Types of Gardening Tools: 29 Essential Items You Need

Whether gardening is your passion or a brand new hobby this article is a must read. An avid gardener has a tool shed that is fully stocked with several handy gardening tools and devices that make life easier.

This can include a combination of electrical and manual tools that are simple to use once you get the hang of them. Most basic yard tools are simple products or machines that require little to no electricity.

Each device has its purpose and can achieve greater tasks that complement the use of each one. We can categorize these tools by their purpose and design.

Types of Gardening Tools: The List

These tools used in and around the garden can be sub-categorized into 1) digging tools, 2) pruning or cutting tools, 3) gardening machines and 4) hydrating solutions. There are also some tools that don’t belong in any category like brooms, ladders, and stools.

Miscellaneous

1. Brooms – Brooms keep small dirty spots in your home and garden tidy. They can also be used to level out soil after being tilled.
2.  Stools – Stools let you rest your back after hours of digging and forking and what-not. It’s also easier to do plot transfers while sitting on a stool since you won’t be straining on your back.
3. Ladders – A portable ladder in your yard can help you reach places your body can’t. These are often used for general purposes and around the house as well.
4. Compostable bags – these are biodegradable trash bags and a necessity to have today since they help with recycling and leaving a smaller waste footprint.
5. Extension cords – It’s important to have the best extension cord for leaf blower that has various lengths depending on the area that you have to cover. A heavy duty extension cord would be the safest and best choice for an electric leaf blower that requires an outdoor extension cord. You might want to think about a purchasing a retractable extension cord reel, if you use electric more often in your garden.
6. Safety Glasses – Using the best safety glasses for yard work is a very important safety habit to get into. When ever you are using gardening tools, you should always wear them to protect your eyes. If you are worried about how they look, today they make some very cool looking safety glasses. Some of the companies top brands are Oakley safety glasses and Nemesis safety glasses. They resemble stylish sunglasses without the darkness of sunglasses.
7. Ear Plugs – Many electric and gas operated tools can be loud and can cause hearing damage. There are all types of noise cancelling ear plugs available today. Some of the best ear plugs are made of soft foam and they expand to size of your ear canal. These are comfortable and fit the best.

Digging Yard Tools

1. Garden Hoe – Hoes are used in digging the soil so you can plant your seedlings and shrubs. They can also be used to dig deeper into the soil when needed.
2. Fork – Forks let you dig deeper into the soil faster, and they’re also useful for turning hay and compost piles over.
3. Spade – Spades let you dig through the soil and then take out whatever you dug and transfer them over to a wheelbarrow or another plot. You can also move cuttings with it.
4. Rake – Dirt Rakes are for leveling the soil after being tilled or hoed. A leaf rake is used to clean up leaves around the garden. If you are maintaining a medium to large size yard, you might want to think about a larger landscape rake. These rakes are wider and can help get the job done quicker and easier.
5. Trowel – Trowels are smaller versions of spades and are more maneuverable than the latter. They are light and more commonly used for digging soil inside plots and pots.

Pruning Shears and other Cutting Tools

1. Pruning Shears – More known as secateurs, pruning shears is a handheld scissor-like tool that lets you trim bushes and flowers when needed.
2. Garden Shears – These are a larger version of the secateurs and are used to cut down grass and pull out weeds. Nowadays, large shears are used to trim trees and large shrubs.
3. Axe and Knives – Having a knife handy around the garden lets you cut away excess rope or slice through a seedling for splicing and grafting purposes. Axes are often used to hack away unsightly branches and firewood.
4. Pruning Saw – Pruning saws are often attached to a pole and are often used to cut away large branches that are beyond an arm’s reach.

Other Tools Used For Gardening

1. Wheelbarrow – Wheelbarrows allow you to transport heavy things from one corner of your garden to the other. This machine saves you from back pain and hours of lifting.
2. Leaf Collection Equipment – Some models like the Worx leaf vacuum is designed to easily suck up leaves and debris.
3. Leaf Blower – The best leaf blowers nowadays include vacuums and mulchers that help reduce the time spent clearing up your garden. Read about extensions to a gutter blower that will easily clean out gutters.
4. Lawn Mower – Lawn mowers keep your manicured grass tidy, and some models even take out the weeds for you so that you don’t have them get down. Using a lawn mower can be the last finishing touch to your yard project. You can cut the lawn at an angle and the lines left by the wheels leave a beautiful pattern showcasing all your landscaping work.
5. Leaf Shredders – A leaf shredder is the perfect gardening tool that is used to shred up and chop up all the leaves that have been cleaned up. The best leaf shredder is one that has enough power to shred the leaves and debris into small pieces so you will have less waste when the job is complete.

Hydrating Solutions

1. Garden Hose with Adjustable Nozzle – A garden hose is a must-have in any garden as all plants need water to live and what better way to transport it than one with an adjustable nozzle.
2. Sprinklers – This hydrating solution lets you water your entire garden at the same time with proper placement. These can either come as an automatic sprinkler or the old school manual one.

Additional stock items

Not all the contents of the garden shed are made of many tools and machines; some are expendable items that you might need to purchase again and again as time goes by.

• Plant Pots – Pots come in all shapes and sizes but buy only those that you think you might need, like medium-sized pots, tall planters, seed trays, seedling pots, etc.
• Baskets and Buckets – Baskets and buckets have their use within the garden. Baskets for carrying fruits and flowers and buckets for watering tools or soaking your boots.
• Ropes and Twines – Twines help keep your vines and taller shrubs in line while ropes help you bind stuff and tools together.
• Gardening Gloves – A definite must-have, gardening gloves let you play around with dirt without soiling yourself, pun intended. Garden gloves or a leaf scooper might be a good idea to pick up leaves and small branches.
• Lights – There are many lights that you can use for your garden. These can be solar-powered garden lights or helium spotlights for scaring away those pesky rodents.
• Fertilizer – Mulching usually is better than using fertilizer, but there are just those plants that don’t respond to natural fertilizers(1) well so keep a sack or two in the shed as a safety measure.
• Extra Fuel – This would be for your trusty lawnmower. It’s always fun to ride it down to  the gasoline station but sometimes 10 miles one way is just too far and takes too much time. Especially when your right in the middle of a project and you run out of gas.

Note: Keep the extra fuel and fertilizer away from each other as they can be a deadly mix. Check with your local authorities as well as these too can be part of something not related at all to nurturing life.

Tool Tips

• Avoid Low-Quality Tools
  Never, ever buy low-quality tools as they would almost always end up either being junk or broken. One tip here is to look for simple gardening tools with minimal paint as this would denote that the makers are not hiding any defect or cheap materials under the coat.
• Take Note of What You Have
  Always keep a list of what you have handy. This prevents you from buying a third or fourth set of tools when you only ever need one and a spare to boot.
• Keep Everything in a Shed
  Remember to place everything back in the shed or your garage. This protects them from the elements, as well as prying eyes and sticky fingers.
• Install Wall Hangers
  Garden tool hangers have a habit of keeping your tools organized where you can see them. A garden tool organizer would be best for long tools and those that you use frequently.
• Keep Spares
  Never throw a broken tool away. What you can do is to salvage the working parts and keep them as spares. For example, the blade of broken shear can substitute as a garden knife.

Gardening Tools Care and Maintenance

These essential tools are man-made and although made for outdoor use, can deteriorate over time. Even the highest quality shears have been known to succumb to rust and age. This is where proper care comes in. Here are a few simple steps to keep your tools feeling and working like brand new.

• Clean each tool after each use. This may sound tedious, but cleanliness does go a long way. Just dip them in water then scrub with a garden sponge or old cloth, whatever is available.
• Inspect everything in sight. This goes for both machine and simple tools. Inspect each nook and cranny, as well as the gears and ingress and egress to make sure that everything is clear of grime and dirt.
• Oil moving parts to prevent rust and dirt from accumulating. Oiling these parts also help keep their movements smooth and easy. Remember to wipe excess oil as this can turn into grease over time and can seriously affect how your tools perform.

Gardening tools and other accessories made for the garden or yard are simple and easy to use and more importantly, they don’t need to be complicated. As long as you can use them effectively in your garden and they can cut your garden hours efficiently, then make sure to take care of them to ensure consistent performance.

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