My Favorite Gardening Tools

My Favorite Gardening Tools

• Hori Hori Soil Knife – A Japanese soil knife is probably my number one garden tool as it is so versatile. I use it to dig out weeds, especially long-rooted ones like dandelions, make small trenches to plant, measure short (up to 6-inch) distances, harvest vegetables, and more. My favorite brand is from A.M. Leonard as they make a high-quality knife with an orange handle that is easy to see if you lose it in the garden. It is also sharp and strong, but still lightweight. I also have a Barebones brand Hori Hori knife which is beautiful and very sharp but also much heavier so I cannot use it for extended periods as I get hand fatigue. I also recommend getting a sheath to keep your knife (and you) protected and easier to carry around.

Hori Hori soil knife from A. M. Leonard (left), sheath (center), and Barebones Hori Hori (right).

• Handheld Pruners – Small pruners are a great tool for gardeners. We have lots of fruit trees, grape vines, and berry bushes so I use these extensively in late winter and early spring to prune. I also use them in the summer to prune my tomatoes and harvest vegetables. I own several of the Fiskars brand bypass pruners (2 sharp blades) as they are good quality but also reasonably priced. There are more expensive brands that are also very good quality (maybe even better), but a good pair of Fiskars is a great starting point for building your tool collection. I also tend to lose mine, so I prefer good-priced but still high-quality items as I have to routinely replace them.

Fiskars long-handled loppers and pruners.

• Long-Handled Loppers – These are great for pruning larger branches. I mostly use these when I prune my fruit trees, but I also always carry them with me on my 4-wheeler to cut invasive species, particularly buckthorn, which have completely overtaken parts of our property. Like the handheld pruners, I also use the Fiskars brand.

• Leatherman Multi-Tool – Second to the Hori Hori, a Leatherman is probably my next most used gardening and all-purpose tool on our property. I have the Wave version with a case that I use to harvest vegetables, cut string for tying up tomatoes, the screwdriver and pliers for minor repairs, the knife for opening boxes, and so many other random uses.

• Japanese Weeding Sickle – This tool surprised me with how much I ended up using it as I had never heard of it before. I received this as a Christmas gift from my daughter when she was little, and it is great for weeding the garden. The sharp blade cuts through weeds along the top of the soil and it is probably my number one most used weeding tool for my raised beds (other than my hands). It has a short handle so I do not use it as much in the regular garden due to having to bend over so much (maybe there is a long-handled version of it out there?).

Japanese weeding sickle.

• ATV or Riding Lawn Mower – We have a large property, so I consider our ATV a necessity. I use our 4-wheeler all the time for lawn and garden tasks, collecting firewood, clearing out the garden at the end of the season, moving rocks, etc. In addition to using the 4-wheeler to pull a trailer (see below), we built boxes for both the front and back racks that hold my gardening tools, plant tags, garden stakes, etc. A riding lawn mower also works well to move things around with a trailer, but it is less maneuverable, much slower than a 4-wheeler, and does not have racks to place storage boxes.

• Trailer or Garden Cart – We have a trailer that we attach to our ATV or riding lawn mower when the ATV is out of commission. During the summer I keep the trailer attached to the 4-wheeler as I use it every day. It is great for all sorts of lawn and garden tasks, but I use it extensively for bringing harvests, particularly tomatoes and winter squash back to the house. Alternatively, if you do not need an ATV or riding lawnmower you can get a garden cart instead.

• Garden Seat/Bench – I have difficulty bending down for long periods or squatting (thanks bum knee) and find I use my garden seat quite a bit, especially for weeding my raised beds, pruning tomatoes, picking off potato bugs, etc. I have a rocking garden seat which helps me maneuver down lower but it is a little unstable and I have fallen off more than once. You can also buy a cushion for this seat and storage bags that hang off the side. Alternatively, a garden bench which often comes with a kneeling pad is good for a more stable seat, but I feel you might not get as close to the ground as you sometimes may need.

Rocking garden seat.

• Atlas Gloves – These are my favorite gardening gloves because they are durable and well-fitting, and I find you lose the least amount of dexterity of any other gloves I have tried. In general, I hate wearing gloves because I lose the ability to perform fine motor tasks. These are the best I have found that balance hand protection with performance. I have also tried off-brands and the vinyl/rubber coating cracks after a single season. Although my Atlas gloves look rough, they are about 5 years old and still have not needed replacement.

Atlas 370 gardening gloves.

• Drip Irrigation – We love drip irrigation. This allows us to water the garden thoroughly without worrying about increasing fungal diseases from getting foliage wet and it also saves water compared to overhead sprayers. I highly recommend checking out the Drip Depot’s website. They have tons of kits that are great to get you started and are reasonably priced. Drip Depot also has instructional videos to help you set up a drip system. I was always intimidated by drip irrigation because I thought it was difficult to set up and maintain but it was surprisingly easy and I prefer it over soaker hoses. One downside compared to soaker hoses however is that you need to set up your garden in straight rows as the drip tape cannot curve.

• Soaker Hoses – We use soaker hoses in our raised beds only at this point and keep the drip irrigation for the main part of the garden. We recently bought several soaker hose kits from A. M. Leonard so we can customize them for our raised beds. The kit comes with soaker hoses, regular hoses to connect between areas you do not want to be watered, elbows, 3-way connectors, and end plugs. They make other kits or you can buy parts individually. You can also get drip irrigation specifically designed for raised beds, but the soaker hoses in this case are faster to set up.

Soaker hose kit from A. M. Leonard.

• Hose Timers – I find hose timers to be essential if you ever want to go on vacation and not worry about your garden staying watered in the middle of summer. These also save you time turning on the water system every time you want to water, especially if you want to water in the early morning or middle of the night. You can hook these timers up to your drip irrigation or soaker hose system and then forget about daily watering by hand. You can buy simple ones that you program manually or fancier ones that you can control with an app via Bluetooth. I generally buy the B-Hyve Orbit brand timers as they are readily available in stores near me and I have been happy with their performance.

B-Hyve Orbit hose timers. Bluetooth capable (left) and manual (right).

• 3-Pronged Cultivator – This is probably my favorite garden tool for our main garden area (not raised beds). I use this to dig up weeds, break up clumpy soil, and dig trenches for planting. I am not sure why, but I prefer this type of tool over a regular hoe with 2 prongs.

• Garden Hod – A garden hod is simply a wire mesh basket used to hold vegetables as you harvest. It gets its name, hod, from baskets that are used to collect clams. The advantage of a hod is that dirt can fall through the holes and not build up in the basket and you can spray the vegetables to rinse them off after harvesting. You can buy hods online but if you are handy they are fairly easy to make as well.​

Homemade garden hod.

• Sun Hat – The last item that I cannot live without in my garden is my sun hat. I have a very fair complexion and sunburn and skin cancer is a concern for me. I prefer to wear baseball-style hats, but sun hats give better coverage, so I try to wear one every time I garden, work in my flower beds, and mow the lawn.