Basic Hand Tools For Gardening

If you are just starting out in the wonderful world of gardening you are going to need a few tools. There is no need to get carried away with this. Start off with a few basic tools and then buy any other gardening equipment you might need when you are sure about what your requirements are.

Whether you are starting a flower garden, a vegetable garden or something more exotic you will only need a few small, hand held, non-powered gardening tools to get started.

Here’s a list of the basics tools you’ll need:

Garden Shears

All of your plants will at some time end up with unsightly dead leaves, flowers, stems or small branches. You will want to remove them so you need a pruning tool. A basic garden shear, also called clippers or secateurs, will do the job.

There are many different kinds of shears available. The one you want looks like a large pair of scissors with rather wicked looking heavy, curved blades. These will cleanly snip the stem of a dead leaf or slice right through a small branch (or your finger, be careful). Very handy.

Don’t buy the most expensive or the cheapest. Something mid range will do just fine and if you don’t leave them out in the rain or try to cut rocks with them they will last for years.

Digging Fork

In your new garden you will need to move plants, break up clumps of earth and loosen hardened soil before planting. You can do all this with a good digging (or spading) fork.

A digging fork has a short handle with a looped hand grip at one end a long tines at the other. You can spend a silly amount of money on a garden fork if you want to but there is no need. You don’t need stainless steel tines or a platinum handle. Just make sure the tines are made of good thick carbon steel and that they are firmly attached to a good quality wood or plastic shaft. You should be able to get one that will last for years for under $20.

Garden Hoe

You can’t be a good gardener without a good hoe. Very useful for reaching across flower beds or rows of veggies to root out the weeds. Also great for loosening up soil, digging small holes and, using the corner of the blade, for creating long divots for seed planting. Also good for plucking Frisbees out of trees. Gotta have a hoe.

Again, buy a medium cheap one with a strong blade and handle attachment device.

Gardening Rake

You don’t want the kind of rake with the long wispy tines. Those are for raking leaves and also for wimps, not for tough “get it done” gardeners like you.

You want a rake with short strong tines that are set at right angles to the handle of the rake. This is great for breaking up crusty surface soil, smoothing out dirt, moving gravel around and lots of other things. You will use your rake a lot so make sure you get a strong one.

Digging Spade

You will need a shovel and best all round one to get is a digging spade. This has a short shaft with a loop handle like the digging fork. The blade is slightly rounded at the end and also slightly scooped so you can dig into the earth easily and bring out a nice big whack of dirt.

You might want to spend a little more on your spade to make sure you have a good strong one. Inevitably you are going to end up with the blade wedged under a rock that you can’t see because it’s covered in dirt. You’ll think it’s only a small rock, a pebble really, so you’ll do the sensible thing and heave on that spade with all your might. The pebble will turn out to be a chunk of granite the size of a Volkswagen that was moved into it’s present position by a glacier. If you don’t have a good spade something is going to give, and it won’t be the rock. Be careful it isn’t your back.

A Watering Device

The sensible way to water is with a hose equipped with a fine spray nozzle. If you have a very large garden or if you have decided to grow your garden somewhere down on the lower forty, you may not be able to reach with a hose. You’ll need a watering can. Get one with a detachable fine spray nozzle so you can give delicate plants a drink without flattening them.

Where To Buy Your Gardening Tools

Luckily, affordable garden tools are easy to come buy. Home Depot, or Revy if you’re in Canada, always have good prices. WalMart is good too.

If you want to save money and have some fun too then wait until the weekend and hit the garage sales. Lots of people buy new garden tools and equipment just because they like them, not because they need them. So the old tools, still in great condition and ready for many more years of use, end up in the sale.

That’s a brief run down on basic hand gardening tools. More to come soon. Happy gardening!