The mini dumper is the most popular of the heavy landscaping tools that can tackle in hours what would take days to accomplish manually. These machines can dig down to a maximum depth of two meters and have a ground-level reach of over three meters, making them perfect for trench digging, excavating a pond or heaping up earth to form a bank.

Once you’ve dug up all that earth, you need some way of moving it. Mini dumpers are mechanized wheelbarrows that use a four-wheel drive set up and can be squeezed though a standard doorway or narrow side alley. Mini dumpers can be ordered with a skip-loading ramp, flatbed and several other handy accessories.

Even with all the muscle of motorized machinery, there’s always a need for a plain old wheelbarrow. All gardeners need a strong wheelbarrow with a wide pneumatic wheel that won’t create ruts in your newly laid lawn. Top-of-the-range corn sheller models even have safety guards on the handles to protect your knuckles from brushing against trees and other obstacles.

Once you have the ground shapes established, a rotivator or light-duty tiller can be used to break up the clods and prepare the soil for planting or turfing. Hire a lightweight tiller for cultivated or broken-up soil, or a heavier rotivator for breaking up compacted earth.

To keep your newly laid lawn looking immaculate, choose a cylinder mower. The bank of blades rotates to chop cleanly through the grass, unlike the hacking and tearing action of other mowers. These blades must be kept sharp to work well, so regular maintenance is important. They don’t work well on rough areas or long grass but are good for the keen gardener who wants to give the front of his new plot appeal. The clean cutting action and lawn fertilizer design is best for cutting right up to walls or fences. Look for five blades rather than the standard four if you’d like the ultimate lawn.