When you first start gardening, you may have just a few tools on hand; over time, you’ll likely find you need to expand and bring more gardening tools into your arsenal. Though you definitely don’t need a lot of tools to grow flowers and plants successfully, gardening tools can greatly help you achieve success in your garden. Gardening tools will save you time and make things like planting, weeding and watering your plants easier.
Perhaps you’ve seen various gardening tools at the store, online or in friends’ yards; if so, you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of gardening tools to choose from. Some gardening tools are fairly simple instruments that have been around for ages while other gardening tools are truly groundbreaking (pun intended). Take our crash course below and learn about the basic gardening tools you MUST have.
1. The Gardening Gloves
Let’s face it: gardening is hard work. All of that digging, planting, clipping and lifting takes a toll on your hands over time. Don’t end up covered with small cuts (and possibly bacteria); buy yourself a good pair of garden gloves! If you don’t like wearing gloves and you’re willing to suffer a bit, at least consider buying a nice lotion made specifically for gardeners that you can give your poor hands a chance to heal.
2. The Garden Fork
The garden fork is, perhaps, the most iconic tool that farmers use to this day. Garden forks are designed like large versions of dining forks; they vary in weight and in the number of stakes used. You can use your garden fork to loosen your soil, mix your soil, rotate your compost and even harvest crops you need to dig out (carrots and potatoes). There are two main types of garden forks available for sale today; one is the English Cultivating Fork (thin and squarish stakes) and the other is the traditional (wide and flat stakes). Beyond these two main kinds of forks, there are more specialized varieties on the market (depending upon your specific gardening needs).
3. The Wheelbarrow
The wheelbarrow is an easy-to-maneuver cart that is made with one large wheel at the front and two handles at the back. You can haul around almost anything in a good wheelbarrow (think: topsoil, crops, weeds and even gardening tools). If you have a good amount of ground to cover in your yard, save your back and buy yourself a wheelbarrow!
4. The Garden Kneeling Pad
When you’re gardening, you’re on your knees a lot. After a while, all of this kneeling can start to take a toll on your joints. Gardening kneeling pads make life easier for gardeners; the cushioned support they provide is just the thing to take the aches and pains away so that you can spend all day taking care of your garden.
5. The Basic Spade-Shaped Shovel
The spade (or round point) shovel is the basic gardening shovel that you’ll see in sheds across the world. Though they don’t have an official name, these shovels have sides that curve into a point. They are perfect for digging, cutting sod and planting. If you’re a serious gardener and don’t have a basic spade shovel yet, be sure to add this to your list!
6. The Square-Shaped Shovel
The square shovel (which looks like it sounds) comes in handy for scooping up weeds, sand, soil and gravel. A square shovel will save you the frustration of picking up things by hand or trying to scoop up things with a spade shovel only to have everything fall out before you get it to its destination. As a bonus, the square shovel is perfect for mixing up cement.
7. The Long Handle Garden Hoe
The long handle hoe is your ace in the sleeve when it comes to getting weeds out of your precious garden. You can keep weeds at bay by taking your hoe and running it between your plants a couple times a week. If you have problems with weeds in your garden, and who doesn’t, it’s time to buy yourself a long handle hoe!
8. The Hand-held Garden Hoe
If you find your long-handle hoe can’t get everywhere, the hand-held hoe is to the rescue; use your hand-held hoe to weed between tight places without risking disturbing nearby flowers and crops. It’s small and easy to store this weed-busting super tool.
9. The Garden Fork
The garden fork is, perhaps, the most iconic tool that farmers use to this day. Garden forks are designed like large versions of dining forks; they vary in weight and in the number of stakes used. You can use your garden fork to loosen your soil, mix your soil, rotate your compost and even harvest crops you need to dig out (carrots and potatoes). There are two main types of garden forks available for sale today; one is the English Cultivating Fork (thin and squarish stakes) and the other is the traditional (wide and flat stakes). Beyond these two main kinds of forks, there are more specialized varieties on the market (depending upon your specific gardening needs).
10. The Garden Rake
Though autumn isn’t exactly a busy gardening season, it is important that you rake up and remove all of the fallen leaves so that your yard and garden doesn’t get soggy and water-damaged over the long winter. A good garden rake is an essential for your gardening toolkit. Rakes have long handles and, like the garden fork, stakes at the end.
11. The Pruning Shears
To sum it up, pruning shears are like scissors with superpowers. They are heavy duty scissors that you can use on crops, trees , woody plants and shrubbery. Pruning shears, in general, have short handles and safety latches to keep your young gardeners safe. Long-handled pruning shears are called telescopic pruning shears and come in handy for clipping things at a greater distance, such as tree branches.
From gardening gloves to pruning shears, there is a type of gardening tool for every kind of gardener. Whether you love taking care of trees and woody plants (read: pruning shears) or plant a lot of root vegetables (read: garden fork), be sure to have the tools you need so that you can get the job done successfully. Chefs need a quality set of knives to cook, mechanics need wrenches and gardeners need nice tools to make the job easier. Ask other gardeners, greenhouses and friends for tips on what they use in their own gardens. Happy Gardening!