Garden Tool Belt or Gardening Apron? How to Decide

Choosing the Right Garden Apparel for Your Needs

Belt or Apron: What Type of Gardener is the Recipient?

There are several types of gardeners out there in the world, and here is a quick guide to highlight their characteristics:

Are you a garden tool belt type, or the garden apron type? In this quick gardening post, we will give you some quick guidelines on how to choose the right piece of gardening apparel to meet your needs in the garden, or the needs of that special someone that will be receiving a gardening gift.

• The Serious Gardener – not afraid to get dirt under their nails. Uses any garden weapon or tool. Plants relentlessly, and constantly changes her landscape and hard to pin down. Will go at it with or without gloves. Moving at 1,000 miles per hour, need to be light and have tools available at all times!
• The Casual Gardener – loves the outdoors and gardening. Lives for the stress free feel of the garden. Has others do the heavy labor, but does get dirty on occasion (my wife ;)). Occasionally plants and pots, content with pruning roses and doing light work. Will spend an hour, or a day in the garden.
• The Dabbler – hands off with the exception of cutting flowers in the garden. Not a dirt lover like the serious gardener, but has a passion for the beauty and variety of plants. Garden snips or a gardening apron to protect clothing would be a great gift for this type. Mostly this gardener has an affinity for flower gardening, but loves farm to table.

The Garden Tool Belt: Pros and Cons

Garden tool belts provide great utility in the garden, and room and access for those important tools. High quality garden tool carriers are made of waxed, heavy canvas, and can hold sharp tools with out risk of pokes. Here is a quick list of pros and cons:

Garden Belt Pros

• Lightweight
• Non-restrictive
• Good for warm weather gardening
• Ability to add belt loop tools (hori hori, propagation knife, etc)
• Storage after gardening

Garden Belt Cons

• Minimal space for tools
• No clothing protection

So, the belt is best suited for those gardeners not worried about getting their clothing dirty, and are busy bees in the garden. The tool belt can be a great addition for any type of gardener.

The Garden Apron: Pros and Cons

Gardening and Florist aprons are meant to protect clothing, as well as provide carryall capability for tools, your phone, etc. Usually made of waterproof waxed canvas, they keep the water, soil and foliage away, and let you carry a large set of items.

Garden Apron Pros

• Clothing and cut protection
• Great storage capacity
• Great organization of tools and garden items
• Heavy load capability
• They look great!!
• Transition from garden to kitchen
• Many different styles

Garden Apron Cons

• Can be hot in Summer
• Non-cross strap backed aprons can be a pain in the neck (literally)

Time to Choose?

So there is all the info for you to make the right choice of the gardening apron or the garden tool belt. Some gardeners buy both, so they can make the choice as they head out the door. See Celtic Farm’s selection of high quality aprons and belts here:

Gardening Apparel: Tool Belts and Aprons