Must-Have Gardening Tools & Accessories for Small Gardens

You wouldn’t try to carve a roast chicken with a spoon, would you?

Of course not!

This same philosophy applies to gardening, as well. Having the right equipment to do the job at hand will save you countless hours and tons of frustration in the long run. Any experienced gardener will tell you how much easier it is to grow your own fruits and vegetables if you have the right tools and accessories in your arsenal. 

The gardening tools and accessories you need will depend on the type and scale of gardening you plan to do. If you have a large garden with lots of ground-level beds, you will need an assortment of shovels for digging, edging and moving piles of material. You’ll also need a good hoe to keep weeds at bay and maybe a pick ax to break up tough soil. A durable wheelbarrow to haul mulch and other materials in and around your garden area is also important. Over time, this limited collection of tools and accessories will undoubtedly grow to suit your individual gardening style.

However, if you only have a small area to plant or prefer to limit your gardening to containers, you will need a slightly different set of gardening tools. The following items are ideal for small space gardening.

A Good Collection of Gardening Hand-Tools

Short-handled, ergonomically designed gardening tools are great for hand planting and small digging jobs. There are a number of hand-held gardening tools on the market. Here are three you’ll want to consider:

Radius Ergonomic 4-Piece Hand Tool Set

1. Short-Handled Trowel A good trowel is an indispensible tool for any garden, regardless of its size. Look for one with a pointy tip, which makes it useful for planting seeds, digging out stubborn weeds and loosening planting soil.

2. A Three-Pronged Cultivator This tool features 3 individual rake-like prongs designed to loosen soil and create uniform burrows for planting. It can also be used to pull up shallow-rooted weeds.

3. A Transplanter This tool is designed to make transplanting smaller plants easier. Some styles feature gradation marks to ensure you are planting each plant at the appropriate depth.

To save time, you can look for a high quality and affordable pre-packaged hand tool set. For example, you can pick up the highly rated Fiskars 7067 3-Piece Softouch Garden Tool Set for approximately $18 or the Radius Ergonomic 4-Piece Garden Set for $32.

When evaluating hand-held gardening tools, look for those that offer ergonomic design features, such as soft contoured handles designed to hold your wrist in a neutral position. This will reduce unnecessary strain on your hands and wrists while you are gardening.

Proper Gardening Attire

Although it is fun and relaxing, gardening is still “dirty” work. As a result, gardeners are prone to insect bites, cuts, scrapes and randomly stepping on sharp objects. So no matter how big (or small) your garden may be, you need to have the proper attire.

Sloggers Women's Premium Garden Clog

For starters, you’ll need a good set of gloves and protective footwear. When looking for gardening gloves, look for a pair that fits properly and offers some protection from sharp thorns and prickly shrubs. Fabric gloves with a protective rubberized coating along your palms and fingertips are a great option because they dry easily and fit well enough to maintain finger dexterity. My dad gave me a pair for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I'm pretty much never in the garden without them! They are waterproof, and very thin and flexible, so they're great for weeding, planting, mulching, or getting muddy. The only drawback is they will make your hands sweaty if it's hot outside.

If you are doing a lot of heavy digging, a good pair of durable boots will make your job much easier and safer. As you stomp down on the shovel for a little extra leverage, you’ll be glad for that added layer of protection. Otherwise, a good pair of rubber gardening clogs are wonderful to have. They keep your feet dry and are easy to hose off when you are done digging in the dirt - plus they are pretty stiff and heavy duty so they protect your feet from just about everything. I absolutely love mine! I have worn them for years and they never seem to wear out. If they're caked with mud, they're easy to kick off outside the door, and I can leave them out in the rain to rinse off.

Finally, every gardener needs a good hat. Look for one with a wide brim to protect your face and ears from too much sun exposure as you work outside. Beyond that, have fun and let your personal style shine through!

Visit our Sustainable Gardening page for some more great gardening tools & accessories.

Choosing the Right Tools for Your Garden

The range of gardening tools that are available now is quite outstanding. As gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world, there is a huge demand for gardening tools that can do a better job in the garden while making that job easier to complete for people of all ages.

You will need to buy the tools that make life easier in your particular garden, and that will be determined by the space you have available, the types of plants that you have growing, and your physical capabilities or limitations.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If your garden has quite a few large trees or hedges you will also need tools that make the job of trimming at those heights easier. With the design of new garden implements concentrating on leverage for ease of use, it has become a lot easier for the home gardener to maintain plants at heights that would have normally required professional help.

Many of newer garden implements have also been designed for ease of use for people who suffer from arthritis and the elderly who don't have the strength they once had. Not only are these tools popular with the elderly but they will make the job of maintaining your garden a lot easier and more enjoyable by reducing the effort required to use them.

You will be able to select from implements that can reach to places that would be difficult without getting down into the garden, and as well as making life easier, they can also make it safer.

A friend of mine recently had to clear the ground around some small palms and without the use of a long handled garden implement she had no alternative but to get down and do this by hand. The ensuing pricks from the palm fronds made sure she went to the garden store at the earliest opportunity to ensure she wouldn't have to do that again! Fortunately she was wearing safety glasses as getting pricked in the eye by stems or sharp plant leaves can cause painful and permanent damage to your sight.

Safety glasses, or even sunglasses should be worn when working in the garden and breathing masks should always be worn when using poisons and insecticides - although as an organic gardener of course you don't use those! But safety precautions should also be taken when using organic and natural pesticides and other aids.

When in the garden, it is important to use the proper tools to preserve our own health as well as that of our plants.

For some specific suggestions and reviews of highly-rated garden tools and equipment, be sure to check back Thursday!

Video - Summer Garden Maintenance - Breaking Up Hard Soil

Mid-way through the summer, garden soils can become hard, dry, and compacted. This short video demonstrates a really cool little hand tool that you can use to break up the soil and help water penetrate into the soil. Don't get too close to the existing plants, but this is a nice way to break soil up in in-between areas where you want to plant new seeds or plants, and will help water and fertilizer get to the roots of existing plants as well.

Much less expensive, and handier to use than a motorized tiller, this type of hand tiller is a really handy garden tool to keep on hand!

 

Similar Hand Tillers:
   

Great Gifts for Gardeners

There is nothing nicer than receiving a gift relating to one's passion. If your loved one's passion is gardening, then show your thoughtfulness by giving a gift that will be truly appreciated.

There are so many great gardening gifts that the only constraint is your own budget.

If your budget is small...
Go for things like gloves, kneepads or even a shady hat. A pretty pot (or a watering-can) filled with a small bag of potting mix, a packet of bulbs, some gloves and a small trowel or other tool will be received with delight by most gardeners. There are many hand tools at hardware stores that are reasonably priced. And you can even find most of these things online on sites like Amazon.com at a great price. (On a personal note, several years ago my best friend gave me a pair of rubber gardening shoes. A small gift, but I can tell you I have worn them hundreds of times, and they are now an essential part of my gardening attire!)


But if you feel that is too ordinary, how about a subscription to a gardening magazine? A tiny bit more expensive perhaps, but it will give twelve full months of delight. A book on gardening is another idea, but make sure your recipient does not already have the one you choose. Books are often heavily discounted at Christmas time, so you may get a bargain. There is a huge range of gardening books and magazines on just about every facet of gardening you can imagine. (For some suggestions see below, or visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html and scroll down for some great gift ideas.)

On the other hand, a pot that contains a flowering plant is usually a welcomed gift. Be sure to choose a plant that is suited to your climate. Sometimes plants are sent from tropical to temperate zones and kept in artificial conditions in the store. These plants will not do well once taken from their environment. Shrub roses are hardy and attractive and grow in many climates. Tulips do best in a cooler climate.


If you have some room in your budget...
A more expensive tool may be appropriate. A pull-trolley is easier to use than a wheelbarrow and, like some electric tools, is still not terribly expensive. Small electric tools such as whipper-snippers can retail for as little as $20.00. Or if your friend has a hose but not a hose reel, then that would be a very useful gift that he would truly appreciate.

Automatic lawn mowers, electric cultivators, hedge trimmers and brush cutters are in the more expensive price range and you are the only one who can decide whether that is an appropriate gift. However, when the recipient realizes you have given a gift that complements his passion, expensive or not, it will certainly be a gift they will remember!

(For see below for a couple of suggestions, or visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html and scroll down for a number of great gift ideas for the gardener in your life.)


A Few Good Organic Gardening Books & Magazines: