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How to Choose Gardening Tools

A plentiful harvest, whether composed of flowers, vegetables, fruit, or a feast for the senses, requires healthy doses of planting, watering and weeding.

You won't be able to do everything with your bare hands, though. Tools will greatly aid you in your gardening endeavors, and allow you to spend more time enjoying your garden.

Tools for Working in the Garden

Gardening tools can be divided into several categories: digging, cutting, toting, harvesting and gardener safety.

Digging Tools

A gardener without digging tools is like a fisherman without a fishing pole. Digging tools are some of the most important tools of gardening because they are so versatile, fulfilling several gardening needs.

A soil scoops act as a trowel, weeder, aerator, bulb remover and, of course, as a scoop for transferring soil to containers.
Round point shovels are used for digging holes or moving soil or gravel.
Square point shovels are good for flattening the sides and bottoms of ditches or for leveling gravel or dirt. They're also great for scooping up the remnants of a pile.
Transplanting spades minimize disturbances to surrounding plants when removing or transplanting.

Cutting Tools

Cutting tools can be broken down into three types: pruning, trimming and lopping.

Pruning shears are generally on the small side and are used with one hand. They can be as fine as those used for bonsai or for shaping delicate indoor plants, or sturdier, like those used for cutting roses and other heftier plants.
Trimming shears are typically used with both hands and are designed for cutting and shaping hedges. Some have very long handles with an angled head so edging, such as with a lawn, can be done from a standing position.
Lopping tools are for cutting larger branches on bushes or trees that don't require a saw—they're generally less than two inches in diameter. The bypass lopper has a cutting blade that slides past the opposing blade. In an anvil lopper, the anvil supports the branch while an opposing fine sharp blade cuts through it.

Toting Implements

A simple rubber bucket can be used to tote hand tools from garden bed to garden bed, but multi-pocketed tote bags designed specifically for gardening can be used too. They have spaces for every tool you could need as well as your work gloves and seed packets. A garden tool belt might also come in handy.

Harvesting Tools

Some great baskets and buckets are available for gathering the fruits of your gardening efforts, even if they are weeds! Trugs come in various shapes and sizes, from shallow ones for cut flowers to deep ones for fruits and vegetables. Galvanized wire baskets are perfect for vegetable gathering—you can gather, wash and drain all in the same basket.

Protecting Yourself

Spending so much time outside, you're liable to get sunburned. Protect your skin with sunblock or wear a wide brimmed hat to shield the face and eyes—or both. And if glare is hurting your eyes, wear a pair of sunglasses.

You should invest in a good pair of gloves, as they'll provide protection from scrapes, pricks and cuts. Gloves also help you with your weeding, as you'll be able to get a better grip.

Tools for Weeding the Garden

Weeders

Some weeds have shallow roots and are sparse enough that they can be pulled by hand. Others, like the common dandelion, require a taproot weeder. Some weeding can be done with a pointed trowel or soil scoop.

What Is a Taproot?
The taproot is the primary root of a plant. It's usually the first root put into the soil when plants germinate, and is the main root from which all the other roots grow.

A weed extractor is great for removing stubborn weeds that don't come up easily with a simple tug. Used from a standing position, the extractor end is placed vertically at the center of the weed. Force the prongs into the ground and around the plant's root, then with a simple pull the weed is extracted, root and all. The disadvantage of the extractor is that it may leave an unsightly hole in your lawn.

Hoes

Hoes perform a variety of jobs in the garden such as furrowing, cultivating and weeding. Those useful for weeding include:

the garden hoe, which has a flat front edge that cuts weeds at ground level and has corners that act as small picks
the weeding hoe, which has a standard hoe on one side of the blade and a weed puller on the other.
the eye hoe, which is handy for getting through hard or root-packed soil and is great at cutting through bushy weeds and invading roots.
the circle hoe, which can get very close to plants without disturbing their root structure. They work well in hard to cultivate, rocky soil and because they're available in multiple diameters, they're ideal for weeding around seedlings, in small herb gardens or in large open areas between plantings.

Rule of (Green) Thumb
When it comes to weeds, don't procrastinate! You should remove them sooner than later.

Tools for Watering the Garden

Depending on the size of your garden, you may prefer hand watering with a hose, built-in sprinklers or drip irrigation systems.

If using a hose, consider a hose reel mounted near your spigot or on its own cart. Don't skimp on hose quality; you'll be disappointed if your hose blows out a month after purchase. A dial attachment gives you the option of misting those plants that need delicate watering or blasting away aphids or spider mites with a jet stream. A wand attachment is handy for watering hanging plants or plants on a slope.

Soaker hoses, or drip irrigation systems use less water than traditional sprinkler systems or hand watering, operate at a lower pressure and cut down on the work involved in maintaining a garden. They water to a greater depth, providing moisture where it is most needed—the roots—so they create healthy plants.

Watering Container Plants

With the exception of cacti, most plants prefer a humid environment. This is easily accomplished with a mister or a humidity tray. A mister can be obtained from a local nursery or you can use an all-purpose spray bottle, as long as it produces a fine cloud of moisture that surrounds the plant and covers both sides of the leaves. Do not mist fuzzy-leafed plants such as violets; these delicate lovelies do better on a humidity tray.

A humidity tray is a deep waterproof tray at least one inch deep, and two to four inches deep for orchids. The bottom is filled with pebbles or small stones. Water is added until just below the top of the rocks and the potted plant is placed on top. Additional water is added as necessary.

All plants, even those misted daily or on a humidity tray, require regular watering. Many types of watering cans are available, from battered aluminum cans to stylish galvanized tin to colorful plastic cans, with or without sprinkler heads, and even with removable sprinkler heads. To prevent spilling, use a watering can with a long and straight or slightly curved spout.

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