Essential Garden Tools for the Beginner

1. Gloves

While gardening can be a wonderful hobby, it can quickly turn into a thorny and splintery hassle without the right pair of gloves.

• Gloves should be durable but not too bulky, especially for working with seeds or transplanting seedlings.
• Fit is important, as poorly fitting gloves can cause blisters or result in accidents from slipping off.
• Fabrics that are water resistant, but also breathable, will help keep hands cool and comfortable.
• Longer cuffs protect wrists and forearms from scratches and keep soil from getting in.
• Store gloves out of sunlight, away from water and safe from insects.

2. Pruning Shears

Hand pruners, also called secateurs, help reign in plants that are getting out of control and taking over. Anvil-style pruners cut with a sharp blade meeting a flat surface, similar to a knife on a board. Bypass pruners cut with a sharp blade passing by a sharp-edged flat surface, more like scissors.

3. Loppers

Another cutting tool, loppers are basically long-handled pruners used to trim hard to reach areas and cut thicker branches. The long handles provide the leverage it takes to cut through branches up to an inch or more in diameter. There are anvil and bypass types, just like pruners. Handles generally range from 16 to 36 inches.

4. Garden Fork

An efficient tool for turning soil, garden forks can dig into dense soil better than a spade.

• Forks with a slight curve to the spines are useful for scooping mulch or turning compost piles, much like a pitchfork.
• Straight tines are better for digging; great for compacted, rocky, or clay soil.
• Square tines are stronger than flat tines which can bend when they hit a rock or root.

5. Hand Trowel

The essential hand tool, trowels are wonderful for transplanting bedding plants and herbs, planting containers, and taking out weeds.

• Select a broad blade to move more soil or a long, narrow blade to dig up weeds or for rocky soil.
• The handle should fit comfortably in your hand.
• Trowels forged from stainless steel, or at least with a stainless steel head, are more durable and will last longer.

6. Spade

These short-handled square shovels are garden workhorses. They make easy work of digging holes for plants, edging, lifting sod, and moving small mounds of dirt from one area to another. This tool can be more on the pricey side, but a good spade will last you the rest of your gardening life.

• Treads on top of the blade give a sturdier and more comfortable foot surface when needing an extra push.
• Ash hardwood handles are durable and absorb shock and vibration.
• Generally available with long or short handles. Longer handles provide more leverage, but are heavier.
• Stainless steel heads are strong and won’t rust.

7. Rake

When leaves and debris fall, your sturdy rake is there to whisk them away. Rakes come in a wide variety of styles and sizes, but a great starter is a standard leaf rake.

• Adjustable rakes do the job of more than one tool, reaching into narrow areas or gathering large piles of leaves.
• Steel tines are stronger and may be rougher on delicate lawns than plastic tines.

8. Hoe

Your type of garden will dictate what type of hoe is best for you. A veggie garden may require a sturdy, wide hoe. If you have perennial gardens, a more delicate touch and a thinner hoe may be required. Hoes are useful in preparing garden and flower beds and cutting down weeds.

• Look for a comfortable handle with a long reach.
• A sharp blade works better and is easier to use.
• Weeding hoes, also called hula or stirrup hoes, have an open square head and are pushed back and forth just under the soil surface to cut down top growth.
• Flat hoes are good for turning the soil in rows in vegetable gardens.

9. Garden Hose with Adjustable Nozzle

Water is the foundation of your garden’s life and it’s important that your garden hose can reach and spray every area. There are three basic hose diameters: ½-inch (avg 9 gal per minute), 5/8-inch (avg 15 gal per minute), and ¾-inch (up to 25 gal per minute). An adjustable nozzle puts you in control of the water pressure and spray radius.

• Estimate the amount of length you will need with your hose before buying one.
• Hose length will affect water pressure - the longer the hose, the lower the resulting pressure.
• Vinyl hoses are lighter weight and less expensive, but kink easier and don’t last as long as rubber construction.
• Store hoses coiled up and out of direct sunlight. Storing with kinks in them can result in weak spots.

10. Watering Wand

Give your plants a gentle rain shower with a water-breaking wand. The extended reach is also helpful to get to out-of-the-way containers, hanging plants, or the back edges of borders. Watering wands come in a variety of lengths, from 10 to 48 inches.

• Choose an appropriate length for your needs - longer for high hanging baskets, shorter for tighter spaces.
• Built-in shut off valves in the handle conserve water and allow you to adjust the flow.

11. Watering Can

There are 2 basic types of watering cans, plastic or metal. There are hundreds of styles, colors, sizes and nozzle options.

• Plastic cans can be lighter than metal, but won’t last as long.
• Metal cans should be galvanized to resist rusting.
• Consider the size of the can relative to your strength, a gallon of water weighs just over 8 pounds.
• The handle position should allow you to carry a full can and also tip it to pour easily.
• Two-handled designs allow for better stability for children or elderly gardeners.
• You may need two: a larger one with a sprinkler head for outdoors, and a smaller, long-necked version for houseplants. 

12. Wheelbarrow

If your backyard has extra soil to be moved around, compost or mulch that needs to be added to garden beds, or any other heavy lifting and moving project, a wheelbarrow can help you haul hundreds of pounds!

• Traditional dual-handle, single wheel styles can be harder to balance heavy or unevenly distributed loads.
• Single-handle two-wheel models are easier to balance, better for those with limited strength or when pulling over uneven terrain.
• Single-handled wheelbarrows can be pushed or pulled with one hand.
• Store it clean and dry to prevent rust.
• Keep the wheels inflated properly for easier wheeling. 

GrowRich provides high quality garden tools at a reasonable price.

Greens Building, opposite CCRI, Kalavoor, Alappuzha, Kerala 688522

growrichindiainfo@gmail.com