Garden tool essentials
Buy the tools you'll use weekly properly, once — a cheap spade or secateurs that bend or seize is a false saving. Everything else on this list can wait or be borrowed.
20 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- SpadeFor digging and edging — the tool used most often in any garden.
- ForkFor breaking up dug soil and lifting root crops without slicing through them.
- Hand trowel
- Hand fork
- SecateursWorth buying well — a cheap pair bends or seizes within a season.
- LoppersFor anything too thick for secateurs but too thin for a saw.
- Pruning saw
- Garden rake
- HoeThe fastest way to keep weed seedlings down before they establish.
- Watering can, ideally with a rose fitted
- Hose and reel
- WheelbarrowFor moving soil, compost or turf — skip it if the garden's small enough to carry things by hand.
- Garden twine
- Plant labels×20
- Sturdy gardening gloves×2
- Kneeler padKnees notice the difference within one afternoon of weeding.
- Sharpening stone or fileFor keeping the edge on secateurs and the spade.
- Shears, for hedges and lawn edges
- Stiff broom, for paths and patios
- Tool rack or storage in the shedTools left on damp ground rust within a season.
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- What's worth spending more on?
- Secateurs and a spade, since both get used constantly and a cheap version of either makes every job harder. A hose reel or a wheelbarrow matters far less which brand it is.
- Do I need a wheelbarrow for a small garden?
- Only if you're moving soil, compost or turf in any quantity. For a small patch, a sturdy garden trug or a couple of buckets often does the same job.