The Bare Necessities: Five Essential Garden Tools for Getting the Job Done
Head into any hardware store or garden center and you’ll find yourself surrounded with hundreds, if not thousands, of tools! Tools for digging, hauling, hacking, wacking, and honestly, you’d need a warehouse in your backyard to contain it all. So, what do you really need if you want to become a DIY gardener? Here’s a handy list to take to the shop or resource organization. Thrift shops, garage sales, craigslist, and resource centers like Resource Central of Boulder, Colorado are all wonderful places to seek out used tools at a fair price.
Five essential tools for the DIY gardener:
Hori-hori Knife. Japenese for ‘dig-dig’, this garden tool is the most handy small tool one could have for the job
Stirrup Hoe, more specifically a looped-blade action hoe
Short-handled Spade
Broadfork
Pruning sheers
Read on to learn more about these essential garden tools.
Hori-Hori Knife
I personally use this tool for EVERYTHING garden related, such as weeding deep roots, digging small holes for transplants, and clearing old growth. I may even, at times, wield it like a mini-machete, making me feel mighty powerful in my little garden world. $20-40
The number one garden tool for the DIY gardener.
2. Stirrup Hoe
This bad boy will clear the surface of the soil in minutes. Great at removing young weeds from the top layer and can be used as a quick tool for spreading out soil that has been disturbed. If planting long rows, this tool can be turned to the side and used to create the space for seeds to go. $30-60
3. Short-handled Spade
For the shorter crowd in the garden world, the short-handled spade is a great tool for digging. At 5’5”, it is easier to maneuver than the long-handled shovels, because short spades allow you to get your body weight over the handle; in turn, making things a bit easier by having leverage at a lower height! If you’re going to dig, why not make it a bit easier on yourself? $20-40
4. Broadfork
Ever hear of this tool? I didn’t until six years ago when we first went to the community garden! It looks like a wide, pitchfork that you use as a shovel rather than to pitch things. This incredible, powerhouse of a tool actually does a better job at aerating the soil than tilling and is a wonderful alternative to gas-powered tools in the garden. Many people from around the world suggest no-till methods, because tilling degrades soil life over time. Broadforks gently loosen the soil, allowing the gardener to remove and add what’s needed. We use the broadfork for removing grassroots and for adding leaves to the annual vegetable gardens. $150-250
Meadow Creature Broadforks of the U.S.A. are some of the best made products in this industry. The photo above provides a link to the “People’s Broadfork - 12” tines. You can find a video on how to use this product on their product page.
5. Pruning Sheers
Don’t be scared to prune! Some plants LOVE your attention and would do better if you gave it a little clip every now and then. Go ahead, watch a few pruning videos and then practice on a plant that doesn’t care to be whacked back (like mint or oregano). From pruning small shrubs and roses, to cutting back a 20x15ft. patch of mint, pruning sheers are a must. $25-55
You can go crazy with the tools for the garden. If that’s your style, then by all means, go for it. But for those who just want to be able to get in the garden and get the job done quickly, without spending half the day rounding up the appropriate tools, then just refer back to this list. The five tools above should be able to get just about any job done.