Whenever you think about gardening, your mind gets full of colorful and beautiful plants. Gardening needs a lot of effort and dedication. Soil preparation, seed preparation, watering, and fertilizing- are the significant steps of gardening.
Will you be able to finish all those steps without any equipment? No! That’s where gardening tools come in. We can compare gardening tools as the backbone of the gardening process. Because in every step of gardening, you will be in a condition of those tools.
You need to purchase them before you begin gardening. Gardening tools are essential as long as you do gardening. Even they are equally valuable for your gardening journey. Moreover, as a beginner, you must choose the best and long-lasting gardening tools to support you in the long run.
Key takeaways
- There are two types of gardening tools, hand tools, and power tools.
- Hand tools are essential for any gardener, especially for beginners. Power tools are for experienced users.
- The 16 essential gardening tools that are a must-have for any gardener, especially for beginners.
- Some guidelines on how to maintain garden tools after it is used.
Types of Gardening Tools
Having the right garden tools can help us to save time and effort. That is why a beginner need to know what are the essential hand tools required for planting, caring, and harvesting. There are two types of gardening tools that are specially made for gardening; Hand Tools and Power Tools.
As a beginner, we can skip the power tools and fulfill the demand for those tools by using hand tools. These are more user-friendly and can be controlled manually.
12 Essential Gardening Tools for Beginners
When I started my gardening for the first time, I face lots of issues with gardening tolls. From my experience, I think there are 16 essential tools that you need as beginner. Each tool is very important. I arrange the list alphabetically here.
1.Garden fork
2. Gloves
3. Hand trowel
4. Hand cultivator
5. Hori-Hori gardening knife
6. Pest control sprayer
7. Pruning shears
8. Seed starter kit
9. Soil thermometer
10. Spade
11. Watering can
12. Wheelbarrow
1. Garden Fork
This is a very basic tool for gardeners. This square-shouldered equipment was made of wood before, but now most are made from carbon steel or stainless steel.
Uses:
- Soil loosening.
- Soil lifting and turning over.
- Rake out stones and weeds.
- An alternative to a spade.
2. Gloves
Gloves are another essential tool for beginners. During gardening, we need to involve our hands to mix the soil, harvest the seeds or remove the weeds. We should not do that with bare hands. We may affect by nasty bacteria or fungi. So, to save our hands we need to wear gloves. There are five types of gloves available for a gardener- leather gloves, cotton gloves, disposable gloves, rubber gloves, and stretchy gloves. Different gloves have different ways to protect our hands.
Uses:
- Protect your hand from bacteria or fungi.
- Protect hands from dirt.
- Protect hand from wounding.
3. Hand Trowel
Hand trowels are those small pointed spades that can be used to smaller holes for planting bulbs, transplanting seedlings from pots, and much more. Its small size allows it to be very versatile and is an essential tool in any garden. This is always top of my gardening needs and does the job for those smaller and delicate gardening jobs. The types of trowels are masonry, garden, and float trowel.
Uses:
- Cleaning and smoothening soil
- Digging small holes
- Planting bulbs and seedlings
- Making garden structures (masonry trowels)
4. Hand Cultivator
Hand cultivators are hand tools by which you can remove weeds way easier than hand. You can prepare your garden beds and flower pots as well. I find myself needing a hand cultivator anytime I need to get rid of weeds from my lawn. It also has the added benefit of making your life way easier, so you don’t need to put much effort into weeding your garden.
Uses:
- Removes weed easily.
- Prepare garden bets and pots.
- Digging and breaking up soil from below.
5. Watering Can
The watering can be also known as a watering pot or sprinkling can. As it is a portable container, you can control the water flow with your hand while watering plants. Two types of water cans are there- one is metal, and the other is plastic. Plastic water cans are less expensive and less durable. On the contrary, metal cans last longer. To avoid rust in a metal watering, rinse them after using any liquid fertilizer. Water can store almost five liters of water for daily use.
Uses:
- Watering plants that are away from a water source
6. Hori-Hori Gardening Knife
This Japanese knife is also known as a ‘soil knife‘ or ‘weeding knife‘. It is a multipurpose tool that you can use for both digging and cutting. Its high-quality blade is made of carbon steel which is smooth and comfortable. You can use it during herb growing, harvesting, and vegetable digging. To sharpen your Hori-Hori knife, you can use a round file instead of a hand grinder.
Uses:
- Weeding and digging
- Harvesting herbs and vegetables
7. Pruning Shears
You can call them hand pruners. It looks like scissors; you can use them to prune thorny branches of trees and shrubs. Three basic pruning shears are there- anvil, bypass, and ratchets. This tool is also used for cutting branches like loppers. Where loppers are for branches, pruning shears are for more delicate plants like flowers. Here, the smaller shears will help a lot with flowers and other small pruning jobs like fruits. The blade usually used in pruning shears are- stainless steel, carbon steel, and titanium-coated blades.
Uses:
- Pruning flowers.
- Cutting off fruits.
- Cut off dead leaves and petals of flowers and fruits.
8. Pest control sprayer
We all are familiar with pest control sprayers. You will need them to save your garden from harmful insects or bugs. To keep your garden healthy and fresh, you must use the required amount of liquid. Keep in mind that you are not disrupting the environment while using pesticides.
Uses:
- Keep insects off plant leaves and stems.
- Breaking the liquid into droplets and distribute them over the surface.
9. Seed starter kit
This tool is the best option for preparing seeds as a beginner. I wish I had started with a seed starter kit when I was beginning gardening. It would have helped me a lot to germinate the plants indoors and then transplant the seedling to my garden. Seed starter kits come with a clear plastic dome. It makes your planting process quicker than ever. It can be an excellent backup for your gardening journey if you belong from a region where it’s colder.
Uses:
- Starting germination indoors
- Can be used during winter
10. Soil Thermometer
Checking the soil temperature is important! It is a long, thin, six-inch probed stick that you need to stick into the ground between one to two inches for thirty seconds to get the temperature reading. You don’t have to worry about data loggers and sensors. As a beginner, just having a thermometer and keeping track of any temperature changes will be enough.
Uses:
- Keeping track of the temperature.
- Detects temperature changes in the soil.
11. Spade
Almost everyone is familiar with this particular tool. Digging, slicing, and lifting sod, edging flower beds or lawns- we can do all those using a spade. For doing different kinds of tasks, we can mention four types of spades here- digging, border, pointed, and transplanting.
Uses:
- Digging the soil.
- Edging flower beds.
- Lifting sod.
12. Wheelbarrow
Your garden will need bags of soil, plants, weeds, and gardening tools. You need a wheeler to carry them, right? That is when you need to get a wheelbarrow. This tool is designed to push and guide a single person, and it usually has one wheel for rolling.
Uses:
- Moving objects and materials during landscaping.
- Helps to move rock, mulch, hauling bricks, compost to the garden.
- Helps to mix concrete or fertilizers.
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Minor tools
As power tools are what I consider to be non-essential for a beginner, it is optional for you to get one. Here we will discuss some minor or power tools so one can get introduced to them for future needs.
1. Hedge trimmers
A hedge trimmer is a tool you can use to prune hedges and bushes. It can be both powered or manual. You can cut long grasses much more quickly and effectively with this tool. Moreover, instead of using other alternative tools for cutting grass, you can choose this tool as it can give you a smooth cut.
2. Lawnmower
If you want to mow the grass or plants in your garden, that is when you need a lawn mower. This power tool is used to clean up the grass from your garden. It has complex and sharp iron plates so mowing will be easy. Using this machine regularly will help keep grass growing and maintain adequate density.
3. Leaf blowers
Leaf blowers are commonly known as a blower, and you can use this machine to blow away grass and leaves. But remember one thing while using a leaf blower- if the leaves are dry, the chances are less to face problems while blowing. But if those leaves are soaked, you might be in trouble until you give them time to get dry.
Tips for tools
- Wash your gloves with soap and water every time you are done. You can use antibacterial liquids to disinfect them.
- You need to clean your cutting tools after every time you use them. Also, sharpen your cutting tools, such as the blades of shovels and spades, during the gardening season.
- Try to wipe your pruning tools using an oily rag.
- Keep your tools hanging on the wall, or keep them in a dry place.
- To prevent the rush, you can use the mixture of builders’ sand and motor oil stored in a bucket. You can use that mixture as spade cleaner; even you can use that bucket as a spade stand.
FAQs
Some useful gardening tools for beginners are- a hose, spade, watering can, hand trowel, and rake. Always try to know about the uses of your tools properly before you are going to apply them.
The most common tool is a spade. Digging, slicing, and lifting sod, edging flower beds or lawns- you can do all those using a spade.
You must choose the best-fitted gardening tools for planting; caring and harvesting are essential. The right tools can help you to save time and effort at the same time.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, gardening is a work of passion we all want to do during our leisure time. But for gardening in a sorted and suitable way, one needs to know all the tools and their uses. Beginners should focus more on hand tools rather than trying power tools. Once you get used to your hand tools, you can also go for other power tools.
And if you are thinking broadly about your garden later, like making agriculture as a small business for financial support, then knowing gardening tools is a must for you!
Well, now get ready! Wearing your favorite overalls or aprons and a straw hat on your head for mission gardening!
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