“I’ll take one of everything!” is often what I think when I scan the shelves at my local garden store. Barebones, in particular, creates my most favorite gardening and foraging tools because they are so beautifully crafted with walnut wood and steel. They are sturdy as hell, which is music to most gardener’s ears. When I add a new tool to my collection, I’m not just buying a tool to get the job done, I’m buying an extension to my hands that will garden and forage with me for the rest of my life. These tools will become my allies and comrades in all my ventures, and so I regard tool buying as one of my most important gardening and foraging tasks.

Nevertheless the sheer amount of tools on the market can be overwhelming. Knowing what tool is best for what job, or learning what tool can help make many tasks easier takes time and experience. In the beginning of my gardening and foraging journey, I’d see some sort of pointy tool hanging gracefully on a rack, and would wonder what task it could possibly be used for in the garden. “Is it worth the investment? Is it going to make my work easier?”, I’d wonder. Come to find out (after a bit of research) one of such tools was called a “dibber” and it happened to be the perfect tool for making a hole in the soil to plop a seed into. Fancy that. Into my basket it went, along with some of the more obvious gardening tools, like pruners and a spade shovel.

Like the greenery that now flowers my garden, I’ve grown a bit since those days. And I’ve spent a good amount of time using tools that really make my dollars worth it, as well as some that don't. In the time I’ve spent gardening, I’ve come to learn what tools are really wonderful in the garden and what tools are unnecessary. Everyone will have different preferences for what tools they use day-in and day-out, as well as what brands they love. But we can all agree that gardening and landscaping equipment is expensive and time consuming to filter through.

So I’ve compiled a guide to share the gardening and foraging tools that I cannot work without. And I’ve shared what tasks I use them for, too. Some of these tools (like a spade hand shovel) are very commonly known already, but others (like a water moisture meter or a hori hori knife) are not. And so this guide is meant to offer you a well rounded education on the topic of essential gardening and foraging tools.

These are all the tools I use for gardening and foraging on a regular basis, and most of them consist of manual and smaller hand-tools. I personally don't have the budget (nor the desire) to use large mechanical tools in the garden. Honestly, I don’t think it’s necessary for home gardeners in many instances. Many of these manual tools I share are multi purpose, so it’s okay to not have all of these tools in your arsenal. Start with the tools that are most essential to the work you’ll do then, grow your collection from there.

Spade Hand Shovel

The most essential gardening and foraging tool that I have in my arsenal is my spade hand-shovel. The pointed nose allows me to drive it into soil to dig holes for planting or loosening the roots of weeds or foraged finds. I don’t garden or forage a day without this one!

Cultivator

This hand-rake is really handy to rake mulch around plants in tight areas. It’s also great for dislodging weeds and manually aerating the soil in tight spaces.

Square Hand Hoe

A hand hoe is an ancient and versatile hand tool used to shape the soil, harvest root crops, clear soil and control weeds. I like to use this to pile the soil around the base of plants, which is also known as hilling, or to dig trenches for planting whole rows of bulb flowers, onions, and garlic.

Large Bucket

Before I used one of these, I tossed weeds onto the lawn, and if I wasn’t careful about picking up every single one, then those little rascals would start to grow in the grass right where I left them. I’ve since been enlightened and now toss all my weeds and plant debris into a large bucket. Very simple, but prevents lots of headaches.

Scissors

One can never own too many pairs of scissors, nor too many types, and I use each of these scissors for various tasks in plant care. I like the long-handled pairs for harvesting in tighter areas, or shaping small delicate plants. I like the short and stout pair with short tips for harvesting delicate edible flowers or groupings of berries. And, I use the burlier stout pair for harvesting thicker produce like broccoli, cauliflower, or kale.

Lopper

A lopper is really like a large pruning shear that can cut thicker wood easier than hand shears. This is a great tool for pruning out medium-sized branches on trees or manually shaping hedges.

Pocket Knife

This little guy is like my best friend that goes with me on all my outdoor adventures. From cutting mushrooms in the forest, to splicing a branch for grafting, or cutting open a freshly picked apple, a good retractable pocket knife is a necessity for us outdoors men and women. (p.s. It never gets old seeing the look on a man’s face when they discover a petite woman like me carries a knife in her pocket everywhere she goes.)

Hori Hori Knife

This tool might be my favorite all purpose tool in my arsenal. I love using this to uproot weeds or harvest root vegetables in tight spaces without damaging the roots of surrounding plants. I’ve used this to scrape pine resin from bark to harvest for homemade balms, as well as cut grass that is growing too thick and close to the edges of my garden beds (those are highways for voracious slugs!). The little hook near the handle is perfect for cutting twine, too. It’s a burley all-purpose knife that is indispensable for any gardener or forager.

Pruning Shears

This is another tool I use very regularly in the garden and in the wild. I find that a good pair is well worth the investment. With these tools, you truly get what you pay for. Do yourself a favor and always take care of it! I use my shears to prune herbs, shrubs and small branches, as well as harvest crops and forage for goodies in the woods.

Harvest Basket

If you are growing anything to harvest, or foraging for anything in the wild, do yourself a favor and find a good harvest basket and/or bag. Any bag or basket that can make carrying your harvest easier without smashing things together on the inside is what you are looking for. This foraging harvest bag is truly amazing! I love that it has an open-hatch bottom, and that it can be worn in multiple ways. Plus, it’s made of burly and breathable waxed canvas. This will be my go-to foraging bag for the rest of my days. For harvesting in the garden I love a straw basket because it’s wide enough to carry loads of large crops from my garden to my kitchen table.

Plant Identification Field Book

Plant ID books are essential to any forager’s kit. It is vitally important to know what plants you are touching let alone taking home. Many plants that look like commonly used herbs are toxic and in some cases lethal. Accurate books will help you not only identify plants in the wild but help you locate them as well.

Dibber

As described above, this pointed wooden rod is my favorite tool to use when planting by seed in the garden. What makes this tool better than using a finger is that it has measurements carved into the wood. I use this to measure hole depth (which truly matters), as well as seed spacing.

Plant Tags

Plant tags are valuable for the gardener that sows many seeds directly into the earth. In my early days of gardening I thought I could go without these. However, I ended up plucking out my precious plant starts because I couldn’t distinguish the difference between those little babes and early season weeds. Plant tags help me remember what I plant, and where.

Twine

Strong twine is an indispensable tool that I use often in my garden. From tying support loops to a trellis to prevent heavy laden limbs from breaking, to stringing lines to train vine-like plants to grow along, there are virtually innumerable uses for natural twine to be used by the gardener. I prefer to use twine over wire because it can stretch and flex, which is important for plants as they grow. Non-stretchy material could end up strangling or cutting into plants overtime. I find that hemp twine is strongest, so that is my preferred type of twine.

Watering Can

I prefer most of my garden beds to be lined with irrigation drip line because it is the most sustainable way to water a kitchen garden, however, I do use a watering can to manually water the potted plants on my porch. I also use this can to fertilize plants throughout the season, using a water soluble or liquid fertilizer

Wire Brush

I find a wire brush to be very valuable in my gardening endeavors, not for doing any work in the garden per say, but for cleaning all the tools. At the end of the day I always brush off my steel tools with a wire brush. It cleans the dirt right off and helps me maintain high quality tools.

Nitrile Gloves

I use these gloves for most gardening and foraging tasks because they function well in just about any weather condition. Wearing gloves while gardening and foraging is so important because there is so much bacteria in soil that it is possible to get sick if you don’t use gloves. Hands can get so hammered out in the elements, from being wet and dirty, to being snagged by thorns. These gloves are the best because they can get wet, they are breathable, have good traction and they fit snugly. They hold up very well over many seasons, which is quite notable as far as gloves go.

Leather Gloves

Leather and suede gloves are not my go-to gloves on a daily basis, but I do pull them out on cold days if I’m doing heavy lifting or if I’m coming in contact with pokey plants (like brambles or rose bushes). Leather and suede does not hold up well in wet or muddy conditions, but they are great for getting a grip on sharp, rough, or cumbersome objects like branches or planks of wood and steel.

Retractable Hand Saw

If you have a lot of trees or wooded areas to care for, then it may be a good idea to invest in a retractable hand saw. When loppers fail because of the density or thickness of a branch, a solid hand saw comes in handy.

Long Handled Shovel

Perhaps the most common yard and garden tool is a long-handled shovel. It’s true - gardening would be pretty hard to do if you couldn’t dig holes. Digging holes is what us gardeners are very good at so one needs a sturdy steel spade and perhaps a flat bed shovel too. A flatbed shovel is handy for schelping compost or mulch from one place to another, and a spade is perfect for digging. I use both very regularly in the gardening season.

Long Handled Rake

Another very common yard tool that is necessary for any gardener is a long-handled rake. I like to use a strong steel rake to cover my beds with mulch and compost every season. I use a more flexible, fine-toothed, steel rake to gather fallen leaves for composting.

Pitch Fork

To process an outdoor compost pile, or to gentle mix compost into beds without truly tilling, a pitchfork is necessary. It can also be used for many other tasks on a farm, like bailing hay. But, for the average gardener, churning a compost pile and mixing soil is going to be a pitch fork’s main use. While I've churned a compost pile with a shovel before, it’s definitely easier with this tool. I’ve also used a pitch fork to aerate soil in the early spring before planting, because this time of year we want to avoid tilling at all costs.

Long Handled Edger

This is a great manual tool to use to edge out garden beds. I typically use this at the beginning, middle, and end of the growing season to define the line where the garden bed starts and the grass ends. It helps me stop weeds and grass from creeping in and taking over my crops. If my garden beds were framed with rocks or wood, this tool would be obsolete.

Cloche

This is a less commonly known tool in the garden, but I have found it to be incredibly useful. A cloche is a bell shaped structure that can be made of many different materials but their purpose is to protect plants from freezes, shade plants from intense sun, or protect plants from being eaten by animals. I’ve repurposed old milk jugs into cloches to protect early plant starters from late frosts, and I’ve used woven wood cloches to protect plants from intense sun and hungry wildlife later in the growing season.

Table Brush or Broom

One or the other is great, but I do prefer both. If I’m potting on a table or trestle, or trimming foraged herbs on the porch, a broom of some sort to clean up the mess is necessary. And these sustainably-made natural bristle brooms truly are gorgeous, aren’t they?

Moisture, Sun, & PH Soil Meter

As soon as I acquired this tool, I knew that I would love it for many years to come. This meter measures soil moisture levels which is incredibly helpful because the top layer of the soil oftentimes looks dry, when 6 inches down below it is perfectly moist enough for plant root development. This meter helps me water my plants the right amount. It also measures sun exposure. So if you are ever wondering if a certain area is getting too much or not enough sun, all you have to do is stick this meter in the ground to know the answer. Likewise, it tells you what your soil ph is, which is handy in determining what plants will thrive in your soil type. Some plants love acidic soil (like blueberry bushes) while others prefer more balanced ph levels. From a foraging perspective, the ph meter is helpful in determining what plants you might expect to find in that area. Instead of going out to look for a specific plant in particular, I’ll determine the ph level in a certain area first. If the soil is very acidic, then I refer to my wild foraging guide books to learn what plants I can expect to find in acidic soil areas in my bioregion. This method expands my foraging adventures in so many ways.

What is your favorite gardening or foraging tool?

My Essential Gardening & Foraging Tools