Whether you are a professional gardener or an amateur, you will need good gardening tools for optimal results in gardening. You need tools for digging, removing stones or weeds, watering, and transporting. Let’s see which 10 tools can be the most useful ones for you.
Gardening Gloves
The first thing you should do is to protect your hands no matter what. Any thorns or splinters can damage your skin and leave consequences. Good prevention doesn’t cost much, it’s useful and your skin will be grateful. Soreness and irritation can last for weeks and might require visiting a dermatologist and using some expensive hand creams. Gloves are easily accessible and very comfortable wearing so you won’t have to worry about that.
Hand Trowel
This small but very useful tool is important for planting. It can also be used for potting or transplanting from one pot to another. The blade and handle should have a firm connection and also the grip should be comfortable enough because otherwise, your hand could become numb and fatigued after handling it for a longer period. You get better control over the grip as well.
Fork
This piece of equipment is a multipurpose one, so don’t skip it when buying gardening tools because it can help you a lot for several reasons. You can aerate lawns with it, use it to break up the soil that has been compacted, make holes for seeds very easily, remove anything that might stand in the way, like stones, weeds and generally use it to soften the ground. Its tines are sharp and longer than a spade, which makes it more efficient when it comes to dealing with the tough ground.
Shovel
We’re still at the digging and seeding process, so don’t forget the shovel for this matter. Although the fork can make holes for seeding, you still need something more robust to dig deeper holes or to remove excessive fertilizer or mulch, or just fill the holes with compost.
Rake
Similar to a fork but a little bit wider, it will help you remove stones or any clogs that stand in the way. You can smooth the ground and level it once everything has been seeded. If they’re any leaves that have fallen on the ground where you have planted something, you can use the rake to gently remove them without damaging the seed in any way. There are lightweight or somewhat heavier rakes on the market, so choose the one that you need.
Hose reel
After seeding and removing any debris, the next step is to nurture the plants that are about to grow. You are going to need a good garden hose reel for watering. Fortunately, the market is filled with different types of hose reels and you can choose between those with integrated handles, self-locking, spring-loaded retraction, and many more. This tool is one of the most important ones because of the watering process and it’s going to be used a lot, so make sure you get a quality one.
Secateurs
Secateurs serve for pruning and they are very handy if you need to trim or shape some plants in your garden. Also, sometimes you are going to need to remove the dead growth and secateurs are perfect for that. It might be worth investing in high-quality ones since they can last for a long time.
Garden Saw
This versatile tool has a similar purpose as secateurs. It is also used for trimming stems, cutting vines or branches, or severing roots. Sometimes the garden gets overgrown and some plants need to be trimmed. A garden saw can make this process fast and easy.
Garden hoe
This tool comes in different types and it serves different purposes. A single blade one is for ground leveling, while the fork hoe is for easier digging purposes. Just like the regular fork, this one also makes the soil softer before digging and seeding. There is also an oscillating hoe which has an additional swivel head and it’s great for getting into tight spots in the soil.
Wheelbarrow
You don’t think of it as a gardening tool until you have to transport a lot of other tools, compost, or any other heavy material from one part of your garden to another. This is when a wheelbarrow comes in very handy. Just put everything you need to transport there and do it in a couple of minutes. It can be useful for transporting anything, not just gardening materials, so it’s a good investment.
You might think that all these tools are too much, especially if you are an amateur gardener and do it for fun and pleasure. You don’t need to buy them all at the same time. Buy the ones that you can’t do the job without. Those are gloves, a small shovel or hand trowel, and a good hose reel. Everything else can be bought as time goes by and your garden becomes bigger.
