Importance Score: 45 / 100 🔵
For enthusiasts with flourishing outdoor spaces, garden tools are indispensable for successful backyard gardening. A selection of fundamental gardening equipment can significantly simplify garden preparation and planting, leading to more bountiful harvests and a more enjoyable home garden experience. But with a plethora of options available, determining the truly essential garden tools versus superfluous gadgets can be challenging. We consulted gardening experts to identify the must-have garden tools for any gardener.
9 Essential Garden Tools Recommended by Experts
Gloves
Beyond specialized tools, protective handwear is crucial. “I always recommend a good pair of gardening gloves,” advises Jessica Schweiger, Master Gardener coordinator for PennState Extension in Philadelphia County.
Schweiger favors lightweight Showa Atlas 360 Garden Gloves for warmer conditions, noting their dexterity and protection. For colder weather gardening, she recommends Bellingham WG338 Rubber Gloves for insulation. Quality gloves should offer sufficient flexibility for delicate tasks while shielding hands from scratches, dirt, and abrasions.
Pruners
Pruners are versatile tools with multiple applications, from trimming fruit trees to thinning melon vines and harvesting peppers. Durable, sharp, easy to maintain, and comfortable pruners are a worthwhile investment.
Andrew Bunting, vice president of horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, endorses Felco pruners. “Felco is an exceptionally durable brand. My personal Felco pruners have lasted decades. Blade replacement is occasionally needed, but that’s the extent of maintenance,” Bunting notes.
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Trowel
A trowel, or small handheld shovel, facilitates precise tasks like transplanting seedlings or repotting plants in containers, offering greater control than larger implements. Bunting advises selecting a trowel forged from a single piece of steel for enhanced durability. While potentially pricier than multi-piece alternatives, single-piece trowels are less susceptible to breakage at handle junctions.
Soil Knife
A soil knife, also known as a digging knife or hori hori knife, serves as a valuable alternative or supplement to a trowel. This versatile tool is ideal for carrying while gardening, suitable for impromptu tasks.
“It’s incredibly useful for digging,” says Schweiger, “and the serrated edge enables cutting through robust roots or weeds. Measurement markings on the blade are an added benefit.”
Hoe
Weed management is a demanding gardening chore. Repeated bending, pulling, and tugging at weeds can strain the body. A hoe significantly eases weed removal efforts.
“A sharp hoe has truly been a back-saver, greatly simplifying weed removal,” Schweiger states.
She suggests a stirrup hoe, featuring a looped blade for cutting beneath the soil surface, for tackling tougher weeds. A collinear hoe is recommended for delicate weeding around closely planted items, as its blade precisely cuts stems of weeds while minimizing soil disturbance.
Garden Hose
Unless your gardening is limited to window boxes or a few containers, a dependable garden hose is essential. Investing in a lightweight, high-flow, and resilient hose will save time spent repairing leaks and money on frequent replacements. Bunting recommends Flexogen hoses, or consult FASTNET’s review of top-rated garden hoses.
Breaker Nozzle
Hardware stores feature a wide array of sprayers, nozzles, and hose attachments. Bunting favors a breaker nozzle over multi-setting spray nozzles. Similar to a showerhead, this attachment delivers water gently, preventing soil disruption or damage to delicate plants, unlike harsh spray streams.
Dramm brand breaker nozzles are Bunting’s preference. Dramm also produces watering wands equipped with breaker nozzles, improving aim and reach during watering.
Spade or Shovel
While often confused, shovels and spades are distinct tools suited for different gardening tasks.
A shovel is designed for scooping and moving soil or digging shallow holes. It typically features a deeper, bowl-shaped blade and may have a pointed tip for enhanced soil penetration. Conversely, a spade has a straight, sharp, flatter blade intended for deeper, precise cuts into the soil, ideal for edging or creating planting holes. Bunting recommends spades and shovels from King of Spades.
Rakes
Lawn maintenance often involves rakes for leaf removal. These tools are also valuable for preparing garden beds for planting, both ornamental and vegetable gardens.
Bunting suggests a leaf rake—characterized by thin, flexible tines—for clearing debris during spring planting preparation or for spreading compost or mulch. A grading rake, also known as a hard rake, aids in leveling soil before planting.
7 Garden Tools Likely Unnecessary
Handheld Fork
Schweiger finds a full-sized garden fork useful for soil aeration and potato harvesting, but not handheld forks.
“Handheld forks are often included in tool sets with trowels, but I rarely find a use for them,” she explains.
Dandelion Weeder
A soil knife renders a dandelion weeder redundant, despite marketing attempts to promote specialized weeding gadgets.
“For weeding, a hori hori knife is far more practical than a dandelion fork or similar gimmicky tools,” advises Bunting.
Store-Bought Soil Tests
Schweiger emphasizes soil testing in new gardening locations for fertility and contaminants, particularly in urban settings. However, readily available store-bought kits are often unreliable.
“Inexpensive, commercial soil tests lack accuracy,” she cautions. “Accredited laboratory soil fertility tests are consistently more reliable.”
Universities such as Penn State, Rutgers, and the University of Massachusetts offer mail-in soil testing services for a nominal fee.
Self-Watering Pots
Bunting recommends monitoring soil moisture directly rather than relying on self-watering pots, which typically utilize a water reservoir and a wick for gradual water delivery to plants.
“I have observed many instances of self-watering pot failures,” he notes. “While functional self-watering pots likely exist, failures are more commonly encountered.”
Moisture Meters
Moisture meters are another water-related gadget deemed unnecessary by Schweiger.
“A moisture meter offers no advantage over checking soil moisture manually by inserting a finger,” she suggests.
Power Tools
For novice gardeners, power tools are not essential starter equipment, according to Bunting. However, for tools like leaf blowers, chainsaws, or lawnmowers, he recommends battery-powered electric models over gas-powered alternatives.
“Battery-operated equipment has become highly capable across various gardening tasks,” he observes, noting battery interchangeability among products within a manufacturer’s line. “My leaf blower is battery-operated, eliminating fossil fuel use and noise pollution.”
Irrigation System
“Everyone considers installing an irrigation system,” Bunting remarks, but he advocates for rainwater or manual watering over sprinkler systems. “Initial functionality is common, but systems often become compromised, or plant growth interferes with sprinkler patterns, leading to uneven watering. It seems practical but often proves otherwise.”
Instead, optimize rainwater or hose watering by applying a few inches of organic mulch to the soil surface. Mulch effectively retains moisture, extending intervals between watering.