Gardening doesn't have to be difficult if you are prepared with the tools you need. Learn about each of the essentials so that you are are ready for keeping your flower beds weed free, plus shop from a variety of options available online.
GARDEN | Updated May 19, 2022
For every task, there is a proper tool to get the job done right.
This is true not just in the kitchen and for household tasks, but also in the garden.
There are a few basic garden hand tools that are a must to have in your tool bag. With these essentials, you'll be prepared to handle whatever weeding, planting, and maintenance tasks may arise in your flower beds and vegetable gardens.
The proper tools will help you get the job done more easily, faster, and may even help you enjoy pulling those pesky weeds from your landscaping.
While you can find most of these garden hand tools anywhere including the local dollar store, you should shop for the best that you can afford right now. Good tools can be expensive, but are better constructed (many even being handmade) and with proper care and cleaning can last a lifetime.
This is true not just in the kitchen and for household tasks, but also in the garden.
There are a few basic garden hand tools that are a must to have in your tool bag. With these essentials, you'll be prepared to handle whatever weeding, planting, and maintenance tasks may arise in your flower beds and vegetable gardens.
The proper tools will help you get the job done more easily, faster, and may even help you enjoy pulling those pesky weeds from your landscaping.
While you can find most of these garden hand tools anywhere including the local dollar store, you should shop for the best that you can afford right now. Good tools can be expensive, but are better constructed (many even being handmade) and with proper care and cleaning can last a lifetime.
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ESSENTIAL HAND TOOLS FOR ANY GARDENER
All the tools featured are available for purchase from Terrain. There are other options for each of tool to browse through at the bottom of each section.
Pruning Shears
Pruning shears (also known as hand pruners or secateurs) are one of the most important tools for garden maintenance. They allow you to take a branch off a bush, prune thin limbs from a tree, snip roots, harvest your ripe vegetables, or cut flowers for an arrangement.
There are two types of pruners:
- ANVIL PRUNERS – This type of secateur cuts with two blades that meet in the middle, much like a knife blade hitting a cutting board. They are best for dead wood as they can cause damage to fresh green stems and branches as the top blade chomps down onto the bottom one.
- BYPASS PRUNERS – Your better option is bypass pruners that function more like scissors where the top blade slices past the bottom resulting in a clean, tear-free cut that allows plants and green stems to heal quickly.
Look for high quality pruning shears that easily fit in the palm of your hand and have a lock to keep the blades closed when not in use. You may want padded or rounded handles for the added comfort while doing such a repetitive task.
Regardless of the type you choose, pruners should be kept rust-free and sharped at least once a year.
READ NEXT: Must Have Gadget for Sharpening Garden Tools
SHOP FOR PRUNING SHEARS
Cultivator
Cultivators look like a claw and have three or five metal tines that are used to dig down into the ground breaking up hard soil, loosening vegetables for harvest, removing small weeds, and aerating roots.
There are a few differences between the cultivators that are available.
- NARROW CULTIVATORS – When you are working in tight spaces between plants a narrow tool is the easiest to use without disturbing what is planted.
- WIDE CULTIVATORS – Cultivators with a wider head are ideal for roughing up soil before you begin planting.
- HANDLE LENGTH - While most cultivators will come with a short handle, there are options available with longer handles for those who are unable to bed over when gardening or when trying to access deep beds.
- HAND FORK - Unlike a cultivator that has narrow, bent tines, a hand fork has wide, straight ones. While it does the same tasks, it is better at breaking up compacted and clay-filled soil, can dig better in stone filled ground, and goes more deeply to uproot weeds.
Look for cultivators that have a comfortable handle, sturdy curved tines, and a strong union between the two.
SHOP FOR CULTIVATORS
Hand Trowel
A trowel is like a handheld shovel and is one of the most used garden tools. Its sturdy blade creates holes for planting seedlings, larger plants, and perennials, as well as digging up small areas of a flower bed, uprooting weeds, or moving soil.
There are trowels available in different materials and sizes.
- Know that wood has a better grip than plastic and a stainless steel head is more durable and long lasting.
- Options will a full tang, meaning the steel extends into the handle, are ideal because the blade won’t bend or break.
- Longer handles provide greater leverage when digging.
- Broad blades are ideal for moving soil and planting, while long narrow blades dig up weeds in closely planted beds better.
A hand trowel should be kept sharp enough to easily pierce down through the soil and roots to make a hole.
SHOP FOR HAND TROWELS
Japanese Hand Hoe
Originally designed in Japan, the Japanese Hand Hoe (or weed sickle) is an incredibly effective multi-purpose tool that cultivates, weeds, and digs holes.
You can use the point of the blade to make furrows or holes to plant seedlings and aerate the soil, or place the tool flat and use the razor-sharp blade to dig down under the top layer of soil to slice and remove weeds and sections of sod. The blade can also be used for harvesting and is particularly useful for vegetables like cabbage that have a thick base to cut through.
Like the trowel and secateurs, the blade of the Japanese hand hoe should be sharpened at least once a year.
SHOP FOR HAND HOES
Dandelion Weeder
The dandelion weeder is a favorite tool because it works really well to remove pesky weeds with long roots (like dandelions!) without bothering the plants around where the weed is growing.
The tool looks like a long, flat head screwdriver, but the blade end is split to help entangle the weeds. Some versions have an additional metal piece of ball attached that will add helpful leverage when trying to remove the weeds.
You simply push it down vertically into the soil beside the weed, twist or angle it slightly and pull up. The weed catches in between the two pointed parts of the blade and comes right out.
SHOP FOR DANDELION WEEDERS
If you have these five great tools you'll be able to do just about anything when it comes to keeping your flower beds and garden weed free and thriving. Anything that can make a job easier and more efficient is a must have in my world!
