Education
Y'all, I am guilty. I love collecting garden tools. A few I've purchased myself, others come from friends, family, donations, online sales, or wherever I found them. Some are not actually 'garden' tools but rather construction tools and kitchen gadgets.
Here are some of my most useful items for the garden. You can find them in various stores. You probably have most of them lying around already.
Application
Here's how I use these tools... from left to right
in the photo above.
Yellow wire cutters: I use these to cut chicken wire and hard wire
Red and black file: Used to sharpen my pruners
Screwdriver: Used to make holes in the soil when planting seeds, and for digging rows in my beds for seed planting
Disposable Blade Cutter: Used for everything; opening bags of soil/mulch, cutting zip ties of stakes, cutting plants out of grow bags, etc.
Twine: Build trellises, tie plants to stakes
Pliers: Pull staples out of wood on garden beds
Wood Shims: To level tables, bags, fountains
More... from top to bottom in the photo below
Multipurpose Garden Tool: I love this tool I use it all the time. It makes digging through my rocky ground so easy! Also great for digging grass out of my landscaped beds. I've taken some huge rocks out of the ground with this tool.
Pruning Shears (or 'Secateurs' as they are called in Europe): Self-explanatory. I have several.
Trowel: This is just a small shovel. There are so many kinds of these. You'll definitely need this. I have wide ones and narrow ones. They get a lot of use... and they get lost a lot in the yard because I don't use an apron... keep reading, you'll see what I mean. 🙄
Hand Rake: Another self-explanatory tool. You know what to do.
Rubber Mallet: I'm not sure how I got to this point in life without this tool.... putting stakes in the ground, leveling the garden bed, loosening the soil in old grow bag to get plants out. So many uses!
and this .... A Saw!
I laugh at myself now when I think of my first ever efforts at using this saw.
I bought it because I needed to shorten a 2x6 piece of wood. I was so awkward, the saw was wobbly, the line was crooked, and when I was done the wood looked like it had been painfully gnawed.
However, more recently, I sawed six 2x6 pieces of lumber like a pro. I suggest getting one only because, over time, you will find a million things in the garden that will need to be sawed.
Special Garden Items
These are tools you definitely do not need to manage a garden but they have made my gardening life much easier.
🔆The Yellow thingy (a.k.a Diatomaceous Earth [D.E.] Duster): This gadget answered my D.E. prayers. It makes dusting my plants so much easier.
I'll discuss using D.E. in an upcoming edition. The silver thingy next to it is actually just a Confectioners Sugar Duster from my kitchen but it works great as well to spread D.E. in the garden.
🔆Meat thermometer: I wasn't planning to use this outside but in a tight situation last year I needed to know if my soil was warm enough to plant seeds so I grabbed it. It never made it back into the kitchen... it's an official garden tool now. 😎
🔆Meters: I have two meters. One is a 🖱️Soil Moisture Meter to test moisture levels in the soil; and the other is a 🖱️ph Meter to test pH levels in my soil. Different foods sometimes require a higher or lower acidic level so these tools help determine where my soils is so I can add whatever is needed.
🔆Zip Ties: I use these for so many tasks like tying stakes together, building trellises, closing bags of soil. They are handy and come in multiple sizes.
🔆UV Sleeves: I don't get sunburned while in the
garden but I do get very hot and very dark so I put on these sleeves to keep from heat blasting my arm. *side note*: I also wear one on
my left arm when driving in the summer.
I have duplicates and triplets of many of my tools because I leave and lose them all over the yard as I'm working.
I didn't include the obvious tools you'd used in a garden like, gloves, hat, sunglasses, good pair of shoes, safety glasses. These are the basic items you should start with.
Fortunately, most things I've bought for the garden I have used regularly but every now and again I will run across something and ask myself... "Why'd I buy this?"
Three things I bought and never use.
- Garden apron - it was cute but I never take time to put it on. I'm usually in old garden clothes with pockets so I don't need an apron.
- Thumb Knife - bought this on a whim and used it once.
- Kneeling Cushion - Nothing wrong with these. I just tend to be a stoop-er and bender, not a kneeler. So, it just sits around waiting for me to use it.
Like I said, even though I didn't, you might find them to be useful. So check them out.
For the most part, I'm pretty proud of myself for making smart purchases, and not wasting too much money on things I never use.
