When the harsh winter has finished, and spring begins, it brings new life. The colors of spring are vibrant and filled with life. The temperature starts getting warmer each day and we are finally able to get outside and enjoy one of the greatest outdoor hobbies: gardening.
There is nothing more gratifying than watching the tiny seeds that you planted in your garden turn into lush plants or flowers. You get to witness your plants, vegetables, and flowers come to life and thrive all season long. What seems like a simple concept actually has many precise requirements making gardening as a hobby or way of life difficult if you don’t have the right tools for the job.
Gardening should be something you enjoy, not something that makes your life more difficult. Without the right tools, gardening can go from an enjoyable pastime to a frustrating task. Don’t find yourself in the middle of your gardening project, unprepared.
Before you get started, take an inventory of your garden tools. Most gardening projects use most, if not all, of these essential garden tools.
1. Garden Gloves
No matter what garden project you are taking on, it is important to protect your hands. Your hands will be how you plant, rake, dig, prune, shear, and pull, so it is imperative that your hands do not get worn out quickly.
Without garden gloves, you are likely to form blisters from the handles of the tools you use or may grab a briar when clearing out weeds.
The garden gloves you choose should have a combination of leather and cloth material that make up the glove. The leather will help ensure that your hands stay protected from being punctured, and the cloth will provide comfort during repeated movements.
Garden gloves with an adjustable wrist strap will help make sure the gloves stay in place and do not slip off your wrists when in use. You can benefit greatly by wearing garden gloves during even the simplest garden project.
2. Garden Trowel
Whether you are planting vegetables or flowers, you will need a garden trowel. A garden trowel is a small shovel you can hold in your hand to make it easy to dig small holes for planting seeds or bulbs.
It is important to have a garden trowel that is durable enough to cut through hard soil without bending or breaking. If you plan on planting anything in your garden, which you likely will, then you will need a garden trowel to dig the hole for planting your bulbs, seeds, or saplings.
A garden trowel can have a rounded or pointed head. A pointed head is best used for terrain that is dense and compacted. This soil may also likely have rocks within it. The pointed head of the trowel can pierce through the dense soil and dig more efficiently.
A rounded head can be used for smooth, loose soil. This can be topsoil that you have purchased or loose dirt that you have already cultivated for planting.
3. Soil Knife
The most versatile gardening tool available is the soil knife. A soil knife combines many tools into one, eliminating the need for buying a variety of gardening tools and carrying those tools outside to your garden each time you want to work in the garden.
A soil knife can be used as a trowel, a knife, a weeder, and a ruler. The knife blade can be used to cut through weeds and roots. One side of the knife is smooth while the other side of the knife is serrated. This gives you the option to make tough or delicate cuts.
The knife blade has markings that measure the depth of the blade, so you know exactly how deep the knife blade is when using it as a trowel. A soil knife gives you the option of using many different tools by combining them into one useful tool.
4. Hand Cultivator
The soil in your garden will likely need to be tilled before you plant any vegetation or flowers. Tilling a garden will loosen up the soil to make digging and planting easier. A hand cultivator will allow you to grab the earth and loosen it from being compacted. Compacted soil is much more difficult to dig through than when the soil has been loosened.
The hand cultivator will have three L-shaped prongs that will stick into the soil. When you pull the cultivator back towards you, the prongs will grab the earth and break it up or “cultivate” it, which is how the hand cultivator gets its name. Once the soil has been cultivated, you can dig and plant much easier.
5. Wheelbarrow or Garden Cart
Wheelbarrows are essential for any outdoor project. Its uses are limitless. Wheelbarrows can help you carry anything related to your gardening or outdoor project. Wheelbarrows can carry heavy pavers, haul away debris, or transport all your newly purchased vegetable and floral bulbs for planting.
Wheelbarrows can also carry all of your tools in one trip so that you don’t have to make multiple trips carrying handfuls of potentially sharp and dangerous tools.
A garden cart works in the same capacity as a wheelbarrow. The only difference is the design. Garden carts are typically pulled behind you, whereas wheelbarrows are pushed in front of you. Some garden carts can also be attached to a riding lawnmower for easier hauling.
If you are going to be overseeing any outdoor project, you will need a wheelbarrow to make your job easier, just make sure you don’t exceed the weight capacity of the wheelbarrow or garden cart.
6. Pruning Shears
Oftentimes, pruning shears is the tool you don’t realize you need until you are in the middle of your gardening project and see that your garden is obstructed by overcrowding roots, saplings, and briars.
Most times, these nuisances can’t just be pulled and discarded because of their thickness or anchor into the ground. Instead, they are so thick and dense they have to be cut. This is where pruning shears are an essential tool to have.
Pruning shears can easily cut through those tough roots, newly sprouted saplings, or sticky briars with one easy cut. Once cut, you can grab them (safely, while wearing garden gloves of course) and throw them into a discard pile of brush and other debris.
7. Loppers
Similar to pruning shears are loppers. Loppers are pruning shears with longer handles that can be extended to reach higher areas or to save your back from having to bend over for long periods of time. Each handle of the lopper is held in one hand. Then, the handles of the loppers are squeezed together to close the blade.
Loppers are great for cleaning up neglected areas in the garden that have been overrun with growth. You can easily cut through small saplings, roots, and low-lying branches with a pair of loppers.
8. Rake
A simple tool that should not be overlooked is a good quality rake. Rakes aren’t just for raking leaves, although raking leaves is essential to keeping your garden clean and preserved. Rakes can be used to help spread mulch, cultivate dirt, and gather debris.
Rakes can be used year-round and not just in the fall when the leaves take over. Rakes can be used in spring to help prepare your garden by removing unwanted debris and tilling the dirt to get ready for planting. If you are going to be adding mulch or pine straw to your garden, a rake will be your best friend to get the job done.
9. Hoe
Another useful tool with dual purposes is a garden hoe. A garden hoe will help you remove the unwanted weeds from your garden. A hoe will also allow you to till and cultivate your garden, should you choose to use the hoe for that purpose.
A hoe can be full-size or handheld. It just depends on what you need to use the hoe to determine if you want a full-size hoe or handheld.
A handheld hoe is a great addition to any arsenal of garden tools because of its versatility. A handheld hoe typically has one side of the head that is the hoe and the other side of the head that is a cultivator.
10. Garden Hose
It doesn’t always rain when you need it to, but your garden doesn’t know that. All your garden knows is that it needs water regularly in order to produce vegetation or flowers.
To make up for the lack of rain your garden is receiving, you will need a quality garden hose with a nozzle that will reach your garden and provide a rain-like spray. Vegetation and flowers can be delicate and easily damaged if the water is applied too forcefully.
Have you ever noticed your garden looks like it has taken a beating after a hard rain has come through? Typically, your garden can withstand heavy rain, but sometimes it can be too much for your garden to recover from.
While you can’t control the force of the rain as it falls from the sky, you can control the pressure of your water from your hose, so you will need an adjustable nozzle to create a softer stream of water for your garden to withstand.
Bees are Tools, Too!
In order for a garden to thrive, it will need to be pollinated. Pollination is when the pollen from a male flower is carried to the female flower. Pollination is essential if you will have a vegetable garden. Vegetables will not be produced if pollen is not carried from the male flowers to the female flowers. Pollination can occur naturally as the wind blows, but in order for pollination to truly be successful, you need bees.
Bees will enter the flower and collect the pollen onto its body as it eats the nectar in the flower. The bee will then move onto the next flower to eat more nectar. As the bee lands on the next flower, the pollen is transmitted from the body of the bee onto the new flower. This is how male flowers pollinate female flowers to produce vegetation.
You may have done everything right in your garden, but you still don’t have a crop to show for it. If this is the case, you may not have any bees around your garden.
To attract bees to your garden, you can add flowers that attract bees. The best flowers for attracting bees that add to your garden and don’t look like weeds are geraniums, pansies, snapdragons, and sunflowers. You can also add flowering shrubs, like azaleas and hydrangeas.
The more flowers and colors for the bees to choose from, the more likely the bees will explore all areas of your garden. Placing vegetation and flowers near each other will help your garden become pollinated and will dramatically increase your chances of producing a quality crop.
Things to Remember
Before you get started on your next gardening project this spring, take an inventory of the garden tools you have. You will need these top 10 essential garden tools if you want your project to be successful and efficient. Garden tools are not just to make your gardening job easier, but garden tools can cut the time of the project in half. No one wants to spend their time in the garden pulling weeds and roots by hand or digging holes with their fingers in order to plant seeds or bulbs.
With the right tools, not only is your gardening project easy, but it is also quicker. The more you can enjoy working in your garden, the more likely your garden will be successful and enjoyable for years to come, and having these 10 essential garden tools will help you get the job done!