Basic Tools For Veggie Gardening

You don’t need to race out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of brand new gardening tools to get started. But you will need the basics. If you’ve got a shed, then chances are you’ve already got some of the tools you will need to start your organic veggie garden.

Firstly, there’s your garden variety, versatile spade. This will perform a wide range of tasks; from moving compost around the yard, to harvesting your first crop of potatoes, to digging holes for planting your fruit or nut trees.

You’ll also need a good quality garden fork. This will come in handy for turning over your gorgeous compost and a heap of other tasks.

A rake is a necessity when it comes time to give your planting area a level surface with a nice tilth for your seeds to go in.

There are such a wide range of hoes available in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but essentially a hoe is a blade on a stick. You’ll need it to weed around your plants, so I prefer one with a smaller blade, so that I’m not disturbing the tender roots of my young plants.

If you can only afford to pay for one thing of real quality, make it your secateurs. They will last a very long time if you treat them with respect and they are an essential part of gardening maintenance.

The other things you will also need straight away are a hand trowel, hose and / or irrigation system, labels and a 2B pencil.

Most other tools you can buy as you go, or as you discover a need for a particular tool. You can improvise with things from the kitchen or shed until money allows you to go and get something designed for the job.