By Michael Jenkins | April 8
If you’re just getting started in gardening—or expanding your garden this season—it can seem a daunting process. There’s so much to do and so much to learn, and a seemingly endless list of things you need. We’d encourage you to take a breath and relax a bit; the good news is that gardening isn’t as complicated as it might seem, and the list of tools and supplies you need is shorter than it sometimes looks. In reality the essential garden tools you actually need are simple, readily available, and will last a long time with a little bit of care. Here’s a quick guide to essential garden tools you need to make this season a success.
The first tools you need are a good pair of gloves. Gardening can be dirty, demanding work and protecting your hands is a priority. Gardening gloves can make weeding, digging, and tool use much easier and safer, while sparing your hands some of the dirt, wear, and tear that gardening inevitably brings.
Like a pair of gloves, a good pair of gardening shoes or boots can spare you a lot of trouble. By protecting your feet and toes from dirt, dropped tools, falling branches, and other accidents, garden shoes or boots are an essential piece of garden gear. They can also help keep you from tracking dirt into the house, which makes keeping your home clean much easier.
A hoe is an ancient tool, dating back to the earliest agricultural settlements, and a good hoe is an absolute must for you garden. They serve a variety of purposes, including loosening/breaking up soil, weeding, digging holes to plant seedlings, and dozens more. Buy a good hoe now and you’ll get years of use out of it with a little care, making it an absolutely essential tool in your garden.
Hand pruners or hand shears are another set of essential garden tools, as they allow you to make clean, relatively precise cuts in live plants in order to trim or prune them. This is an essential function for the health of your plants, so investing in a good pair of shears and taking good care of them is important. Caring for hand pruners or hands shears means keeping them sharp, well oiled, and storing them in a dry place when not in use.
Whether you’re spreading soil or compost, putting in mulch, or just clearing up leaves or garden trimmings, a good rake is another essential garden tool you can’t skip out on. A good rake fulfills a variety of different garden functions and like many of the tools on this list will last for years.
Along with a rake, a good shovel rounds out your list of garden tools. Shovels are mostly for digging, but they can also be used for spreading fertilizer or compost, breaking up soil, removing roots or stumps, or a host of other routine garden tasks.
We hope this list of essential garden tools helps you get started in your garden this year. Did we forget something? Are there other tools you can’t live without? Find us on social media and let us know!
Leave a comment