The 12 Best Gardening Tools You Need

Every gardener needs tools to get the job done, but what are the best gardening tools for you? With such a wide range of choices out there, it’s tricky to know what tools to invest in. We’ve put together a gardening tools list to help narrow down the best gardening tools, and their uses within your garden. But first, let’s look at what are the most common gardening tools.

What are the 12 most common gardening tools?

1. Secateurs - Secateurs (or pruners) are undeniably one of the best gardening tools for every gardener, and you’ll struggle to find anyone serious about gardening who doesn’t have a pair. Secateurs are necessary for pruning back any unwanted growth, tipping your plants to help them bush up, remove fruits like pumpkins from their stems and even cutting stakes. See our range of secateurs here.
   
   
2. Trowel - A garden trowel is a must for every gardener’s tool kit and will help keep your hand a lot cleaner when planting out in the garden. Digging holes, creating ridges or troughs, or applying a top layer of composted material are a few ways a trowel comes in handy. The Darlac Hand Trowel even has a depth gauge on the face of it to help plant those seeds at the right depth every time.
   
   
3. Hedge Shears - Every season your plants will put on a flush of new growth, some so rapidly that what was once a hedge looks more like a shemozzle! Having a good pair of hedge shears will ensure those out-of-control plants look neat and tidy all year round. There are so many types of hedging shears available from the very small and precise, to those of the 3-bladed variety. Darlac offers a range of hedge shears including the handy new Telescopic Hedge Shears and the innovative Tri-Blade Shears.
   
   
4. Loppers - Have you ever been walking around in your yard and a tree branch slaps you in the head? I know I have… and that’s when you need to get out the loppers and remove those unsafe or view-blocking branches. Loppers are a must-have gardening tool for any gardener with trees around their yard. Some loppers even have a ratchet function to make branch removal a breeze.
   
   
5. Hose - Yes, a hose is a tool, and it’s quite obviously a must-have on any gardening tools list. Can you imagine trying to transport water to every corner of your yard without a hose? If your tap is too far away, you can even run a hose to another post and attach a Darlac Take Anywhere Tap which makes it easier to turn water on and off closer to where you’re watering.
   
   
6. Saw - Saws come in many shapes and sizes, and their uses are endless. A pocket-sized mini folding saw is great to have on hand for jobs that require more than a pair of secateurs can handle, like pruning trees, cutting roots, and even cutting PVC piping. A pocket chain saw is an innovative tool for bigger jobs such as cutting growth high in trees without the need for a ladder.
   
   
7. Hand Weeder - If you’re the kind of person who loves a nice tidy lawn, you probably have struggled with a weed or two popping up that just will not budge. You can save your fingers by investing in a hand weeder, which uses a simple design to grab and lift even the most stubborn tap roots.
   
   
8. Wheelbarrow - If you want to apply vast quantities of mulch, add or subtract from your compost pile or shuffle soil around, a wheelbarrow can save a few trips. They’re even great for filling with all your plants and tools to move around the garden easily. Add a wheelbarrow to your gardening tools list and you won’t regret it.
   
   
9. Shovel - We all know what a shovel is good for... digging holes and shoveling piles of dirt around and applying compost and mulch. They are also handy for digging up and moving certain types of plants from one place to another. No Gardening tools list would be complete without including a shovel.
   
   
10. Rake - Whether raking up those autumn leaves and grass clippings, smoothing soil, or spreading out mulch, rakes are one of the best gardening tools to keep in your kit. Most of the things you will rake up can also be added to your compost heap, so a good rake is essential for generating your own compost. The Darlac Telescopic Expanding Rake is useful for all kinds of jobs and being stainless steel, will last you a lifetime!
    
    
11. Dibber - For seed growing, a dibber is a must-have on your gardening tools list. Poking your finger into the soil can get surprisingly painful when planting a lot of seeds in deep drills. Our wooden dibber even tells you how deep you’re sowing so that you can get it perfect every single time!
    
    
12. Sharpener - Whilst not technically a tool used in the garden, no gardening tools list would be complete without a sharpener to keep your tools in tip-top condition and performing their best. A sharpener can be used to keep the blades on your loppers, secateurs, and shears in top cutting condition, as well as to edge shovels and trowels.

So there you have it, our list of the top 12 gardening tools and their uses. If you are in need of new gardening tools, look no further than the Darlac range of quality tools.

Darlac has been voted one of the best gardening tool brands in the UK and we are now proud to bring this quality range to Australia. This award-winning range delivers top-quality gardening tools at an affordable price. Each tool is precision engineered from quality materials to withstand the rigours of gardening. Within the range, there are many unique tools developed with you in mind, features include angled heads, left-handed hand grips, compact hand grips for smaller or less-able hands, and lightweight tools to reduce fatigue.

View the Darlac Gardening Tools range here.

1. Secateurs, 2. Hand Trowel and Fork, 3. Tri-blade Hedge Shears, 4. Ratchet Lopper, 5. Take Anywhere Tap, 6. Folding Pocket Saw, 6a. Pocket Chain Saw, 7. Hand Weeder, 8/9. Wheelbarrow and Shovel, 10. Telescopic Rake, 11. Dibber, 12. Sharpener.