10 tools essential in garden quiver
“Gardening needn’t be an expensive hobby,” says Lou Manfredini, Ace Hardware’s “Helpful Hardware Man.”
“Most beginners can easily complete projects with 10 hand tools that are readily available at reasonable prices.”
The Chicago-born Manfredini says you can put together a respectable collection of garden tools for less than $150. He divides his choice of the top 10 tools into two categories: stick tools and hand-held tools.
Stick tools include a spade, shovel, leaf rake and push broom. Hand-held tools include a small pruner, hedge shears, pruning saw, spade, bulb planter and three-prong cultivator to turn over or “kill” soil.
Nice — but not necessary — garden items recommended by Manfredini include a pair of leather gloves, a heavy-duty plastic garden cart and a kneeling pad.
“You don’t want to hurt your back when you lift heavy items, so a garden cart for transporting bags of soil and plants across the yard is nice to have,” he says.
Manfredini also reminds green thumbs that you don’t have to buy everything all at once.
For novice gardeners or veteran green thumbs who might benefit from a refresher course, here is a list of the top 10 garden must-have tools and their cost:
1. Trowel. Use this hand-held shovel to dig and fill small holes when planting annuals, perennials, bulbs, bushes and shrubs. The strongest trowels are made of steel and the lightest are made of cast aluminum. Handles are fashioned of wood or easy-grip plastic. Those designed with handle and blade all in one piece offer greater durability. Cost: $5 to $25.
2. Pruners. Keep overgrown shrubs, rose bushes and small trees within bounds with a good pair of pruners. The bypass types are better buys than the anvil pruners because they make cleaner cuts. Cost: $6 to $35.
3. Shovel. The round-point shovel is best for general gardening because its pointed edge is designed for digging large, deep holes. Look for sturdy handles that are sealed to keep out moisture. Cost: $5 to $25.
4. Transplanting spade. With its long, narrow blade, a transplanting spade gets into tight spots in the garden, reducing the likelihood of damage to nearby plants. Cost: $5 to $25.
5. Garden hose and watering can. Get a good quality hose — and make sure it’s long enough for your property — so you won’t be replacing it every few years. Cost: $5 to $25. Watering cans can be made of an inexpensive plastic or metal. A metal can will last practically forever. Cost: $5 to $20.
6. Rake. Rakes with metal tines tend to last longest. They can also make the job easier because the teeth don’t bend when they hit a heavy patch of leaves. A shortened, mini-rake is ideal for raking leaves between shrubs. Cost: $5 to $50.
7. Cultivator. A cultivator looks like a hand-held rake. Use it to loosen up dirt in preparation for planting seeds or to help pull up weeds. Cost: $5 to $20.
8. Wheelbarrow or garden cart. Wheelbarrows make light work of trucking through the garden with heavy sacks of soil or unwieldy bags of peat moss. Cost: $30 to $40.
9. Edger. Place the finishing touches on your garden with an edger. This moon-shaped hand tool slices into the ground to create a clean, sharp edge between flower beds and lawn. Cost: $10 to $25.
10. Hedge shears. Long-handled, flat-bladed hedge shears are designed to cut evenly across a plane, either horizontal or vertical. Unless you have a large amount of greenery, hand-hedge shears will work just as well as electric shears. Cost: $20.