Gardening Tools & Equipment

Garden supply catalogs and stores are full of gardening equipment. Mixed in with basic gardening tools are many that are highly specialized. Some are very useful and others are nice to have but not necessary. The gardening tools you will need depends on the size of your garden, your age and strength, and whether you want to get the job done in a hurry or prefer to take your time.

The basic equipment needed by most gardeners, for a vegetable garden or landscaping, includes a shovel or spade, a hoe, a rake, a trowel, and pruning tools. A wide selection of styles is available in each of these tools, and the choice is really one of personal preference and price range. You can get the best deal by knowing each tool’s uses and particular qualities when comparison shopping. You’ll get the best prices by buying tools at the end of the gardening season when prices are typically reduced.

Tools for Cultivating

Spading Fork - have four tines and are used for turning over garden soil. A spading fork has thick rectangular or square tines and is used for turning over unbroken soil, heavy cultivation, or soil with large clods. A spading fork has flat tines, sometimes with diamond of triangular backs, and is used for turning already loose soil. Forks are also useful to turn over compost, spread mulches, and to dig root crops.

Spade - a flat, square-bladed tool with a long handle. It is used for cutting or breaking up clods of earth. There are many variations on spade blade shape and size. Spades are excellent for shaping straight-sided trenches, transplanting trees and shrubs, cutting roots, and for edging beds.

Shovel - a round or square bladed tool with a handle, used for scooping loose materials, such as sand or dirt. It is very useful when planting trees and shrubs. Look for forged metal with a sharp digging edge. A slick metal surface allows material to slide off easily. For general-purpose digging, lifting, and moving, a long-handled shovel is ideal.

Hoe - can be used for preparing seedbeds, making furrows, removing weeds, and breaking up encrusted soil, depending on the design. For weeding, hoes remove shallow-rooted annual weeds and sever the tops off of biennial or perennial weeds. In the later case, weeds will most likely regrow from the root system. Several different hoe styles are available, each with several variations.

Garden or Lawn Rake - are two types of rakes used in gardening. A garden rake has stiff metal tines and is used to clear rocks and debris from the garden, spreading mulches, and smoothing seedbeds. A lawn rake has numerous thin flexible tines usually made of metal, plastic, or bamboo. A “leaf rake” is a version of the lawn rake that has shorter tines. Lawn and leaf rakes are used to rake leaves and gather loose plant debris, and come in several sizes. There are also several other rake types designed for specific purposes.

Hand Trowel - a mini-spade, used to dig out weeds, prepare a planting hole and to turn over soil and compost. A trowel is especially useful for those many digging tasks that require a finer degree of control or are performed in a relatively small area. The trowel is perfect for transplanting seedlings and bulbs, or digging shallow-rooted weeds. Small hand cultivators, often sold in sets with trowels, are good for weeding in small areas and between closely spaced plants.

Digger - another useful, small digging tool useful for digging up weeds with long taproots, such as dandelions or Queen Anne’s lace, or for prying out Johnson grass rhizomes. A digger consists of a long, solid-metal rod with a two-pronged blade at one end and a handle at the other.

Some other gardening tools that may have a place in the garden tool shed include the pickax, mattock, and wheel cultivator. Pickaxes are used to break up extremely hard-packed or stony soil. Mattocks are for the same purpose, but are equipped with a cutting blade for areas where larger roots need to be removed. A mattock may also be used to chop up debris for composting. A wheel cultivator has a number of attachments for soil preparation and weed control, and may prove a good investment for those with larger gardens.

Power Tools

Rotary Garden Tiller - used for loosening soil, chopping plant debris and mixing organic matter into the soil and probably the power tool most commonly purchased by gardeners. Whether or not a gardener needs a rotary tiller depends on the size of the garden, the gardener’s capabilities, and the intended uses of the tiller. A heavy, powerful garden tiller is most effective on stony, clay soils, while in a small garden or one with light soil, a smaller tiller is more appropriate. Very lightweight tillers, known as soil blenders, are designed mainly for raised-bed or loosesoil gardening.

Garden Shredder - useful for a large garden with a lot of plant wastes. They are best used for shredding leaves, small branches, and other plant wastes if not too coarse.

Chipper - used for chiping large branches and other coarse material but is very expensive and therefore not very economical for a home gardener.

Chain Saw - used to remove large limbs or entire trees. They come in a variety of sizes, both gas and electric. Chain saws should be used only with appropriate safety gear by people who fully understand their operation and handling for pruning. Improper or careless handling can do significant damage to trees in a very short time.

Pruning Tools

Pruning Shears - used for pruning, shaping and removing foliage or branches up to one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. There are two types of pruners. Scissor action pruning shears have two thin, sharp blades that slide closely past a thicker, sharp blade. These are also called bypass blades. Anvil style pruning shears have a sharpened blade that cuts against a broad, flat plate. The scissor style usually costs more, but makes cleaner, closer cuts. When buying pruning shears, test them in your hand to make sure you can hold them comfortably. If they are too large or small, too heavy or too hard to squeeze, try another style or brand.

Lopping Shears - have long handles and are operated with both hands and are designed to cut branches that are more than one-half to three-quarters inch in diameter. Loppers are best used for shrub pruning and not for trees due to 1) accuracy of cut, 2) maneuverability, and 3) difficulty in making a clean cut for a large branch. Tree branches that are larger than three-quarters of an inch (and up to 4 inches) in diameter are cut more easily, accurately, and with less damage using a hand saw than with loppers.

Hedge Shears - used mainly for trimming small shrubs and bushes. These gardening tools have long, flat blades and relatively short handles, one for each hand. Heavy duty models have one serrated blade which makes them a better choice for more difficult jobs. Power models are also available and most often used by home gardeners.

Pruning Saw - used for cutting branches on shrubs and trees. Fineness of the cutting edge is measured in points or teeth per inch. An 8-point saw is used for delicate, close work on small shrubs and trees. Average saws are around 6 points, while 4 1/2-point saws are for fairly heavy limbs. A fixed-blade saw with a protective scabbard is safer and easier to use.

Miscellaneous Tools & Equipment

Compost Bin - used to turn grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps and other waste into organic fertilizer for gardening. It is a closed container in which the controlled biological decomposition of organic matter, such as food and yard wastes, into humus, takes place. Place the compost bin in the garden (which also reduces hauling time), or under a large tree, or by making some provision to catch the runoff from the pile and use it as liquid fertilizer.

Compost Tumbler - similar to a compost bin in that it is used to turn food and yard wastes into organic compost for gardening. A compost tumbler is a bin, usually on a stand or wheels, that spins to keep organic matter mixed, without requiring the physical exertion of a stationary bin.

Garden Gloves - used to protect your hands against dampness, thorny or prickly plants and bacteria

Watering Can - one with a long nozzle is a good choice because it dispenses a gentle flow of water and lengthens your reach. Selecting a watering can with a detachable spray head is ideal for watering young seedlings.

Wheelbarrow - used for hauling leaves or soil, collecting weeds and debris, and many other uses. Select one that is easy to handle when full, with good maneuverability.

Gardening hand tools may have a wood, plastic, fiberglass or metal shaft. Steel is, of course, the heaviest but it is also the strongest. Wood and fiberglass are the lightest but not as strong. Your choice of shaft material will depend on the amount and type of work you do, your preference for shaft weight, and cost (steel is the most expensive). There have been a number of significant improvements in garden-tool handle designs to make tool use more ergonomically effective and more comfortable to operate.