Different kinds of gardens require different kinds of garden tools. Any Hardware store will have a wide range of tools, but you can also search for specialty garden shops online that carry more expensive high quality garden tools if you do a lot of gardening.

For starters, no gardener will have an easy life without having a spade and a shovel nearby. The spade and shovel are a gardener’s best friends. These two gardening tools can be utilized in so many different situations that there’s no reason why you shouldn’t purchase a spade and a shovel so make sure that you have them in the tool room once you start on your gardening plans.

Do you have a small garden or a large one? A small garden does not need the same large equipment that is needed for a large garden. For example, a riding mower is unnecessary if you only have a small strip of lawn. Another thing you should consider is who the gardener is, you do not want to purchase heavy tools if the primary gardener is a woman.

Here are some must have gardening tools:

Shovel - A shovel has a scoop blade and is best used to move around dirt and garden soil and for digging holes for large plants.

Pry Bar – There’s no gardening tool that’s probably as “strong” as the pry bar. This gardening tool is used to get rid of big boulders that are in the way. It can also be used simply to pry out the boulders if they serve another purpose and you don’t want them to be broken apart. The pry bar is also known as the breaker bar.

Spading Fork – Used for turning and aerating compost and breaking up lumps of soil. Make sure to buy a quality one or it will not be strong enough for heavy soil, look for sturdiness instead of price. A spading fork can also help in sorting hay and mulch as well as serve as a manure fork.

Spade - Has a flat blade great for cutting edges, digging and dividing plants. The edge of a spade should be kept sharpened because clean and efficient cutting will cause less damage to plants.

Hedge Trimmers - Only if you have a hedge, the best ones have specially curved blades to stop the branches from sliding out when they are cut.

Garden Cart – A garden cart is used to help transport and dump things such as boulders from one part of the garden to another. If you have a big garden or you’re specializing in a rock garden type, then owning a garden cart is ideal.

Mattock – This gardening tool is a combination of two other gardening tools, namely, the hoe and the pick. Pricks and hoes combined as a mattock will prove to be a reliable gardening tool for tough jobs like breaking soil.

Pruning saw - used for pruning trees and larger shrubs, these saws have a narrow curved blade that fits between stems or branches and can easily cut them as you pull the saw backwards.

Rake - Used for smoothing a garden bed and getting out the last of the bumps and weeds. A plastic rake should only be used to gather leaves and grass clippings.

There are other gardening tools that you could purchase as well but for the meantime, you could do well already with the ones listed above! If you feel that gardening tools are too expensive, flea markets and garage sales can be great place to search for low cost gardening tools.