So you want to garden? Getting started is easy! But to keep it easy, there are some tools that are must-haves. Here are my top 10 Garden Tools for Every Gardener.
Gardening does take a bit of investment to get started. Depending on the size of your garden, whether it’s in-ground, in a raised bed, or in patio pots, there are some key tools that’ll help you easily plant, maintain and harvest your beauties. I’ve put them in priority order so that you can build your beginning gardener budget. The first five, in my opinion, are priority.
First thing to note is that spades, shovels and rakes all come with varying handle lengths. Hand-sized are just that; they fit in your hand. They’re great for working in pots or garden boxes on legs (raised garden boxes), or if you’re a “get on my hands and knees in the dirt” kind of gardener. Next are what I call “shorties.” The handles are about 2′ long. Effectively, on my 5’5″ body, they come just about mid-thigh on me. I like shorties for quick work like digging a single plant hole, digging out a small patch of weeds. Full-length tools are for the heavy-duty work, like turning over your garden, raking mulch over a large area, hoeing in a planting row. The handle length gives you leverage, making the job a bit easier. Your garden type and size should guide you in which size to purchase. Each of the following 10 Garden Toolscontains links to the tools I actually use.
Note that they are affiliate links, which means if you choose to purchase via the links I may receive a small commission that supports this blog.
- Short/Long Hoe and/or Hand Hoe – use this to score in planting rows, pull up weed clumps.
- Short/Long Shovel and/or Hand Trowel – use this to dig holes, turn over large plots of dirt.
- Garden Hose, Nozzle and/or Spot Sprinkler – if you have an outside spigot, you’ll want a hose, sprinkler and nozzle to water your garden. Otherwise you’ll need…
- Watering Can – ideally a watering can is just for watering pots. But, if you don’t have an outside spigot near your garden, you’ll need to haul water in watering cans.
- Garden Shears – for pruning plants, dead-heading flowers, cutting flowers, snipping herbs, and cutting perennial flowers back in the fall. In a pinch, a regular sharp scissors will do.
- Bucket – this is a multi-use tool to haul your hand tools, keep potting soil handy, rinse your tools, and more. I LOVE my buckets! I recommend an inexpensive 5-gallon plastic bucket, especially if you can find one with a lid!
- Garden Twine – for tying up plants that may be drooping and to plot out your garden spaces.
- Short/Long Rake and/or Hand Rake(cultivator) – for spreading mulch and evening out your dirt
- Tool Bag – alternative to a bucket, a good tool bag keeps all your small tools neatly in one place to store or carry.
- Garden Gloves – I list this for those who really don’t want to get their hands dirty, or for whom the thought of touching a worn drives them crazy. I also recommend gloves for pulling weeds by hand. I learned that lesson when I pulled a stinging nettle once…OUCH! I only use leather garden gloves when I’m pruning my roses to protect my hands from thorns. But, for the most part, I’m a dirt girl…my manicurist’s nightmare!
BONUS!
A Garden Cart. I add this for those for whom their storage is on one side of the house, and the garden is on the other….like me. What a pain in the arse to have all my garden tools in the garage, then have to haul a million loads to the backyard. As much as I would love a “she shed” for my gardening, I’ve yet to convince my husband it won’t be an eyesore in the yard! Enter…the garden cart. My garden cart is a lifesaver for hauling not only my tools, but mulch, dirt, plants, bottles of ice cold water and the occasional garden beer! This, by far, is the best garden investment I’ve ever made! Now, if I was smart, I would have gotten one I could hook onto our riding lawnmower which, by the way, also has cupholders (insert cheeky grin). But, I had the cart before the mower. Oh well…
So there you have it…10 Tools for Every Gardener…While I can’t guarantee they’ll make you a GREAT gardener, I can guarantee they’ll help make gardening much, much easier for you! Now, won’t you join me in the fun?
