For those of you who are thinking about approaching the amazing world of gardening, picking the right tools to buy can be confusing. But don’t you worry! We’ve got you covered.
In this guide, you’ll find the ten most essential tools to be equipped to take care of your garden in the best possible way.
1. Gardening Gloves
Let’s start with the basics: gardening gloves!
Gardening can really be a hassle without the right pair of gloves to protect your hands from splinters and thorns. When picking your perfect pair of gardening gloves, you should keep in mind three essential characteristics. Your gloves should be durable but not bulky, they should be water and dirt resistant but breathable, and they should always protect the wrists as the skin is particularly delicate in this area.
Also, the right fit is pretty important, as a poorly fitting pair could slip off or cause blisters.
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2. Secateurs
To keep the garden ship-shape, you need a trusty pair of secateurs. Regular pruning will help put plants that are getting out of control back in place, as well as make them grow stronger and stable.
The ideal secateurs will have a durable handle that contours to the hand for a comfortable use, will have replaceable blades to last for years, and a safety lock.
There are two main types of secateurs – anvil pruners, better for dead wood as they’re too strong for green stems – and bypass secateurs – better for live plants and green wood. You can find out more about choosing the right secateurs in our Guide to Buying Secateurs.
If you have arthritis, there are ratchet secateurs that are designed to take the pressure off your joints when you are cutting. We also have left-handed secateurs making it easy for the lefties to close the clasp without switching hands and putting your fingers at risk.
If you are cutting through thicker branches (over 2cm), invest in loppers or a pruning saw.
Remember to sharpen your secateurs’ blades often to ensure more quality and durability!
3. Watering Can(s)
Knowing the right type of watering for your plants is far more essential than you’d think it’d be. The two main materials that watering cans are made of are plastic and metal. Even though the plastic ones are lighter, we still suggest investing in a metal galvanized watering can. It will last longer, resist rusting and pollute less.
For larger areas, consider a hose fitted watering wand or nozzle to save walking back and forth topping up the watering can, direct the water onto the plants and minimise wastage.
4. Cultivating Tools
You always need a spade and fork for digging, moving soil, cultivating the garden beds, turning the compost and harvesting any deep rooted crops.
When buying a spade and fork, take note of the length so it’s not too short and will cause you to be bending over, or not too high as you won’t be able to get much leverage when digging. Our recommendation for smaller spade and forks are the Sophie Conran Digging Fork and Spade. For longer spades, the Ryset Ashwood Digging Fork and Spade are perfect for the job.
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5. Hand Tools
The hand trowel and fork are versatile hand tools that can be extremely useful for transporting bedding plants and herbs, planting containers and taking out weeds.
Just keep in mind that the handle should fit comfortably in your hand and that a blade in stainless steel will last longer and be more durable. Burgon & Ball’s Hand Trowel and Hand Fork are the perfect choice for a trowel that will feel comfortable in your hand, and age well. For raised garden beds, we have the mid-handled collection to save your back.
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6. Rake
A rake is one of a gardeners best friend to have around – there are a wide variety to choose from:
- Soil rake that has a flat ridge and short thick tines, suitable for garden beds to cultivate, weed and level out soil. Look at what you will raking, if you have an empty garden bed, the Burgon & Ball Ground Rake will do the job nicely. For garden beds with a lot of plants in there, the Wolf-Garten Multi-Star Small Rake is narrow enough to get in-between the plants without causing any damage.
- Fan rake that is in the shape of a fan with longer, thinner tines, that are perfect for collecting leaves and debris – mainly from the lawn. You can also use these rakes in garden beds, due to the thinness of the tines, they do not churn the soil like the soil rake does, they will be handy for tidying up the garden. For large areas, the Ryset Flexi-Tined Lawn Rake will cover large areas and keep you upright and the Burgon & Ball Culti-Rake has a narrower head for a larger veggie patch. For more compact gardens, such as raised garden beds, the Ryset Ashwood Mid Handle Shrub Rake and the Wolf-Garten Small Fan Rake will tidy up the garden in no time.
7. Twine
Like the trug, twine will always come in handy if you have plants! Twine or garden ties can be used for tying plants to stakes, tying up your harvest and flowers, laying planting lines and supporting climbing plants such as tomatoes, peas and beans.
If you want to avoid building a trellis to support climbing plants, the Ryset Pean and Bean Netting is perfect for hanging from a fence. Just watch the plants grow!
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Depending on the size of your garden, you may need other items such as a lawnmower or wheelbarrow. Before purchasing, always think where you can store your tools to keep them out of the elements so you can preserve them as much as possible. We have a guide on looking after your tools:
Planting & Caring for your Plants
Now that you have your garden sorted and the tool shed stocked up, your plants also need some ongoing care, we have a guide on Fertiliser Explained in 3 Easy Steps to help you determine the best fertilisers for your plants.
Pest control is just as important, you can find out what pests are around through our How to Identify Garden Pests & Get Rid of Them.
If you’re looking to get into gardening because you heard it being such a healthy hobby that will improve your life and your mental health, check out our wide range of high quality gardening tools!
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