As a gardener knowledge of the right equipment to use for the job is key and there will be times when you need truly specialised garden ladders, designed for when indulging in your green fingered pursuits. At some point every bush or hedge needs pruning and there will occasionally be some kind of rot inducing pest that invades your favourite ornamental tree leaving its branches a danger to itself and any unsuspecting passers-by should they remain in place untended. Garden platforms and ladders are so useful in these types of scenarios so lets have a closer look. Safety is first and foremost the primary reason for buying a specially designed ladder for gardening. According to government statistics around 6000 gardeners fall off of their rickety old ladders every year and that doesn't include mention of the aches and pains caused in backs, necks and arms as a result of trying to reach up to areas that are too high to work on. People trying to balance on their household Step ladders are often the biggest culprit for accidents: trying to balance a step ladder on uneven ground is a recipe for disaster in the garden!

Garden Platforms and Ladders - A Much Safer Option

A much safer and sturdier option are garden ladders or platforms, which in reality are mini scaffolding towers. Multi-purpose scaffolding systems or mobile garden platforms can be ideal for gardening purposes, as they are easy to assemble and require no specific training unlike industrial models. Brace fixings are easy to fix together and if coupled with spring clip systems make for a very easy and very secure construction that you can have complete faith in. Garden ladders and platforms also have a number of features to make them more user friendly, such as rubber wheels and light weight frames so that they are easily transportable around your garden's lawns, beds and paths. Adjustable outriggers, stabilising bars plus hand and knee rails can sometimes be part of the design; in order to maximise user stability and safety. There are a couple of ranges designed specifically with the avid topiarist in mind too! Hedgemate have designed a telescopic working platform (The "Hedgemate") with four adjustable legs which is perfect for the uneven ground that can be found in the garden. Remove a few bolts and it also folds away nice and neatly for easy storage. The Hedgemaster (not to be confused with the "Hedgemate") is also perfectly designed for all your gardening jobs, be it pruning, apple picking or tree trimming. It's also made out of aluminium making it lightweight for its size and meaning it requires very little in the way of maintenance. Garden ladders can start at as little as 99 pounds and so are not really any more expensive than some of the other options for accessing those high up spots and are certainly a safer way to garden! The beauty of these working platforms are that you are completely secured by side rails, which can come up to under arm height, allowing full freedom of movement at height with little risk. This feeling of safety is priceless for anyone like me who tends to get a little nervous at heights. So there are many choices when searching for garden ladders. Safety and manoeuvrability are the key things to look out for: We get very little in the way of summer in this country, I'm sure you don't want to spend some of it as one of the accident statistics this year!