Garden Pruners Can Do A Lot More Than Tackle Your Plants

Whether you call them garden pruners, pruning shears, or secateurs, you probably own a pair of these sharp-edged cutters. They help you care for fruit trees, shape shrubs, harvest vegetables, and cut flowers for the house. They also have a number of other uses beyond tackling plants. In fact, they might just be one of the most essential gardening tools for the yard ... and beyond.

Some of the tasks are obvious, others less so. They can cut string and even fairly stout rope. The same goes for wire ties, although for thicker wire, you should use pliers so that you don't damage the pruner's blades. You can trim the ends of bamboo canes to shorten them. In a pinch, you can also cut landscape fabric or fruit tree netting.

Perhaps surprisingly, garden pruners can also help maintain your garden power tools. If you want to save money by refilling your own weed whacker spools, you can cut the new string from a bulk reel. If you need to replace a fuel pipe on a gas-powered mower, pruners can trim the plastic tube to the correct length.

One mistake to avoid when pruning your plants is using dull blades. The same is true for these extra tasks. It's a good idea to keep a knife sharpener handy so you can quickly hone the edge if cutting becomes difficult.

Take your garden pruners from the yard and into the kitchen to deal with vegetables when knives and scissors struggle. You can chop the green tops off carrots, sweet potatoes, and yams using pruners. They can be used on tough plants like artichokes or rhubarb's fibrous stalks, for example. That frustrating food packaging you can never get open? No match for pruning shears.

If you don't have a utility knife, pruning shears can slice through tape and packing boxes. When your pencil is blunt, you can sharpen it (being careful to keep your fingers out of the way) using pruners. When you've got zip ties really tight, snipping them is a breeze. What about crafts and hobbies? Any time you need to cut or trim something that is too hard for scissors but too awkward for a knife, pruners might be just the thing to get it done.

Along with regular cleaning and sharpening, your garden pruners will work better with a little WD40. Then they're always ready for all those jobs that could otherwise be so frustrating.