Tools for New Gardeners

If you are just beginning in gardening, use this checklist to go shopping for your first set of tools. Then add more tools as you feel the need for them.

This garden tool checklist is broken into basic gardening tasks.

Lawn

• Lawnmower
• Edger
• Leaf rake (Useful in clearing the garden of rocks and debris. Leaf rakes can also be used to spread mulches and smooth seedbeds.)

Planting (vegetables or flowers)

• Shovel (A garden shovel with a pointed blade is lighter and smaller than most other shovels and is easy to use in the garden.)
• Trowel (Perfect for transplanting seedlings and bulbs or digging shallow-rooted weeds.)
• Garden rake
• Hoe (Necessary for preparing the seed bed, removing weeds, and breaking up encrusted soil.)

Pruning (trees and shrubs)

• Hand shears
• Loppers shears
• Pole pruners
• Hedge shears

Digging

• Spading fork (Great for breaking and turning heavy soils and for loosening subsoil layers when double digging a bed. You can also use a spading fork to turn coarse compost, spread mulches, and dig root crops.)
• Digger (Useful for digging up weeds with long taproots, such as dandelions or Queen Anne's lace, or for prying out Johnson grass rhizomes.)

Watering

• Hose with a spray nozzle or a watering can.
• You will also need containers for moving things around. Garden carts or wheelbarrow, buckets, garbage cans, nursery flats, or tubs are useful for moving things around.

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