Getting a handle on telescopic garden tools

It's amazing to what lengths manufacturers will go to stretch an idea.

Visit the garden department of any home center and there are the traditional assortment of rakes, trowels and clippers.

But a new entry in the garden tool shed are implements with telescopic handles that easily extend with a push of a button or a simple twist.

These expandable tools make it easier for storage and can bring those just-out-of-reach limbs and branches closer when it's time for a snip or clip or to dig a hole.

Rake takes the cake:ŒThe expandable leaf rake by Grade Plus ($9.98 at Lowe's) features an expandable handle and aluminum tines that unfold with a little push. Full size, the rake measures 6 feet and shrinks down to 3 feet in length. This makes it easier to find a place for it in that crowded garage or shed.

A cut above: The cooler fall weather is a good time to trim shrubs and branches. The 25- to 35-inch Bypass Telescoping Lopper ($27.97 Home Depot) expands by pushing buttons on either handle. The Teflon-coated carbon steel blade and the extended handles provide more power when cutting through thicker branches or shoots at the base of trees.

The lopper also comes with a flat pivot screw for close cutting and ergonomic handles for a comfortable grip.

Hand it to them: Fiskars offers a bumper crop of telescoping hand tools from rakes to trowels to cultivators to diggers ($4.99 Menards).

The selection of expansion tools will help those who have trouble bending over or kneeling when digging around plants or breaking up those chunks of dirt.

Charged up: Black & Decker's 18-volt rechargeable pole pruning saw that extends to 14 feet, could have come in real handy a couple of weeks ago when storms tore through the area and damaged many trees. The saw ($119.99 Menards) weighs 9 pounds and can cut branches 6 inches in diameter. Locking collars secure the Fiberglas pole extensions. There's even a storage bag to tote it around.