Today's favourite.......my Burgon and Ball Secateurs

So I am going to start this post with a piece of personal information that may surprise you all.......
I am only little!!
5 feet, 1 and three quarter inches if you want an exact measurement.
Even my dear mum was 5 feet two.
And with that littleness goes a ridiculously small pair of feet, (size 2 and a half if you want a real chuckle) and small hands.

I hear you wondering if I have again lost the plot but these are important facts for what I am about to talk about and here's why. Every now and again people berate the fact that people make ladies tools, that surely no one needs them and everyone can manage to use a general sized tool collection but actually no we can't! I need smaller tools to be able to hold them comfortably and be able to use them for any length of time. And if they are attractive at the same time then hooray, although it does annoy me if they are twice the price with a designer label, but that might be more about my budget than anything else!!

 

Anyway a few months ago Burgon and Ball contacted me via Twitter having seen that my prized 20 year old secateurs had "disappeared" and offered to send me a new pair of their Professional Range secateurs and when I saw that they do a smaller size I jumped at the chance. They arrived in a few days in the post and I realised that I had been struggling to use my Felcos and almost every pair I had ever had, because these just perfectly fitted into my somewhat tiny paw. They have been my faithful servants since that moment, both in the garden at home, on the allotment and in various Incredible Edible Bristol gardens across the city, and are still working as if they were new. I have obviously given them the odd clean and oiled them a few times, but they are such a pleasure to use I can hardly believe my luck!!

When I was sent them the lovely folk said they were happy for me just to have them as a gift and that there was no need to blog about them but I feel it's really important to say that for someone with small hands like me they have been a real eye opener and here's why that is important. Many a person in horticulture has issues with thumb joints and often that is around using secateurs for hours a day. From rheumatism to arthritis and all sorts of other nasty issues, using the wrong sized tools is never ideal for the body, and so it is really good to know that there is a business out there really looking to support all gardeners.

There is a link to the secateurs here in case you fancy a look.......

And while you're there take a look at the new Brie Harrison range which I think is beautiful. And I wasn't even asked to say that!!