How to Choose the Right Garden Tools
Using the right garden tool makes your job easier and more efficient. Yard tools come in different designs and sizes, so learn the basics to simplify the shopping process. Check out our garden tools list and if you’re a newbie, here are some tips for beginners.
To select the right garden tool, imagine how it’ll feel after hours of use: the bigger the tool, the heavier it’ll be. Larger tools can be more efficient but choose one that won’t wear you out too quickly. Look for tools with cushioned grips to make the job more comfortable.
For easy tool maintenance tips, check out our DIY Basics video: How Do I Sharpen My Garden Tools?
Garden Shovels, Spades and Other Hand Tools for the Garden
The garden shovel is one of the most common landscaping tools and is the workhorse of the garden shed. Spades are essentially a smaller version of a shovel with a flatter blade. Learn more about the difference between shovels and spades.
- Round-Point Shovel: This is a great tool for digging, lifting and throwing soil. The round point cuts into the soil, while the rim on the top of the shovel blade allows added foot pressure for digging holes.
- Square-Point Shovel: This is excellent for moving materials. A large square-point shovel is also known as a scoop.
- Garden Spade: This is similar to a square-point shovel, and it’s great for digging, cutting, edging and lifting sod.
- Drain Spade: This has a narrow, rounded head and straight handle for working in restricted spaces. It’s good for digging trenches and also works for transplanting.
- Trenching Spade: This has a narrow head like a drain spade, but the head is pointed and set at a greater angle for more leverage. It’s good for digging and clearing trenches or planting trees and shrubs.
- Post Hole Digger: Here’s a tool that you may feel is a luxury item — until you need one. Post hole diggers let you dig holes deeper and with a little more precision than a shovel.
- Digging/Tamping Bar: This is a tool for serious digging. About 5 feet long and made of solid metal, it has a blade that does a fine job of digging and cutting roots. The flat end serves as a tamper.
Planting Tools
Sowing seeds, planting bulbs and transplanting seedlings are essential parts of the gardening process. These planting tools help you dig precise holes in your backyard for planting and transplanting.
- Bulb Planter: Bulb planters dig precise holes for bulbs. Some are marked in 1-inch increments to make it easy to dig holes with exact depths. The digging tube grabs and removes soil to allow you to plant the bulb. A long-handled version allows you to add extra pressure with your foot.
- Garden Trowel: This tool is for digging in small spaces. It has a narrow, slightly scooped blade that’s perfect for installing bedding plants and moving soil.
- Transplanter: Similar to the garden trowel, this tool also allows you to dig holes for planting. The blade is longer and narrower than a trowel and is good for digging deep under a plant’s roots when transplanting.
Tools for the Yard: Rakes and Pitchforks
Rakes come in all sizes and styles. Pitchforks are designed with a different number and size of tine, depending on the material they’ll be used to move.
- Leaf Rake: This rake is for moving leaves, grass clippings and other material. The flexible steel or poly tines do a good job of cleaning yard debris from grass. Leaf rakes come in a wide range of sizes.
- Garden Rake: This rake has short, rigid steel tines that allow you to break and scratch into hard ground. It’s also useful for moving mulch and compost. The flat bar lets you smooth loose material, like mulch and gravel.
- Thatch Rake: This tool is designed specifically to scratch into turf and remove thatch.
- Bedding Fork: This tool has curved, round tines and is useful for moving large amounts of loose material, such as mulch, straw and hay.
- Manure Fork: This fork has a design similar to that of the bedding fork, but the tines can handle heavier material.
- Spading Fork: This tool has flat tines for turning soil, lifting plants and bulbs, and separating perennials. A spading fork is less jarring to the user than a shovel when digging in rocky soil. It’s also useful for aerating and relieving soil compaction.
Types of Garden Hoe
The hoe, is a garden weeding tool that also helps break ground. There are several different head sizes and shapes.
- Standard Garden Hoe: This tool has a square blade set at a right angle to the handle for chopping.
- Warren Hoe: This tool is more effective for planting than weeding. The V-shaped blade has a dual purpose. The pointed end digs furrows, while the open top can close the furrows.
- Weeding/Two-Prong Hoe: This tool has a flat blade on one end for chopping and pointed tips on the other for pulling weeds up by the roots.
- Action Hoe: The head of the action hoe pivots back and forth under the soil for weed-cutting action. The blade cuts on the push or pull stroke.
Don’t forget the kids. Scaled-down versions of adult tools let the young ones help out in the yard.
Saws, Pruning Shears and Other Tree Pruning Tools
Depending on your landscape, you may find a need for all of these diverse cutting tools. From smaller tools like hand pruners to a lopper that is perfect for tree pruning.
- Pruning Saw: This tool works best in a restricted work area. The saw cuts on the pull stroke, making it easy to work, especially from a ladder. The more teeth a saw has, the more precise the cut. Use large-toothed saws for bigger limbs.
- Bow Pruning Saw: This saw is used for quick cuts on large limbs when the cut is obstructed.
- Pole Pruner: This pruner is great for overhead cuts when loppers won’t reach. Pole pruners allow upper-tier pruning with a cutter or a saw without you needing to climb or use a ladder. A rope and pulley operate the cutter from ground level. Telescoping poles add to the cutting range.
- Hand Pruner: Bypass pruners provide scissor-like cutting for tender stems. They provide a clean, close cut without crushing plant tissue, as anvil pruners can, but are hard to sharpen. Anvil pruners cut against a flat anvil — best for dead wood and woody stems.
- Lopper: This tool is essentially a bypass or anvil pruner with long handles for extra leverage. The biggest loppers can cut material up to about 2 inches in diameter. Some have ratchet-assisted cutting action for additional torque.
- Grass Shears: These are useful for trimming around trees or shrubs when a string trimmer could cause damage.
- Hedge Shears: These are used for shaping and trimming shrubs and hedges.
- Garden Scissors/Snips: These are made for cutting flower stems and string.
Other Landscaping Tools for Your Garden Tool Set
In addition to commonly known garden tools, there are other hand tools that can make working in a garden easier.
- Mattock: This tool is available with different types of blades for heavy work in the ground. You can find mattocks with different combinations of flat blades or picks that break up the soil, cutting blades for chopping through roots, and tilling blades that help turn the soil and break up ground.
- Cultivator: Cultivators are designed to scratch the soil, either prior to planting or around plants while they grow. They’re available with either long handles or as hand tools. There are also gas-powered and electric models for larger jobs.
- Weeder/Grass Blade: Also known as a sling blade, this precursor to the string trimmer has a blade that’s sharp on both sides for cutting grass and weeds as it swings back and forth.
- Bush Axe/Briar Axe/Ditch Blade: Known by many names, this is a tool made for serious brush removal. It should be used with caution.
- Edger: Edgers are made in various styles and shapes, including rectangular and half-moon options. They’re designed to cut a clean line where a lawn transition occurs, such as a sidewalk or planting bed. You can also find gas-powered and electric edgers.
- Handheld Weeder: Commonly known as a dandelion digger, this weeder has a notched blade made to penetrate the soil and remove weed roots from deep in the ground. You can also find long-handled versions of this tool.
Wheelbarrows and Yard Carts
While not tools in the traditional sense, wheelbarrows and yard carts take a lot of the effort out of gardening and landscape work. Whether you're carrying a load of mulch, a bag of garden soil or even your hand tools, a wheelbarrow or yard cart makes hauling easier. Wheelbarrows are available in one- or two-wheeled models. They tip up for easy unloading, and shoveling material in and out is simple. The single-wheel variety requires greater strength and balance. Trays are metal or plastic. Yard carts have two or four wheels, offering good stability. Two-wheeled carts allow you to tip material out, while four-wheeled carts may have a dump feature or drop-down sides. Some carts have tool storage or seating.
Tool Handles and Heads
Some tools are available with more than one handle style. Make your choice based on your personal preference and the level of use:
- Long handles offer longer reach and more leverage but require more arm strength.
- Short handles are best for restricted work areas, but they require more leg strength. Depending on your height, you may be doing a lot of bending. Short handles are often thicker and may have a grip on the handle, making them heavier than a longer tool. D-handles or D-grips are available on short-handled shovels, spades and forks for good grip and control.
Handles are made of several materials:
- Wooden handles (usually ash) offer flexibility and last a long time with proper care.
- Fiberglass handles are stronger and weather-resistant, making them good for commercial use. Tools with fiberglass handles are usually more expensive than those with wooden handles.
- Steel handles are long lasting but may vibrate or transfer cold to the user.
- Cushioned or padded handles are available on some tools, making the work a little easier on the hands.
Handles are attached to the head by:
- Socket: This is a metal sleeve that extends from the head and wraps around the handle. This type of connection is usually found on less expensive tools.
- Sockets With a Rivet: For this type of attachment, a metal sleeve is wrapped around the handle and reinforced with a rivet or screw for additional strength.
- Tang and Ferrule: This is a metal shaft (tang) that extends from the tool head and is inserted into a metal sleeve (ferrule) on the handle.
When choosing the right tools for your garden projects, keep in mind that forged tools are heat tempered and stronger than tools that are stamped from metal sheets.
Garden Tool Organizer and Storage
Once you have all the garden tools you need, you’ll need a place to store them. Choose from a variety of garden tool storage options and find the right one for your space. Learn about five creative ways to store your garden equipment and tools.
Garden Tools FAQs
1. What to Look for When Buying Garden Tools?
The few things to consider when buying garden tools are weight, make, material and length. Heavy tools can cause hand fatigue and aches. Choose quality over price. The tools will be more durable and last longer. For tools like shovels and rakes, the length of the handle should be right for your posture.
2. What is the Most Used Gardening Tool?
The most used gardening tool is based on the requirements of your yard or garden. You can find a hand trowel in most tool kits as it’s great for digging up small holes, repotting, mixing fertilizer and loosening soil.
3. What is the Best Tool to Turn Over Soil?
Shovels are handy yard tools that are used to dig earth, loosen the soil and turn over soil and fertilizer. A pointed shovel is used for digging, a rounded shovel is great for planting and a square shovel is perfect for moving soil or fertilizer.
4. What Metal is Best for Garden Tools?
When choosing the best metal for garden tools, keep in mind that forged tools are heat tempered and stronger than tools that are stamped from metal sheets. Steel tools are tough and perfect for heavy-duty jobs. Steel tools with rust-resistant coating are easy to clean and maintain, making them great for gardening.