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3 Must Have Garden Hand Tools That Make Gardening Easier On You!

Looking for a few simple garden hand tools that can help you plant, grow and maintain your garden and flowerbed spaces quicker, easier and with less back-breaking work?

When it comes to creating highly productive and weed-free garden or flowerbed spaces, there are certainly all kinds of expensive tools available. From rototillers, trimmers and edgers, to all kinds of pruning, digging and weeding tools, you can find a tool for any garden task at hand.

It’s no secret that having the right tool for the job can make almost any task easier. A good tool can help finish a job quicker than you can by just simply using your hands. In addition, having the right tool can also put much less stress on your body as well. But with so many options for so many tasks – how many tools do you really need? And, which ones are best?

A hand pulling out garden weeds - something a tool can do a lot easier.
Many garden chores take time and are hard on you physically. But a few simple hand tools will help make the tasks go easier and get the job done faster and better.

All too often, those fancy and often quite pricey specialty tools might work great for a single task – but they usually end up in a corner of the garage or garden shed collecting dust. In many cases, they simply don’t work as advertised. Or, even if they do, they are so specialized in their use that it’s a rare occasion when they are used.

Well, that will certainly never be the problem with the three garden hand tools highlighted today. Not only are they extremely affordable and durable – they also can help you save on your back and your workload. With those amazing advantages in mind – here is a look at 3 must have hand tools every gardener should own!

3 Must Have Garden Hand Tools

Stand-Up Weeder – 3 Excellent Hand Tools

If you are not fond of weeding – or the punishment it can do to your body while performing the task – the stand-up weeder is going to become your best friend in your garden and flowerbeds!

Weeds are truly a nuisance when it comes to gardening. They not only look unsightly, but they also compete for vital nutrients your plants need to grow. Even worse, they also steal valuable moisture away from the roots of your plants as well. See: How To Keep Weeds Out Of Your Flowerbeds

Mulch is certainly a great weapon in the fight against weeds. But at the end of the day, there will always be a few weeds to pull – and getting down and bending over to do it can put a lot of wear and tear on your body. Especially when you do all that work and still can’t get the roots of the weed out!

A hand using a stand-up weeder tool to pull up dandelion weeds from a yard.
A stand-up weed saves your back and knees by allowing you to pull stubborn weeds while still standing.

That is exactly where our first must have tool, the stand-up weeder, is a life saver! This hand tool allows you to easily remove weeds without needing to kneel, bend over, or pull up with brute force.

Making Weeding Easier – 3 Must Have Garden Hand Tools

Stand-up weeders feature a long shaft and an area to step on to drive the device into the ground. Once the weeder is in the ground, you slightly lean the post to the side and pull the weed – and its roots out of the soil. 

Some stand up weeders can even eject the weed after pulling it up with a simple push of a button. Talk about taking the hard work out of weeding! There is never a need to bend over – or resort to harsh chemical sprays around your vegetable or flowering plants to control weeds.

Affiliate Product Link: Grootpow Stand Up Weeder with 40″ Handle, 3 Claws & Fiberglass Foot Pedal

Post Hole Digger – 3 Excellent Hand Tools

One of the most underrated hand tools of all time, a post hole digger is invaluable when it comes to so many garden and flowerbed planting tasks. And yes, it’s still great for digging holes for posts too!

Whether you are planting vegetable transplants or flower bulbs, the task of creating multiple holes in the garden can become quite daunting. Once again, as with weeding, there is the issue of needing to kneel and bend low in order to dig up one small hole for each plant. 

A collage of images of a post hole digger; Images pulled from the Amazon affiliate link.
This AMES post hole digger can be your secret weapon the next time you need to plant your garden.

It’s time-consuming as well as back-breaking. Especially when you need to create holes big and deep enough for each and every plant you are transplanting.

Unfortunately, using a large shovel can cause just as many issues as a small hand trowel. Typically, the hole will end up way too large and displace more soil than needed. In addition, the soil you dig up is often chunky and takes time to break to go around plants. 

The Post Hole Digger Advantage – 3 Must Have Garden Hand Tools

But with a post hole digger, you are able to create a planting hole that is the perfect size for transplants and flower bulbs. There is no need to kneel as you dig up the soil, nor do you need to wear out your arms by using a small hand trowel.

Most post hole diggers will create a 6 to 8-inch wide hole with a single drive into the soil. You can go as deep as you need with repeated passes. Even better, many post hole digger models also have a built-in depth measuring gauge on the side to let you know how deep the hole is.

It truly can make planting flowers or a vegetable garden a breeze. In fact, even a large garden with 50 or more plants going in can be planted in under an hour using a post hole digger! (Affiliate Product Link: Ames Post Hole Digger With Depth Measurement Gauge

Hori Hori Knife – 3 Excellent Hand Tools 

We may have saved the best for last with the Hori-Hori knife! It truly is a hand tool that every gardener should own. The multipurpose tool will help you to work smarter and definitely not harder. Not only that – you will find a million uses for it as well when it comes to helping tackle all kinds of garden chores!

A hori hori tool; Image pulled from the Amazon affiliate link.
The Nisaku Hori Hori Tool is one of the best multipurpose gardening tools around!

Its small and compact design makes the Hori-Hori great for carrying along for daily chores. In fact, it fits easily in your gardening apron or a simple bucket. Yet the stainless steel design means it can handle even the roughest of tasks when put to work. (Product Link: Hori-Hori Knife)

The Perfect Little Garden Tool

The Hori-Hori knife is the perfect size to be a durable hand trowel for those small weeding jobs. The sharp pointed blade allows you to easily slice through the soil and pop out stubborn weeds or unwanted plants. It also works great for digging up bulbs and tubers at the end of the growing season. 

One side of the knife features a serrated edge for sawing through tough roots or thin stems. The blade doesn’t dull easily and can last a long time without needing to be sharpened. Another feature of the Hori-Hori knife is that there is a built-in ruler in the blade.

With these three basic hand tools at your gardening disposal, you will be able to tackle almost any gardening task. Even better, you can save time and body aches in the process! 

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This Is My Garden is a garden website created by gardeners, for gardeners. Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books and speaking for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. They publish three articles every week, 52 weeks a year. Sign up today to follow via email, or follow along!