Essential Garden Tools

Felco #2 Pruners 

Every avid gardener should have at least one pair of this invaluable garden tool. Yes, they are a little more expensive then those offered at your local home supply or discount store, but with a little care and a  regular sharpening with a tool such as the GardenSharp Tool Sharpener, they will last you the rest of your life.
Features: Precision-ground, hardened steel blades, a sap groove, a wire-cutting notch, a cushioned shock absorber to prevent wrist fatigue, and a non-corroding spring mechanism.
Felco pruners are the standard by which all other pruners are measured!  Amazon

Multi-Purpose Garden Knife

If you’re heading to the garden with just one tool, this garden knife is the one to take. Its stainless steel blade has a serrated edge for opening bags of mulch or soil, a sharpened straight edge for slicing through sod, a notch for cutting twine and a "dandelion popper" on the tip. Stainless steel blade has one serrated edge, one straight. Great for opening bags, cutting sod and twine. The comfort-grip handle doubles as a tamp for sowing seeds. The blade is slightly dished for digging and is marked in 1" increments for planting. 12-inch measurement scale for bulbs.    Gardeners Supply

Super Shovel

Put some teeth in your digging with the Super Shovel! This hard-to-find shovel was originally developed for landscapers to dig through compacted soil and tough roots, but can also be used for removing shingles, prying nails, chipping ice and more!  It slices through roots, rocky soil and baked clay with sharp teeth forged of high-carbon steel. The reinforced fiberglass handle — much stronger than other handles made — absorbs shock and reduces fatigue.. Gardener's Supply

Garden Hod

You've harvested your vegetables and they are resting in a lovely basket ready to go into the kitchen. Unfortunately, most vegetables--especially the root crops--are usually covered with sand and soil from the garden which makes quite a mess in your kitchen sink.  You could take them back out of the basket and wash them off with a hose or you could use this handy Garden Hod and harvest and clean your vegetables all in the same basket.  New England clammers originally used these wire and wood baskets to clean their catch, but savvy gardeners quickly discovered how perfect they are for gathering and cleaning vegetables, flowers, plants and tools. Crafted from pine and birch woods with a steam-bent oak handle. Weather resistant hand-rubbed oil finish and vinyl coated mesh basket. Garden Hod size 19 1\4" x 11" x 7 1\4".  Burpee.

Pruning Stik®

Like butter! That is how easily the Pruning Stik® cuts through branches up to 1-1/4 inches in diameter.  Reaching over five feet in length, the Pruning Stik® weighs in at just under two pounds, so it’s extremely easy to handle. The cutting head also rotates 240 degrees so you can prune at the angle easiest for you. The PowerStroke™ cutting mechanism is ropeless, so there’s nothing to get caught among the branches. All these advantages make the Pruning Stik® a great tool for anyone, especially those of us that don't want to climb up  ladders.   Need more length? There is also a Telescoping Pruning Stik® with the same great features that extends up to thirteen feet. Amazon.

 

Tumbling Composter

Before I bought this tumbling composter I had one of the  square bin types that sit on the ground. The square bin  was not only hard to mix and aerate, but mice and other rodents found it to be very comfy living quarters. With this model the mice can't get in and I can collect my vegetable scraps all winter and then let them cook all summer with chopped leaves and grass clippings (see my article on composting). The Tumbling Compost Mixer Holds 7 cubic feet and is made of 100% recycled, UV-protected plastic for years of use. Gardener's Supply