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Are you starting your garden journey and curious about the essential gardening tools you should have?
Every garden and gardener is a little different, but there are tools that every gardener has in common! Having the right tools will ensure that your first time gardening experience goes well.
Whether you are starting with small garden beds or a larger vegetable garden, these are the best gardening tools you can use!
17 Most Essential Gardening Tools Every Beginner Needs
From hand tools to larger gardening tools, you will find everything you need to start your garden this year on this list. If you do indoor gardening, you may already have some of these tools.
1. Hand Trowel
A hand trowel or garden trowel is an essential tool to have for gardening. It will help you when digging holes for your plants and work through tough soil easily.
2. Hand Pruners
Having a decent pair of hand pruners with a sharp blade are so helpful! They will help you cut back weeds, and we also use these for cutting vegetables off the plants when they are ripe.
3. Garden GLoves
Having a good pair of gloves is a must for any gardener! I love digging my hands in the dirt, but it’s always nice to have gloves for those days I don’t want to get as dirty.
You can use any type of gloves that you prefer, but these are the best gardening gloves in my opinion.
The gloves with the claws are my favorite and will help you dig small holes for seeds or even dig up weeds!
4. Weeder
A weeder is such a great tool to help you keep from hurting your back. It has a long handle and easily captures and pulls up weeds from your garden (or other areas of your yard).
This is a much safer option for killing weeds in your garden over chemicals and other harmful substances.
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5. Garden Hose
We’ve used several types of garden hoses, and they all work well for the purposes of watering the garden.
Just make sure the hose length is long enough to reach your garden area from where the water spicket is one your house.
A soaker hose is also a great investment! It is great to use with plants that are susceptible to powdery mildew or other fungal diseases. It doesn’t spray directly onto the plants, but soaks the ground around them.
6. Sprinkler or Watering Wand
I use both of these important tools for my garden. I love to use a watering wand that connects to my water hose to water the herb garden.
The sprinkler is more practical for the large vegetable garden because we can turn it on and let it run for a while without being outside. We usually turn it on in the mornings while getting our day started or in the evenings while eating dinner. It makes watering the garden much easier!
If you live in an area that gets plenty of rain during the summer, you may not need to water your garden that often and something smaller may be more beneficial to you.
7. Watering Can
Having a good quality watering can is a must-have! I always like to water my flower beds, herb garden, and vegetable plants as I put them in the ground. It allows the soil to settle around them.
A watering can is great for this task. It’s also perfect for when you don’t feel like dragging out the water hose and need to water a few of your plants.
A stainless steel watering can like this one will last a long time!
8. Plant Labels
Plant labels are great so that you can remember what you have planted where! Sometimes we go back and add a few plants after our initial planting of the season.
We like to keep similar plants together so the labels help us remember what we’ve already planted.
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9. Garden Fork
A garden fork is an excellent hand held tool! It takes the hard work out of getting the weeds out of your planters. It can dig into hard soil and pull plants or weeds up by their roots.
10. Garden Rake
A garden rake has a long handle and is great for smoothing out the soil after it has been tilled up.
The garden rake can pull up weeds and move large rocks and clumps of soil around. It’s one of the best tools you will need for your garden!
11. Seed Starter Kit
A seed start kit is great for starting seeds early indoors. Planting seeds early is a great way to get started on your garden before the weather allows you to plant outside.
Starting your small plants by seed can also save you money. Buying plants from a garden center can get expensive!
You can leave your seed starter kit somewhere in your home that gets adequate sunlight or use a small greenhouse (this one is perfect for beginner gardeners).
12. Spray Bottle
A spray bottle is a great addition to your gardening tools! Using a sprays bottle is the best way to water the seeds in your seed starting kit. You don’t want to drown the seeds.
A spray bottle can also be useful for indoor plants or plants that do not need a lot of water.
Related Post: Five Life Lessons I Learned From Gardening
13. Boxes
Herb boxes are a great way to start a garden. Our first garden was split between two herb boxes, then we moved to a small section of yard, and now we have a large garden spot in the backyard with several herb boxes, and planters.
Start small and you can grow your garden bigger each year as you develop more of a green thumb.
14. Hand Rake
A small hand rake is perfect for raking leaves, small debris, and other things out of a small space like an herb box.
It’s easier to use than a large rake when dealing with an herb box or planter.
15. Hand Fork
Hand forks have small handles and help you dig into the soil to get those stubborn weeds out! Get right under the roots and pull them out easily.
16. Harvesting Basket
A harvesting basket will make things much more convenient when gathering your vegetables and herbs.
I love to use a large basket like this one when gathering our vegetables so I don’t have to make so many trips back to the house.
If you want to start with a smaller basket, I actually bought an Easter basket one year that was on clearance and we used it for the longest time!
You may already have some baskets at home, and those would work fine! You will just want something to put your veggies and herbs in to gather them and take them in the house.
17. Gardening Hat
A gardening hat is essential when working in the garden on sunny days. A hat like this will protect your head, neck, and ears from the sun.
It gets hot working in the garden down here in the south! It’s easy to get sunburned so a hat like this is perfect for protecting me from the sun and helping to keep me cool!
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I hope these tools help you start your gardening journey!
You will love growing your own herbs and veggies! It’s a fun and rewarding journey. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy new tools.
Check your local thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales to find many of these items for a great price! We love to go “thrifting” and find treasures that other people are getting rid of.
Do my more advanced gardeners have a must-have gardening tool? I would love to know what types of tools you prefer using in the garden.
Until next time,
Catherine
Nice tips, thank you!
My favorite gardening tool is a great pair of gloves. It is important to protect your hands so you can garden again another day 🙂
I agree! I love a good pair of gardening gloves.