What are some tools and accessories I need to build a rock garden? Rock gardens require tools like mortar, cement mixers, and rocks of course. Rock garden accessories include patios, reflection pools, pathways, and even covered gazebos.
"A rock garden usually includes mortar, unless it's a dry stack. Mortar is a carbon component silver mixture," says Laddie Flock, owner of Natural Rock Formations, a company that has been in business for 17 years and has experience in all different styles and themes of rock gardens. Natural Rock Formations is one of the largest distributors of natural stone products on the Pacific coast and has been featured in many publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Landscape and Irrigation magazine. Their website can be found at www.natrok.com.
Flock continued by saying, "Right now, there are a number of home stores that have good electric mixers that you can buy in the $300 range and they are quite good. So you need a good mixer, a good set of tools for working with stones, then a mason's hammer or stone hammer, a chipper, safety glasses, a good pair of gloves, good shoes, and maybe a hand dolly. It usually depends on how big the project is. It may pay them well to look into a used wall cab tractor with the bucket and set of forks, to use it through the duration of the project and refill."
Flock says, "Those are some of the tools you'll need; obviously you'll need shovels and the hose and common garden utensils. Everybody seems to use a rock bar, it saves your back. One man can move a thousand pound boulder with a rock bar relatively easy. I personally have moved a 3000 pound boulder or more by myself with a rock bar lever. A rock bar is a steel bar that has a flat bottom and a squared top to it, there is a variety of them. They can take a rock out of the earth. They can help dig in areas where a shovel can't because they have points on them, they soften it up. Also, it can move massive weight through a leverage process. The rock bar is an incredible tool."
If you are working with smaller rocks, you obviously won't need the tractor or rock bar if the rocks are small enough for you to move on your own without putting yourself in danger of muscle strains or injuries. It's all going to depend on the size of the garden you are creating, and the size of the elements you are working with.
You will also need tools and accessories that will coincide with the other elements orfunction of your rock garden.
Flock says, "Reflection pools, small streams, seasonal creeks with water, pathways with concrete to stone or stone over soil will make rock garden more presentable. Patios, or a place where you put a table and chairs that are comfortable will add to a rock garden also. An overhang, canopy patio, or covered gazebos are just incredible. Play activities like playing croquet or horse shoe pits or even a putting green or chipping green integrated with the garden is quite fun."
If you plan on incorporating any of these types of elements into your garden, be prepared to have the necessary tools to set them up.
