whether new to gardening, looking to up your gardening game or looking for the perfect gift for the gardener in your life these are the very best garden tools for beginners (or just garden lovers) that won’t cost you an arm and a leg!
They say you’re only as good as your tools. and to a certain degree, this is right. Where would Picasso be without brushes, Edward Scissorhands be without his scissors or Joanna Gaines be without, well, Chip and all of his tools? Exactly not the amazing artists we all know them to be.
Same is true with the gardener.
There is magic out there in the garden just waiting to be uncovered, but not without the right tools.
If I had a fairy wand and could grant you the perfect, magic making, weed annihilating, garden tools these would be it.
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Essential Gardening Tools
1. D-Handle Spade Fork
After using this amazing garden tool, you will wish you had never thought the regular old shovel was the tool to dig a garden bed with. As far as high on the list of best garden tools for beginners goes the D-handled spade fork just might be the tops. It makes quick and easy work even for the person who is a little lighter than others.
2. Stirrup Hoe/ Action Hoe/ Hula Hoe
This hoe has many names but it may just be the best garden tool EVA!!! Weeds be gone… I wish I had known about this thing years ago. It is pretty much a time saving, weeding, fairy wand. Trust me that is not exaggerating. If making a quick job of garden maintenance is what your looking for this Stirrup/hula/action hoe is exactly the tool you want!
3. Pruning shears
The pruning shears are the must-have garden tool when it comes to harvest time, and let’s be honest that what we are all in it for right? That garden fresh, colorful, homegrown goodness! Pruning sheers make a quick and easy job that may otherwise take longer than need be, and all with less plant damage.
This is one handy tool whether for cutting fruit off the plant, pruning back branches or cutting out weeds that have grown into a tight spot. If precision cutting is what’s needed in that gardening moment this is exactly the tool you want.
4. Hedge Shears
I may be the only one but I doubt it, when grass grows out of control in the garden, hedge sheers make a quick job of getting all that grass under control. Hedge shears also make an easy job of trimming up bushes or those greenhouse plants that took over and are so thick you can’t even get in there from when all that time you took off in June and July with a new baby (oh wait that might just be me). Either way, these puppies will take care of all that overgrowth.
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5. Loppers
If thicker weeds or young trees can be a problem where you live, a pair of loppers might just be your new best friend. This longer handled cutting tool has some real cutting power to them. Where we live in the country in rural Kansas wind blows everything, always. So the place where things tend to grow is in the fence, up, always in the fence line. Tree seedlings, extremely thick weeds my husband lovingly refers to as pigweeds (but with an angry face), right in the garden fences every time. Can’t exactly take a weeding tool to that. The answer… loppers, and win that day.
6. Garden Rake
In my early garden years I never spent much time thinking about preparing the garden bed, then I learned. Ok, to be honest, I am still learning to not put the cart before the horse. Meaning tools to prepare the garden bed makes everything so much more easy to handle later. The garden rake is the best garden tool for beginners to have that well laid out beautifully prepared garden bed.
7. Hand Fork
Handheld tools are really the bread and butter for the gardener. Another super handy and very versatile tool is the hand fork, for digging up well-established weeds, loosening the soil before transplanting or helping to harvest root plants the hand fork is a very cost effective must-have garden tool.
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8. Hori Hori Garden Knife
This traditional Japanese tool is the last but certainly not least in this category for the best garden tools for beginners. Part digging, part slicing, part serrated knife. Whatever the job the hori hori can most likely be used. Need to transplant or seed with a measuring tool, gotcha covered. Found a pesky sticker or puncturevine plant you need to remove by the root to avoid injury, this digger/knife all-in-one is what you need. Usually available with a handy sheath to attach it to your belt, so its right at your side when you need it.
Gardening is no easy thing. Whether you find yourself gardening for the love it, for healthy food, or for a hobby, you need the best tools. With these easy to use and cost-effective tools, your next garden will be not only a thing to enjoy but also the thing to be envied. This year go slay that garden ♡♡♡
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Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.