Essential Gardening Hand Tools: A Five-Tool Starter Kit

Start With Five Tools

A new gardener needs five hand tools: a trowel, a pair of bypass hand pruners, a hand cultivator or weeder, a watering can, and gloves that fit. Together they cover planting, cutting stems up to about 3/4 inch thick, weeding, watering and protecting your hands. Everything else can wait until a job comes up that these five cannot do.

Iowa State University Extension’s advice on tool buying fits in one line: buy the best tool you can afford, and do not buy what you do not need. A short list makes both halves possible. The money that would have gone on fifteen mediocre tools buys five good ones.

University of Georgia Extension suggests judging any tool on how it is made, what it is made of, and physical features such as weight and length. The sections below apply those checks to each of the five.

The Trowel Does Most of the Work

A trowel digs planting holes, lifts seedlings and scoops potting mix, so it gets more use than anything else in the kit. Georgia’s guide lists three things to check before buying.

1. The head should be secure. Avoid two-piece construction.
2. The handle should be easy to grip and not too thick.
3. A narrow head is easier to use than a wide one.

The same guide warns against paying extra for a trowel sold as ergonomic, noting that many of those models are uncomfortable to use and very expensive. It also recommends that a community or school garden stock trowels in at least two handgrip sizes, which is a reminder that grip is personal. Hold the tool before you buy it. If your fingers cannot close comfortably around the handle, choose another. If you are weighing a soil knife for the same jobs, our comparison of the soil knife and the trowel shows which jobs each one suits.

Bypass Pruners Handle the Everyday Cuts

Hand pruners come in two designs. Bypass pruners have curved blades that overlap and cut with a scissor action. Anvil pruners have one sharpened blade that closes against a flat surface. University of Maryland Extension calls the bypass type superior because it reduces tearing and crushing of plant tissue. Iowa State adds that anvil pruners cannot cut as close and are more likely to crush stems.

A hand pruner has a size limit. The two extension sources set it slightly differently.

Tool	Iowa State	Maryland
Hand pruners	Up to 3/4 inch	Up to one inch
Loppers	3/4 to 1 1/2 inches	Up to three inches
Pruning saw	Larger than 1 3/4 inches	Not given

We use the lower Iowa State figure as the working limit here, since it is the more cautious of the two. Loppers have long handles, which give greater leverage. A pruning saw has a narrow, tapered or curved blade that fits between crowded branches. Neither belongs in the first five, but it helps to know which one a thick branch calls for.

On quality, Georgia’s guide says of pruners that you get what you pay for, and suggests a few high-quality pairs for woody plants. It also advises pruners with small handle grips for small hands. Iowa State makes the same case on quality: good pruning tools are not cheap, and with proper care they far outlast the poor ones. For the choice between models, see our guide on how to choose pruning shears.

A Hand Cultivator or Weeder for the Soil Surface

The fourth tool works the top of the soil around plants that are already growing. Iowa State describes cultivators as tools used to work up soil or weed close to plants, and to incorporate materials into the soil.

A weeder is the alternative. Iowa State describes weeders as tools for digging out weeds without taking large chunks of lawn. Both come with long or short handles, and the choice is a matter of preference.

Which to buy first follows from those two descriptions. A cultivator fits a bed where you mostly loosen the surface and clear weeds close to plants. A weeder fits a yard where the job is digging out individual weeds. Buy one, and add the other after a season if you find yourself wishing for it.

Gloves and a Watering Can

Georgia’s guide ranks glove materials. Pigskin leather is the best overall material for work gloves. Newer styles use synthetic leather or combine leather with tough nylon. Brown cloth gloves are very cheap but allow no grip on tools and give no protection from thorns, and cheap suede gloves offer limited dexterity and can rip or tear easily. The guide also points to knit gloves with a rubberized coating on the palm side, which provide some puncture protection, allow some gripping of tools, and can be washed.

Try gloves on before buying, with a trowel or pruner in hand if the store allows. For thorny plants, see our guide to gloves for thorns and roses.

For the watering can, pick a size you can lift comfortably when it is full, and check that it comes with a rose, the perforated cap that breaks the stream into a shower. Our guide to watering can sizes covers capacity and weight.

Care After Use

University of Illinois Extension’s first rule is that tools go into storage clean and dry. For soil caked on a trowel, use a wire brush, a paint scraper or a strong blast from a hose. Wipe pruner blades to take off sap and moisture. Stubborn sap comes off with turpentine, alcohol or mineral spirits.

Sharpen when a blade starts to tear instead of cut. Illinois advises following the bevel that is already on the blade and sharpening at that same angle. Illinois mentions whetstones and diamond-coated flat files, and suggests a ceramic sharpener for a quick job during the season. Maryland lists a file, a diamond sharpener or a whetstone. Illinois advises against power grinding stones, because the heat from friction can make the metal brittle.

Finish with oil. Coat sharpened blades lightly with an oil lubricant. Apply boiled linseed oil to wooden handles and polish smooth with a dry, soft cloth. Store everything off the ground and away from moisture, in a shed or garage.

Handle the oily cloth with care afterward. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that cloths soiled with unsaturated oils such as linseed oil can start fires. Its advice is to avoid packing them tightly in a trash container and to keep that container in a ventilated area away from direct sunlight and other heat sources.

If there is a danger of carrying infection from a diseased plant to a healthy one, disinfect the pruners. Maryland’s recommendation is 70 percent alcohol, or bleach diluted one to nine with water, with a rinse after bleach because it is corrosive to metal.