As a keen gardener of some years I’ve been given many tools. A small number of them are still going strong, and in use most days. A rather larger number have been used once or twice and quietly passed on to someone else, or else been left in the place where tools go to die in the corner of my potting shed. So I thought long and hard when the kind people at Gardena asked me to try out some of theirs, but then I took a closer look and immediately loved the genius idea of having one handle (long, extendable, ergonomic) that would fit many tools. It’s the same idea as having one battery for many machines, and, as someone who is short on space, it’s one I’m extremely keen on.

Earlier this year I wrote about setting up an automatic watering system, and similar to that one, this system is mercifully intuitive and easy to set up, either using the very clear drawings that come with the products, or just your common sense. I was sent a branch pruner, a garden saw and a rake.

All the attachments fit onto the pole in the same way - you simply slide the thing on and tighten the bolt. The pruner and saw have an extra safety clip to keep things secure, but it takes five seconds to get each thing on or off (rather more than that if you are doing it with one hand and videoing for Instagram with the other) but let’s gloss over that!

Combisystem Anvil Branch Pruner

There’s no magic here, or batteries, or scary mechanical bits and bobs; it works with a simple piece of cord, attached to the pruner blades which runs down to a handle further down the pole. You shorten or lengthen the cord so it’s in a comfortable place, choose your branch and pull the handle. That’s it. I’m slowly but surely opening up my old apple tree which was badly pruned a few years ago, with the result that it is now congested with hundreds of water-shoots (shoots that go straight up to the sky, rather than slowly out, as they should) - the pruner made light work of a few of them after the school run this morning. It takes a bit of practice to get the handle where you need it to be, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s a breeze. The pole itself extends to 5m. It’s very light, which makes it easy to move around when it’s extended fully.

Combisystem Garden saw 300pp Curved

This is one for the larger branches that you can’t lop off with a pruner. Like the pruner, you can use it with or without the pole, just as you would an ordinary pruning saw. The trick here (and with any pruning saw) is to start gently and create a groove in the wood, and again, it does take a bit of practice when the saw is on the end of a long pole, but go slowly and gently, and suddenly you have a lovely straight channel and the saw will do the rest. There’s a handy hook on the end which I used to pull the branch downwards and get it out of the crown of the tree.

Combisystem plastic fan rake XXL Vario

Friends. I didn’t think I’d fall in love with a rake, but look, it’s happened. I already own a perfectly good spring tine rake, which I adore using, not only to tidy up lawn leaves, but also to scarify. This one though, has totally eclipsed my poor old rake. I feel sorry for it, I do, but look, we all have to move on at some point. So what do I love about this new love in my life? Well, it’s weight is the first beautiful thing; it is so light that it almost bounces over my grass, meaning that I don’t have to pull it so hard. Secondly it’s enormous (77cm in width), meaning I get more leaves per stroke, which is pretty important when you have a large, awkwardly shaped lawn like mine, and lots of trees shedding all over it. Third and best, it morphs into a leaf picker-upper…

Once you’ve raked, you can remove the attachment from its pole, divide it into two enormous claw-hands and pick up your leaves with them. So the making of leaf mould (which is something I do every year) becomes not only a joy, but a FAST one at that.

SOLD to the lady in the leopard print jumper.

All of Gardena’s products have a 25 year guarantee (which is properly, stunningly GORGEOUSLY German of them) because this type of stuff is made to last - no built-in obsolescence here. And once you’ve found your perfect pole, you can add to your collection slowly and with consideration and forethought…as you should when buying anything new.

x Laetitia