“Good tools make good gardeners!”.
It is important to have a range of tools in order to be able to make your garden, your vegetable garden and maintain them.
Here are the 15 main pieces of equipment to have at home.
To discover
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Gloves
Do not consider gardening without them as they are valuable.
They allow you to work in complete safety, protecting you from injuries, infections, stings... The gloves prevent you from getting your hands and nails dirty.
You can get several pairs of gloves, of different shapes, thicknesses and materials, which will meet specific needs.
You don't use the same pair of gloves depending on whether you prune your roses or shrubs, whether you're planting or moving stones.
The deck
The pickaxe (in the foreground with a yellow handle) is used to dig holes or trenches.
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This tool, which has a pointed side and a flat side, is made to work on compact or rocky soils.
The
pickaxe
is made up of a handle, a tip and a tongue.
It is used to dig holes before planting them, break up the earth, draw furrows or dig trenches (irrigate crops), remove stones from a surface, remove stumps, cut roots, weed, etc.
The spade
The spade is useful for loosening the soil, digging, or preparing the ground.
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This basic gardener's tool, consisting of a wide, flattened and sharp iron blade fitted to a long wooden handle, allows you to effortlessly turn the soil or break it up.
The
spade
is very useful for arranging your beds or for your vegetable garden, for pulling weeds or for your vegetables to be harvested, burying manure, moving compost...
Good to know
The basic spade is recommended for light, stone-free soils.
The spade fork (or garden fork)
Thanks to the separate and straight tines (with triangular, square or flattened ends) of this tool, you can turn over heavy, clayey or stony soils, loosen them, aerate them, but also work the soil near plantations without risking damaging their roots.
The
spade fork,
a complete multipurpose tool, will help you prepare planting holes or pick up tubers (example: potato) in the vegetable patch.
It will also be useful for spreading mulch or digging for the deep roots of bindweed.
The spade fork is suitable for working clay, sticky or stony soils.
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When buying it, be sure to look at the assembly to be sure that the handle (which is longer than that of the spade) will not separate from the iron on first use.
Prefer a hardened steel tool.
To note
A sharp spade fork will be easier to use.
the hoe
The hoe is very practical for removing weeds and weeding the garden.
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This lightweight and very handy gardening instrument has a short handle, a flat, metal blade with a sharp base.
Unlike the two previous tools mentioned, the
hoe
is not intended to work the soil in depth.
It is used to hoe the earth, that is to loosen the surface layer of the soil.
This action promotes the penetration of rain or irrigation water.
Versatile, this tool crumbles the soil, aerates it, allows you to weed, that is to say to weed your garden.
You can also use it to bring soil to the feet of your plantations or to uproot annual plants.
Read alsoWeeding your garden with... flowers
Advice
If you want a tool with a longer lifespan, choose a wooden handle, which is more resistant than plastic ones.
the towel
The towel is a tool for maintaining the garden.
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The serfouette is composed of a square flat blade (or a pointed tongue) on one side and long teeth on the other.
Depending on your needs or preferences, you will opt for a long handle (which prevents you from bending too often) or a towel without a handle.
This multifunctional tool is used to scrape, stir and aerate the soil.
Complementary to the hoe, it will give you the possibility of "working" around plants that are too close to each other or of removing stones from the ground.
The fang
The
croc
is a tool with a handle, made up of 4 curved teeth.
Also multipurpose, it breaks up clods, aerates and loosens the soil, allows picking, catching pebbles or roots, grouping and moving cut plants.
It is mainly used in the spring.
The fang also allows you to break up clods of earth.
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The shovel
The shovel is used to pick up and move heaps, such as your compost, leaves in the fall, gravel or pebbles.
But you will also use it to level the ground or dig the earth, to plant your shrubs or trees there, to remove earth or put it back, to evacuate trenches, to clear snow from a driveway in winter, etc.
the grelinette
The grelinette was patented in 1964 by André Grelin, its inventor.
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This tool, made up of 2 handles and steel teeth, invented by André Grelin and patented in 1964, is back in fashion among gardeners.
The
grelinette
prepares the soil, aerates the earth.
It allows the soil to be decompacted without turning over the different strata.
That is to say that the micro-organisms below will not find themselves above: the life of the soil is thus maintained.
Which is not possible with the spade fork.
The grelinette is used on soils that have already been worked and not on soils to be cleared.
Ergonomic, it avoids the back problems often encountered when gardening.
Our advices
Choose a grelinette with curved tines because they fit better into the ground than vertical tines.
Opt for flared handles, which will provide good handling of the tool.
The choice of the number of teeth (3, 4 or 5) will depend on your physical strength and your soil.
Read alsoGardening for beginners: the 4 basic questions
The planter
The dibbler is an indispensable tool for making holes easily for planting.
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Conical in shape, the
dibbler
is used to easily dig regular holes (width and depth) in order to plant or transplant small perennials, bulbs (there is a bulb dibbler, equipped with a basket and graduated), seedlings, seeds, annuals….It is also very useful for pots and planters.
It can also be used to dig furrows but also to move fertilizers, break the earth's crust.
Good to know
Remember to use a string to plant straight.
It is a small rope stretched between two fixed points in order to draw straight lines.
The seeder
This instrument allows you to sow small seeds, almost one by one, in the precise location you want, saving time.
The manual
seeder
also limits waste, since it reduces the thinning operation which consists of removing excess plants a few weeks later: too tightly packed young plants cannot develop properly.
Read alsoProducing seeds and seeds: what does the law say?
The seed drill is recommended for sowing seeds of:
carrots
chewed up
radish
Asparagus, the vegetable of sandy soils
chicory
cucumbers
peppers
Red beets
leeks
Wheelbarrow
The wheelbarrow is very practical for transporting and moving everything around the garden.
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This essential ally allows you to transport everything: both clods of earth, your plants, weeds, your tools, the residue from mowing your lawn, as well as foliage, pots, or soil... Opt for a
light
wheelbarrow
, handy and versatile.
Make sure it creeps all over your garden.
The wheelbarrow with one wheel is more maneuverable, the one with two wheels more stable.
Prefer solid wheels, more resistant.
Good to know
At the end of each use, clean your wheelbarrow with water and dry it to protect it from corrosion.
If you can, store it in a garden shed or garage.
The watering can
Practical and necessary for watering your plantations, vegetables, flowers... Depending on your use, choose a watering can with a spout (plants in pots or containers) or a sprinkler (seedlings, delicate flowers or fragile plants).
Some are "two in one": with the removable knob.
Pay attention to spout length, handle size, weight and capacity.
The plastic
watering can
has the advantage of being lighter and less expensive than the metal one.
Opt for a watering can with a wide handle, it is easier to handle.
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Good to know
Water your plants as close as possible to the stem and especially not the leaves or flowers, which could burn out when the sun heats up intensely.
The rake
This other gardener's must-have is used to pick up dead leaves, twigs and grass clippings, rake and level the soil in your vegetable garden, level it, aerate it or even remove small pebbles, stir the soil after sowing or break up clods of earth.
The choice will obviously depend on the use:
leaf rake, traditional (or vegetable garden) rake, gravel rake, scarifying rake
.
The rake rakes leaves, twigs, moss.
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Pay attention to weight, handle material (plastic, wood, steel, fiberglass), handling.
To note
A short-handled rake is suitable for working in rock gardens or on small areas.
Read alsoThe 8 most common mistakes in the garden
The pruner
For garden maintenance, shears are a lightweight, precise and compact basic.
This essential for cutting and pruning is not used all year round: you use it to prune your trees or shrubs, plants (sprouts, regrowth), cut flowers such as roses, dead branches or fruit.
Be sure to buy a
pruner that
fits your hand.
If you take one that's too big, you won't be able to close it, and your fingers will always be in tension - which will cause tendonitis.
There are also different types of secateurs: anvil, increasing blade, flower, rack.
Your secateurs must be adapted to your hand, to be closed easily.
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Good to know
To prevent the transmission of diseases between plants, before or after each use, remember to clean and disinfect your shears.
