set aside, holy plants planted and tended in honor of their deities. And other roots, prized highly by the priests, grew in sites far from the gardens.

They weren’t the only nation to produce early plantations. Also active were the Babylonians, the Assyrians, not to mention the Persians, who all also incorporated buildings of some size into places. As you’d expect, another example of a culture who practiced this was the Romans - the Greeks, mind you, dedicated their efforts to the food potential of their farmland rather than the visual.

Although we concede they would not have used forks or rakes, these nations did employ a variety of elementary implements and aids similar to today’s hoes and spades. Tools were initially constructed from stone, but were made out of bronze, copper, and iron as time passed. Progress was abruptly halted during the Middle Ages. Gardening was no different, but fortunately, the priests kept what had been learned alive, ready to be called on by the wider world.

Slowly we rediscovered the hobby of constructing gardens to enjoy. Rules began to evolve, a formal system overseeing the way the garden would, in the end, turn out. Many great representations of this include knot gardens and hedge mazes, drawn from ornate patterns and textures. Rules like these are no longer compulsory, so there’s really no reason to fret - have fun, and don’t be embarrassed when it comes to investigating how to fix some annoying lawn rakes deformity or reading some well written lawn rake review. Rather than abiding by gardening conventions that were developed over generations, “Capability” Brown and others created a special blend of instinct and structure by combining modern decorative pieces such as columns with a realistic looking landscape.

Admittedly, things have evolved over the years, but gardens are still cultivated for much the same reasons. At the end of the day, they’re always some of the most wonderful spaces on earth.