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The Gardening Tool List: Must Have Handtool Sets for a Gardener

May 11, 2022

Tools Every Gardener Should Have

so one of the common questions we get is “What are the best gardening tools for a new gardener, and experienced Gardner, or Master gardener?” Of course there are million different options, and with gardening becoming such a Common hobby tool manufacturers are coming out with new tools and options nearly every day. As a master gardener I love my tools, I love gadgets and I like to bring neat and useful tools to our customer base. This is a quick summary of what I believe are the best tools for beginners intermediate and master gardeners

Tools for beginning gardeners

With so many people taking up the gardening hobby the demand for beginning toolsets that are high-quality ergonomic and fun to use is high. To start with, you get what you pay for when it comes to gardening toolsets. There are so many cheap plastic rubber and low quality metal tools and they just don’t stand out the test of time. Plastic cracks, metal rusts and rubber breaks. These just aren’t a great option and can leave a poor taste in the purchaser or gift givers mouth. We recommend that you buy stainless steel tools with wood handles. If you take care of them and clean them frequently, they will last forever. Here is what I recommend for a new gardener:

The Trowel – the basic Swiss Army knife of gardening is a staple. Digging, potting, weeding and more, this workhorse of the garden is necessary for all activities. Good trowels have long necks for leverage and curved handles for comfort.

The Scoop – This is one of our favorite tools, but it is typically missing from most starter sets. It allows for moving large portions of compost, soil and amendments without spilling.

The Fork – a hand fork is great for all types of garden functions like weeding, propagating, digging bulbs, moving plants and more. It can also be used in a scraping motion to mix in amendments for the soil and is great for breaking up hardpan.

With these 3 tools, the new gardener is armed for just about every garden task.

For Intermediate gardeners

Ok, you’ve been gardening for a few years, and want to add to your arsenal of gardening tools, but don’t quite know what to purchase. Here are some ideas and the tool uses:

The Cultivator – this tool is great for prepping seed beds and raised beds, mixing amendments and breaking up dry topsoil layers. It allows you to work around your existing garden plants when spreading mulch or weeding.

The Potting Trowel – this smaller and longer version of the trowel is amazing for planting bulbs and transplanting new plants. It works well in small spaces, and typically has depth marks for reference.

The Dibbler – the simplest garden tool, but very handy for all types of chores, the garden dibbler can be used for seed planting, aerating roots, as a string tie for straight lines and to break up hard soil.

Just a few select garden tools to add to your set.

For Advanced Gardeners or Tool Lovers

This is just a small list of great tool gift ideas for an advanced gardener.

The Hand Rake – This tool is exceptional for leveling soil in beds, removing leaves from around plants in fall and getting at smaller weeds en masse. The longest tool in our kit, it also makes light work of any gathering task.

The “L” Weeder – This versatile weeding tool is great for weeding beds with its “push and pull” blades, and also allows you to get in tight areas, cracks in pavement and between pavers.

The Multi-tool – this thin and versatile blade tool is like a light duty Hori Hori, and can be used for seeding rows, weeding, cutting and more.

I hope you liked this post, and please comment if you have any other ideas to suggest.


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