When it comes to taking care of the lawn and gardens on your own, every home gardener will need his very own arsenal of essential gardening tools to get the job done right. You may not need all of them at any one time, but it is a good idea to keep all of these on hand, should the need arise.

The Most Basic Of All Gardening Tools: The Spade

Among all of the essential gardening tools required to keep any decent garden or home landscape thriving, the spade perhaps plays one of the most important roles. A gardening spade, with its sharp blade, is an essential for  tilling soil. In order to grow plants the right way, you need to be able to break up the native soil, and excavate enough to place the seedlings at the right depth to thrive. Only a good spade will help you do just that.

Trowels

After the spade, another member of the gardening tools essentials list has to be the trowel. Designed for close up work, its pointed spade end is perfect to use around seedlings, removing stubborn weeds without endangering the roots of the newly grown plants. Should a plant need to be moved, the trowel becomes the gardener’s best friend. Able to dig through dirt in even the tightest spaces, replanting becomes much easier if you use a trowel.

Pruning Shears

Once shrubbery, trees and blooming bushes begin entering their peak cycles of growth, the essential gardening tools needed the most will be quality pruning shears. Basically designed to be scissors for  use with plants, pruning shears have blades sharp enough to cut through vines, stems and branches on most large shrubs, bushes and ornamental trees. They can also be put to use trimming back the undergrowth around hedges, reaching places that other tools cannot.

Wheelbarrows

Whether you use them primarily for removing debris or trash during the seasons, or employ them to transport other needed gardening tools to work areas, the wheelbarrow is the workhorse of the average home garden. Built as a cart for transport, a quality wheelbarrow can also save you from unnecessary muscle aches and strains from hauling dirt, mulch and leaves all season long.

Gloves

Finally, while most would not count these among gardening tools, only a fool would attempt to work on any landscape project without a sturdy pair of gloves. Not only do they protect your hands from blisters using tools, they can also protect them from insect bites, and painful scrapes and punctures from the plants themselves.