Basic Tools for the Garden

Using the right tool for the job can reduce stress on your body and improve the health and beauty of your landscape. Here are a few basic garden tools to help you throughout the gardening season.

Buy a sturdy trowel for planting bulbs, annuals and small-scale perennials.

Add a round-pointed shovel for turning soil, incorporating compost and planting larger perennials, trees and shrubs. Keep the edge sharp to make cutting into the soil much easier.

Include one of the many styles of hoes to use for weeding and breaking up crusted soil.

Invest in an iron rake for smoothing freshly cultivated soil while removing rocks and debris. Use a landscape rake to gather leaves, twigs and other debris that collects on the lawn or in planting beds.

Purchase a bypass hand pruner for deadheading, harvesting and pruning woody stems up to ¾” of an inch in diameter.

A bit more information: There are a variety of hoes available to help you in the garden. The short and long handled single tine Cobrahead allows you to work in tight spaces. A shuffle hoe has a double-edged stirrup attached to a long handle. This allows the hoe to cut through the soil and weed on both the forward and back motion.