Essential Tools Used for Gardening Every Homeowner Needs

Gardening has long been a favorite pas time or millions of people around the globe. However, it is growing more and more popular than ever before. In fact, in the USA, over three quarters of families are gardening in some way.

As long as you have the space and passion, gardening can be a great hobby to take up. It can save you money by growing your own food, can be relaxing and fun, and can also offer some health benefits, too.

However, if you want to have a successful garden, there will be some tools that you will need to add to your collection. These tools will help you with various gardening tasks and make sure that the entire planting and gardening process goes by smoothly.

Essential Tools Used for Gardening

Seriously, you don’t need to own a huge collection of garden tools. Just like suddenly realizing you need a smart key duplication, it could also be that you have been using the wrong tools for the wrong garden care all along!

It is just a complete waste of time and money. What you need to do is have the right garden equipment, most especially the essential ones. And if you have been looking for a garden tools list, then this article might just help.

Here are essential gardening tools every homeowner should own.

Gardening Gloves

There is no doubt that gloves are among the most important garden accessories. They are helpful when pulling nettles or even cutting back a bunch of thorny shrubs.

Even if you tend to handle some harmless-looking plants, you are going to need gloves. Otherwise, your hands might get irritated or sore.

You might also have sensitive skin and experience rashes or redness when dealing with certain plants or chemicals, and gloves can save you from that as well.

Be sure to purchase gloves that are high-quality and can last years, so you don’t have to constantly be going back to buy more.

Hand Fork

Just like the aforementioned tools, a hand fork is an essential addition to your best garden tools. This one here gives you the ability to break any hard and/or lumpy soil.

Also, it can be used in mixing crumbly compost, so you can give the soil the consistency it needs to help grow plants. There are two kinds of forks, one is digging fork and another one is the cottage fork. 

Gardeners need both of them. With a good garden fork, you will able to reach to the crop root.

Digging Fork

It is important that you do not mistake a digging fork from a hand fork. Basically, the former is just a long-handled version of the latter. But as far as its main purpose is concerned, it covers a much wider range.

A digging fork is essential in loosening soil in larger areas. It is even helpful when the soil is quite hard to break up. It is way lighter than a spade and is needed for a border or vegetable garden.

You can use a digging fork to aerate your garden soil, spread, and turn over manure and compost heap, shake out roots and also turn over earth. Just be sure to get one that suits your size to avoid backaches during and after usage.

Garden Shovel

Of course, it is a crime not to include a garden shovel in your garden set. A shovel is quite beneficial when you are into some serious digging. If you will just use a hand trowel, the task will definitely take all day.

But if you use a garden shovel, you can do any digging task in a fraction of the time. And just like any garden or indoor tools, make sure to place your shovel in nice garden tool storage.

Garden Spade

For bed making, spades are a great helping hand! Soil breaking or turning, spades will help you all the way. Spades come in different types but short handled square blade spades are best for gardening. This spade will allow you to mix up compost and fertilizers easily!

On days you intend to dig a border or a patch for your veggies, you will need a garden spade. However, you might have to get both a border spade and a digging spade.

Each of these gardening tools has its specific roles. You will need a border spade for a smaller ground area, but it is better and faster to use the digging spade for a wider land area.

Here's our review on the best garden shovel and spades for 2023. 

Hand Trowel

When collecting a garden set, it is important to include a hand trowel. This tool is quite indispensable, especially when you are fond of planting.

Imagine a scenario where you do not own one. Don’t you think it is easy to dig up and remove weeds? As with all planting tools, remember to always keep your hand trowel clean and dry.

It is also preferable that you get plastic trowels that can be used to pick up the mess made by pets on your garden soil.

Rake

Rakes are too underrated garden tools. As your work progresses in the garden, you will soon find rakes quite handy. Apart from clearing dry leaves or twigs, they are also good for breaking up soil.

They are very essential in helping you push soil around the garden and even remove stones and roots. Seeing a straight furrow of a rake adds nice patterns you would like to see on your garden soil.

Some gardeners even use rakes to level out beds. Considering how useful this garden tool is, it only makes sense for you to store it in a dry place. There are specific rakes for certain tasks such as a rake for picking up pine needles, makes this tough task a lot easier and efficient.

Garden Secateurs

Secateurs are among the many best garden clippers that you need to own. In fact, it is the tool that you will likely to use very often. You will probably see their importance when you have shrubs to deal with.

Regardless of the task in your garden, it is possible for you to come across plants that need cutting back. You need secateurs that are proven sharp, the type that offers an exception cutting power.

We recommend a ‘bypass pair’ as they rather slice through stems instead of crushing them. Also, oil after every use and avoid putting in your back pockets.

Telescopic Tree Pruners

Much like the comparison between digging fork and hand fork, telescopic tree pruners share the same idea with secateurs. As a matter of fact, the name already speaks for itself.

This garden hand tool is handy when you are trying to reach up into hedges or trees, among others. The blades are both larger and stronger, as they are meant to cut thicker branches.

Go for the ones with superb quality and excellent cutting power.

Lawn Mower

Regardless of the size of your lawn, you will need a lawnmower. Not having one is going to give you a tough one. Remember that lawn mowers come in varying sizes and shapes.

Some are manually powered while most modern ones are high-tech for being electrical models. Just go with a lawn mower that you feel comfortable and excellent.

Gardening Apron and Knee Pads

If you don’t want to ruin clothes every time you do gardening, then a full apron is mandatory for you. But when choosing apron to make sure you choose the waterproof one.

A knee pad is mandatory for older people. Gardening requires sitting on the knee which could be hard for older people and the knee pad will make that comfortable for them!

Wheelbarrow

Most newcomer gardeners ignore wheelbarrow at the beginning but this thing can make gardening highly enjoyable. When you would have to carry heavy tools or weeds to one place to another, then you will know how important wheelbarrows are. 

You do not want to keep going back and forth with seeds you want to plant, weeds, flowers or proceeds of the harvest because they are too much to carry at once. 

They serve as transportation. Having said that, if you have a very small lawn to look after, then you might go well without a wheelbarrow. But it is mandatory for medium sized lawns! 

However, if you are about to pick a wheelbarrow, make sure to choose a lightweight and sturdy one! A good wheelbarrow should be strong, but also light enough to be moved around even when full. 

Watering Can

Watering is a must to do thing in gardening and to make watering more fun and efficient, you would want to invest a little money on a quality watering can. 

You would be surprised at how many folks don’t have this highly essential garden tool. Either on your general ‘watering day’ or days when you only aim to focus on a single plant, the watering can is your go-to tool.

This thing will sprinkle water everywhere evenly. Some use a hosepipe to water the garden, but for that, you will need a water outlet. Take caution though, buy one as heavy as you can handle.

Garden Hoe

Garden hoe is a highly important tool when it comes down to weeding off beds, digging small holes and breaking soil. They have long handles and sharp either pointed or forked ends. This makes it easy to dig or work standing up, saving your back from a lot of pain. 

There are also many different styles of garden hoes that can be used for a range of tasks. This versatile tool is certainly one you need to think about getting if you want to start gardening.

It is important to hoe whenever you need to carry out weeding and you don’t want to go through the stress of digging the soil. You can use a hoe to cut down grown weeds in-between drills and large plants, loosen the soil to allow more water to penetrate.

A Dutch hoe is built with a shallow angled cutting blade for cutting weeds. You could also use a draw hoe which is just like a broom with teeth attached. They help pull weeds directly from the earth.

Loppers

Loppers are long-handed cutting tools. Very essential for hedgerow growing over your patch, back woody stems, and thick branches.

Hedge Shears

In contrast to the loopers, they are short-handed cutting tools. They are scissor-like and are used for clipping grass or small stemmed hedges. Not bad at all for also edging your lawn.

These are the Essential Tools Used for Gardening

In conclusion, the information included in this article should help you learn about all the different tools that a gardener may need to have a successful garden.

While there are other tools that many gardeners may use, these are among the most necessary and important. Once you get a little more dedicated to gardening, there are dozens of other tools you can consider getting.