Gardening Tools - Essential Tools for Indoors and Out

Walking into any gardening department can prove to be confusing. So many areas to cover… from lawn mowing, push or riding, sprayers hand held or backpack, rakes, shovels, chemicals, saws, clippers, gloves, watering cans and wands, blowers, hoses, hose reels and other gadgets.

So many tools for so many tasks. It’s easy to fill up a tool shed with non-essential items. Tools can be almost like a kitchen appliance… really is a hot dog cooker necessary? But, where do you start? What essential “tools” do you need to take care of house plants inside or landscape plants outdoors?

I can only offer my list of essential “garden” or plant care tools. Depending on your situation you may need to make a few choices on tool type or model but in general… but I have one which is an absolute necessity.

Watering– For watering house plants inside if you’re not going the sub irrigation route you’ll need a good way to water your plants. Some like to use a watering can. I don’t I use a cheap 5-gallon bucket.

My method of watering most house plants submerges the entire root ball and then allows the soil to drain out. This way I have NO dry spots.

If we are talking outdoors spend the money and buy a premium rubber hose. A hose, which is:

• Both flexible and durable
• Made with extra strength industrial fiber reinforcement
• High burst strength

These hoses resist damage from heat, sub-zero weather and normal wear and tear. You’ll be dragging the hose around and putting some wear and tear on it. Take it from me – buy good quality!

Your hose is a tool and needs to be taken care of… hose reels make the job of rolling them up a snap!

Spraying– I NEVER recommend spraying plants indoors. However, a small pump-up sprayer, which holds a gallon, should work for most people. For myself I prefer a backpack sprayer from Solo.

Pruning– Both inside and out this one tool is an absolute must in my opinion. Just like the hose I would only buy a quality pair of pruning shears. The first name that comes to mind for me is Felco – The Felco 2 to be exact. The Felco 2 has been a solid friend by my side of over 25 years.

Those are my top 3 essential items. Yes there are others but those get you the basics - water, care, prune.

As an extra you should also consider some way to haul or carry things around. Inside the “other” 5 gallon bucket works for me, which I can use for potting soil on small plants. Outdoors the sturdy wheelbarrow is hard to beat. If you’re buying a wheelbarrow, you don’t want something that resembles a supermarket cart, Consider the two-wheeled variety, which makes balance and steering much easier.

Next time you walk into a garden center the tool section just got reduced!

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