We really make our garden tools earn themselves a spot in our garage!

I’ve been gardening since I was a kid, but now that I have my very own garden, I have my own favorite tools. I have found a few things that I keep toting with me year after year. Of course there are always a few newer models of garden tools that have influenced me, along the way, too.

The right tool for the job can be hard to find sometimes. I love having my favorite tools ready to go for the next growing season. Not only are the right tools important, but also taking good care to clean, sharpen and oil your tools for the next season will make them last longer!

My grandpa always would always clean off his shovel or hoe after a garden task was complete. I guess that was his secret to life. If you take good care of your things and maintain them, then they will last longer.

Luckily that trait rubbed off on me. Because they took such good care of their garden tools, I have been able to keep some of the originals that my grandma and grandpa used in their gardens.

It’s kinda like they’re out there with me in the garden, digging in the dirt when I’m using their old tools.

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Spring Planting the Video!

Why You’ll Love This List of our Favorite Gardening Tools

• Having good, solid tools make the job much more enjoyable for everyone helping out.

• There are some tools that just get you excited to do the job.

• I recommend curating your own list! When early spring and gardening season roll around, you will have a dependable list with go-to tools to fall back on – saving time and money in the long run. 

• If you aren’t a gardener, this list might help you find gift ideas for your next mother’s or father’s day present!

Our Top 12 Favorite Garden Tools

Tools take up space. Instead of purchasing multiple different kinds of tools for one job, I find it more efficient to get a tool that can be used for more than one purpose. After growing up on a farm and owning ours now, these are a list of essential tools that have been built over generations! We really make our tools earn themselves a spot in our garage! Enjoy our tried and tested list of what we have found to be the best tools that answers the question “What garden tools are most useful?”

#1. Battery Operated Trimmer Attachment

Light, easy to use and tough as nails! This Milwaukee lithium ion battery-operated trimmer attachment is hands down the most used tool around the yard and garden. Forget about mixing just the right combination of gas and oil, using a choke and trying to pull start that trimmer each week when you’re wanting to trim weeds. The best part is that the kids are able to use this machine with ease around the yard, too! The attachments to the base of this machine are inexpensive and easy to switch out from an extended chain saw to a weed trimmer! The batteries charge up fast and are ready once the battery on my machine goes low. Usually about the same time I need a water break, anyway. I’ll also use this to prune some of my finer perennials (lilies, hosta, iris, etc).

#2. Expandable Rake

We use this rake for cleaning mulch up around beds to working in new compost. The flexibility this garden rake has to go from a wide base rake to a more narrow focus is what earns it’s hook in the garage.

#3. Gorilla Carts

We now have two Gorilla Carts and I wouldn’t be able to do so many jobs around our farm and garden with out these wagons. These carts sure make hard work feel a lot more manageable. They help us clean out our chicken coop and haul heavier materials like big pumpkins from the garden. I also love that the new one Carey and the kids got me for my birthday last year can be easily hooked up to a lawn mower or the ranger!

#3. Light Weight/ Heavy Duty Hose

I have went through many different kinds of garden hoses in the past and I really love the light weight hoses. Sometimes the light weight kinds, didn’t last through a season before having the dog bite through it or it getting ran over with the lawn mower, but then we found this tough one!

#4. Hori Hori Knife

A good hori hori knife more than passes the durability test! When chunking out plants or cutting into roots I reach for this Hori-Hori Knife really helps get the job done! It’s the sharpest thing in the green house and it has to stay up where little hands can’t get to it. 

#5. Flower Snipes

I have had expensive Felco snipes before but my hands are smaller so these lighter weight flower snipes are much easier to squeeze. As a result, they don’t tire my hand out after a full day of sniping flowers.

They are also easy for the kids to use and inexpensive enough to have a few on hand each season. I make sure to grease them up good at the end of the season to make sure they are ready to go again next year. You might also want a snipes holder to put on your belt, for easier carrying and so you don’t leave it in the garden somewhere.

#6. HydraHyde Gloves!

I get my Hydra Hydes at our local Fleet Farm, but you can find them on Amazon, also! These are the best work gloves! I treat myself to a new pair at the start of each season and buy a pair for the help too! They are the best thing ever! No more wet, wrinkly hands after a day of water repair, plant watering or digging in the mud!

#7 Loppers

I recommend choosing a loppers that’s nice and sharp and has a colorful handle so you can easily find it in the garage! We use these steel blades almost daily from pruning the apple trees, to snipping thick branches from shrubs. This tool gets extra points for being something we use all year round! Living in Southeastern Minnesota, our loppers really gets used for our winter greenery as well. This is another tool that you will want to make sure to keep clean, dry and sharpened.

#8. Hula-Hoe and Disk Weeder

Everyone needs a couple of weeders in their garden shed! For gardening tools to remove weeds we have a hula hoe that I use to speed up my weeding. The kids love that it takes out a ton of weeds at one time. Weeding is just ‘so satisfying’ we always like to say! I found this light weight disk weeder a couple of years ago at a garden shop and it’s perfect for getting in those narrow rows and in between plants. Just be careful of the sharp blade, I have cut off a few baby carrots with it!

#9. Long Handled Tools

Triangular garden hoe, simple spade shovel with a handle and a pitch fork. Most of my main garden tools were either my grandpa’s, thrifted or picked up used, but I’ll leave links here for you. I really love a pitch fork or narrow spade with a handle. It really helps grip the deep rooted, tough stuff.

#10. Hand Tools

For my raised garden beds, I like a good set of shorted handled tools like my spade, hand rake and weeder. This is a reasonably priced set of hand garden tools. When done using these for the raised beds, then the kids love picking them up to help in the gardens

#11. Leaf Blower

Last but certainly not least…we LOVE our leaf blower and use it on the daily in and around our busy garage in the summer! Also, it shares a battery with our Milwaukee weed trimmer! I love blowing dust, dirt, straw and all other things out of the garage. It’s so much faster than our broom and can blow things out of spaces, that a broom can’t reach, like behind the freezers.

Questions People are asking about Garden Tools

Tell us what your favorite garden tools are in the comments! I would love to hear what tools inspire you to garden!

Now that you know what we use to get the job done, check out the work we do here on our farm!

Making your own Carrot Seed Tape

How to Plant and Grow Garlic

Storing Garlic

Braiding Garlic

Making your own Garlic Powder

How to Grow and Make Popcorn | 15 Different Popcorn Recipes

Spring Planting on the Dairy Farm

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