As a child you have probably seen your mother or father pottering about in the garden. They seemed to be working with many tools. You might have played with a gardening tool as well. Now that you are grown-up and have your own garden, it’s time for your own garden tools.
A visit to your local garden shop will reveal that there is a great variety of gardening tools available. You’ll find a huge difference in price range for all these items. The difficult part is holding back and just buying what you need and not going for lots of expensive things that you might never use.
The first item that you will need is a spading fork. This gardening tool looks like a pitchfork, but it has a shorter handle and the tines are wider. The spading fork is good for digging into hard soil and to open up the ground for planting.
After your garden is dug up, you need to prepare the soil by tilling it with the hoe. This gardening tool is wonderful for cultivating the surface of the soil. A well cultivated soil will allow nutrients and water to seep into the ground and nourish the plants. A round ended shovel is another item that is good for larger digging projects. Round-ended shovels are good for planting trees and shrubs.
Water is a gardener’s best friend. You need to buy a watering can that has a long nozzle. Having a long nozzle on your watering can slows down the rate of water pouring out so that it is gentler on your plants. The long nozzle also helps with how far the water pours. With young seedlings in your garden a watering can that has a detachable head is a useful gardening tool.
The best way to level your garden prior to planting is to use a bow rake. This rake has a metal frame that is shaped like a bow. The tines are short and are attached to one side of the rake. You can remove large clods of earth and rocks with this handy tool. When you turn to the flat side of the rake, you can smooth the soil and get it ready for planting.
Good but inexpensive garden shears are good for removing dead branches and stems from your plants. They’re great for pruning and shaping trees and shrubs. Before you buy a pair of garden shears or clippers as they are also called, make sure that the shears will fit your hand comfortably. And don't forget to wear your gardening gloves when you go pruning with your new shears.
These garden tools are just the basic ones you will need the most. As your gardening evolves with time, so will your collection of gardening tools and the look of your garden.
