When I started gardening as an adult, my concept of garden tools was inherited from childhood: the tools my mother owned for tending the stamp-sized front yard of our townhouse, and later a half-hearted attempt at a small garden plot.
There was a flat-headed hoe for wrestling with weeds and prepping soil and an old shovel for wrestling with larger weeds and digging holes. There was a rake, for leaves and debris, and a small trowel for anything small you needed to put in the ground. Slightly rusty sheers for trimming hedges and that was it. The 80s were a simpler time.
The beauty of gardening is that it doesn’t need to be complex; turn over a patch of soil, sow some seeds, apply the magic of warmth, sunlight, and water, and voilà: a garden. But as I grew more ambitious and the gardening space larger, it became apparent that there was such a thing as the right tool for the job, and there were many tools that I had not yet explored that could make gardening easier and more enjoyable. I also like the idea of buying things that are better made and aren’t disposable, things that I know I will be able to use for years to come. So much of what is sold today is made cheaply, designed to fail, and meant to be replaced.
Worth noting: I am American, so these things can be found at US vendors, but unsurprisingly, many British and European brands are on the list. They still do gardening better than we do.
1. Haws Watering Can
For years, I kept buying plastic or metal watering cans from the local home improvement store. Every single one would either dry rot or rust out within a year or two. A few years ago, I saw Monty Don toting around a very well-loved Haws in his garden and finally gave in and bought my own. A British classic, they’ve been around for over 130 years, thus clearly doing something right. A Haws watering can is not inexpensive, but they are much cheaper than replacing multiple watering cans every couple of years. I have three now, the oldest (below) is still in service after 5 or 6 years and I expect it will last for many more.
2. Water Right Hoses
Hoses are a staple of the garden. Whether we’re watering plants, topping off the chicken’s water butt, or filling the koi pond, we always seem to need one. I also hate hoses. They’re heavy, cumbersome, and dirty, and they always seem to leak from one end or the other until they wind up cracking, and then they leak from the middle too.
These hoses are not those hoses.
Water Right hoses are available in various diameters, but even the larger, longer ones are still delightfully light to carry and easy to manage. They come in lux garden-ey colors that make me happy and ours have taken a beating over the last couple of years without any sign of wear. I also use their coil hose exclusively in the greenhouse, which saves a ton of space.
These hoses are slightly more expensive than your average garden hose, but I like that they were born in Oregon, are made from quality materials, and are so far indestructible. They typically have good sales several times a year, which is when I bought all of mine.
3. 08 Felco Pruners
Felco’s 08 pruners are the perfect size for my hands and most gardening tasks. I like Felco because they sell replacement blades and other parts, so when something gets broken or you ruin your blade by accidentally losing it in the compost pile for six months, you can replace it. Many other companies do the same, but I found Felco first. Their tools are solid and good quality, and the red handles make them easy to find when you put them down in the garden and forget where you left them. My hedge trimmers and lobbers are from Felco as well.
4. Sneeboer Royal Dutch Hoe
Sneeboer’s tools always make me feel like a proper gardener. They’re beautiful, well-designed, and sturdy. Taken care of, they will last a lifetime.
This hoe, though, is possibly my favorite garden tool of all. It is utterly life-changing and I’m not exaggerating. Here’s why:
Dutch hoes are radically different from traditional flat or pointed-head hoes. Instead of hacking down into the soil and breaking your back to chuck up weeds, you use this hoe to gently push and scrape just below the surface of mostly dry soil. It glides through the soil and catches on weeds to remove them with no effort at all. It is the fastest way that I’ve found to weed vegetable beds. After weeding an area, I flip the hoe over so it works as a small rake and use it to pile up all the greens. There isn’t a day that goes by in the garden when I don’t have this out.
5. Freyr Trellis
I use bamboo canes and wood for a lot of our trellis needs in the garden, but there’s something to be said for permanent structures that don’t need repairing or replacing every year. I like investing in things that will last and have a sense of permanence. This trellis screws neatly into the side of our raised beds and combined with coir netting, makes a fine, very sturdy trellis. I am using it for cucumbers this year but can see adding one more in another bed for squash or melons.
6. Gardena Spray Nozzle with Quick Connect
Second only to my hatred for hoses was my hatred for nozzles. These always wound up cracking or dripping and rarely lasted for longer than a season.
I bought one of the Gardena nozzles on a whim early last year, along with the quick connect system for easily swapping between sprinklers and different nozzles. So far, these have been a joy to use. They have a satisfying click between modes, lots of different spray patterns, and feel sturdy and well-made even though there are plastic parts. Make sure you buy the ones that are frost-proof.
“Field Notes from Woodside Gardens” is a collection of stories about creating a garden. Most Fridays, I share what’s going on in our garden, along with tips and ideas that you can use in yours, wherever you are. Please consider becoming a free subscriber if you haven’t already.