My Top Ten Gardening Tools, Tested and Used
When I have a job to do out in my garden or at a client’s property, there’s a small selection of tools I grab often. These top ten gardening tools can usually be found nearby. They help me get a job done with more efficiency and less effort. I prefer to have a pretty minimal tool selection. Its less money spent and less items to maintain and store. With what I do have on hand, it gets used often so it’s got to be able to stand up to usually more than one task. Let’s jump into my top ten gardening tools and how I’ve tested and used them over the last 25 years!
Sturdy Shoes
While shoes are technically not a tool, you can’t do much gardening if you can’t walk confidently. For the first of my top ten gardening tools, we’re starting from the ground up. I don’t tend to be too picky about my clothes, but good footwear has always been a high priority, especially in the garden. They must be sturdy, comfortable to wear for several hours, and provide stability. They also need to give me protection from rocks, prickers, brush, and the occasional tool that I step on (always keep those rakes with the teeth pointing down!).
If I’m going to be working for more than an hour and doing anything beyond light weeding, I always grab my Keene high top hiking boots. I’ve been using these for over 18 years. They last a long time, keep my feet dry and cool, and offer a lot of stability with comfort. If I’m doing some simple weeding, pruning or other light gardening tasks, I love my Slogger clogs. I’ve had several pairs, and they also last a long time. Bonus is that they’re also a great choice if you need to run errands in rainy weather!
Durable Pants or Overalls
We’ll get to tools eventually, I promise! Similar to shoes, I prefer to garden in pants if I’m doing any length of work. I like sturdy, long-lasting pants that move with me. They also must have good pockets for gloves, pruners, twine and other small supplies. I’ve worn classic Carhart pants for years now and they fit the bill. More recently, I’ve discovered Dovetail clothing which is workwear made specifically for women. While a bit pricey, their clothes do seem to last and stand up to a lot of wear and tear. I love their heavy-duty gardening overalls, especially because of the reinforced knees and lots of pockets. They even have a pocket with a hole for dispensing twine. Love that!
Gloves
Now that we’ve covered good footwear and pants, we’re moving onto gloves on my list of top ten gardening tools. Just like I can’t move easily if I don’t have sturdy shoes on, I can’t do the various tasks of gardening with my hands (which is pretty much everything) if I am hesitant with my hands in the garden. When I’m doing light duty work, I prefer rubber coated breathable gloves. They work well even in wet weather but still allow enough dexterity for fine weeding and planting. If I’m doing a lot of pruning, working around prickers or working with stone, I prefer leather gloves like these. They still allow for easy movement while preventing splinters and pinched fingers.
Felco Bypass Hand Pruners
Now we’re getting into the meat of several of my top ten gardening tools. First up is pruners. I literally never work in the garden without them. If I had to pick something to always have with me, it would be these. From pruning overgrown tomatoes or cutting flowers to thinning branches or cutting roots, these can cover a lot of ground. Out of all the tools on this list, I would encourage you to really invest in a pair of these pruners.
I prefer the classic red handled bypass pruners by Felco (red handles are harder to lose in a pile of leaves- ask me how I know!). While they do come with a high price tag, they will last decades if cleaned, greased, and sharpened regularly. Most of my gardening pants have a pocket specifically for pruners but if they don’t, I can also use a holster on my belt. I like this double pocket holster since it has a spot for my pruners and then a pair of my favorite garden snips.
Rubber tub trug
With all the weeding and pruning that gardening entails, it’s easy to create a good size pile of debris. I like to have a rubber tug trug right next to me to put this stuff in. A five-gallon bucket works great, but this tub trug is a bit larger while still easy to carry. I use it to collect weeds and excess soil, transport small hand tools, and even move mulch into tight corners of a bed.
Japanese Weeding Sickle
Next up on my list of top ten gardening tools is a very useful item for weeding- an annoying but necessary part of any garden. I came upon this small but mighty tool several years ago and have never looked back. Its pointy tip can dig out a long tap root and the sharp edge can undercut large areas of shallow-rooted weeds, making quick work of any job. At times I’ll need to grab my weed knife for a super stubborn weed but mostly I just use this.
Steel Leaf Rake
For small areas I’m weeding I usually just collect the scraps with my hands. When it’s a larger area, I’ll grab my favorite steel leaf rake. Its lightweight, sturdy, and can handle a variety of materials. It’s good for raking up leaves and getting the fines off the lawn. Mulch can easily be smoothed out with this rake, especially if you flip it over and use it upside down (it’ll create a nice, finished look). They can also help separate out small rocks from soil to help you prep an area for planting.
Square Spade
There are likely a ton of different shovels being sold at your local gardening store, box store or even on Amazon. But if I had to choose one, I’d choose an simple square spade (the one I use is older than I am but it still works great). I like a square spade because it can handle basic digging tasks and moving around gravel and mulch (although if you’re only doing those tasks then grab a regular digging shovel). But where it really shines is planting perennials, shrubs and trees. If it has a sharp edge, it can easily cut through roots and soil to prepare a planting hole, remove a plant for transplanting or even divide a perennial in half. It’s not overly heavy or cumbersome and with proper care (e.g. cleaning in the fall and sharpening the edge) it can last a long time.
Loppers
A lot of gardening involves digging in the dirt and very often you’ll encounter some obstacles along the way. If you’re digging anywhere near existing trees or shrubs, those obstacles will often be roots. Enter loppers. A sturdy, long handled pair will usually cut through most stubborn roots. Loppers are also useful when pruning larger trees and shrubs. While most fine tuning can be done with those hand pruners discussed above, some bigger branches and thicker branches growing from the ground up may need to be cut with a pair of loppers. Keep them clean and greased with a sharp blade, and they’ll last for many seasons.
Steel Wheelbarrow
Minimizing steps when gardening is a good idea to conserve energy for other necessary tasks. Lugging heavy things around the yard can zap your energy very quickly so limiting what you have to carry is a helpful strategy. While there are all sorts of garden carts out there, I prefer a standard steel wheelbarrow. I find them easy maneuver over long distances or into tight spaces. They can usually hold a fair number of plants or a large load of mulch or compost. If the barrow is steel, it’ll stand up to heavy loads of gravel or rocks you’re trying to move. Heavy duty plastic is a good option too but may be more likely to crack under a heavy load.
In looking back at this list, it really does represent the tools I grab most often. Just the other day I was planting about twenty new perennials in my front beds and I grabbed most of these tools. The only tool that I didn’t grab were the long-handled loppers and that was because I didn’t have any major roots to contend with. What’s your favorite gardening tool? Are there any new ones on this list that you’re interested in trying out? Share below in the comments!
