With so many of us staying home this spring and with the prospect of a long summer at home ahead of us, there are many inexperienced and novice gardeners embarking on new garden and landscaping projects. The concept of gardening is simple. Dig a hole and insert seed, plant, shrub or tree, then water and watch it grow. However, there are a number of tools and products that will make your gardening tasks easier and improve your outcomes.

Some basic tools that every gardener needs include a trowel, a hand cultivator, a shovel, a rake, a good quality pruner, a pair of snippers, and a sturdy, non-kinking hose. The trowel is essential for digging small holes when putting smaller plants or bulbs in your garden and the sharp tines of a hand cultivator will enable you to break up and aerate your soil, mix in amendments and weed. A long handled shovel will make it easier to turn the earth, incorporate soil amendments and fertilizers and shovel mulch and dirt.  A sturdy rake is indispensable for cleaning out the remnants of last year’s leaves from your beds and for smoothing out your mulch. You will need pruners to trim back your bushes and small tree branches to ensure proper growth. The snippers will come in handy for harvesting your fruits and vegetables as well as snipping flowers to put in your vases. Finally, you will need to keep everything adequately watered and a non-kinking heavy duty hose will make that chore a pleasure.

While technically not tools, there are a couple of other must-haves for your new or existing garden.  It is important not only to fertilize but also to promote strong root growth in your plants. Bio-Tone is an organic root growth stimulator that will ensure that your new plants will develop a larger root mass to help them establish quickly. A planting mix added to your existing soil will enrich your soil with organic matter, benefiting the soil health. It can also help loosen compacted clay soil and help with moisture retention.

Don’t forget a broad brimmed UV rated hat to protect your face and neck from the sun and a good pair of gloves to keep your hands clean and protect you from encounters with thorns and poison ivy. Most of all, have fun and enjoy the pleasures of seeing your plants grow.

We carry all the essential tools for your gardening needs:

1. Trowels by DeWit and Corona
2. DeWit and Corona hand cultivators
3. Shovels by Razor-Back
4. True Temper, Razor-Back and Flexrake rakes
5. Zero-G, Apex Flexalloy, and GreenThumb Neverkink hoses
6. Espoma Bio-Tone
7. Farfard and Coast of Maine Planting mix
8. Sloggers UPF 50+ hats
9. West County, Mud Gloves, and the Bamboo Gardener gloves