It's easy to get intimidated in the garden tool aisle at a big box store or farm supply outlet. Rows of tools with wood, plastic, steel, and fiberglass handles hang from hooks, most sporting expensive price tags. But which ones do you need? Which ones are gimmicks? It's said that fishing lures are designed to catch fishermen, not fish. Pondering that, the same might be adapted to the vast selection of garden tools.

We can break down gardening tool needs into several categories. Basically, you need something to dig with, help you weed, cut foliage and branches, and a way to water. Of course, most of us will accumulate more gardening tools over the years, but below we look at those tools you need, some nice-to-haves, and a few you can rent or skip altogether.

Must-Have Gardening Tools

Gardening is a beautiful fusion of art, science, passion, and nature, but it doesn't require an expensive tool budget, especially to get started. One of each of the below, and you are on the way. Well, maybe you’ll want more than one bucket.

Long-handled shovel or spade

Shovels and spades are technically two different tools with separate functions, but for this article, we're talking about that long-handled tool with a metal end, which we use for digging holes, moving compost, filling a wheelbarrow, or even removing sod. While there are many configurations, a standard garden shovel with a pointed end will do well for most tasks. 

While fiberglass handles are durable, I find them to be heavy. Plastic handles on a shovel or spade are useless. I lean toward the wood handles, which are not only prettier, in my opinion, but can be replaced if need be.

Hoe

This old-time garden tool has been ignored in the back of garden sheds and left abandoned at garage sales for years, but it really is a gardener's best friend. A hoe with a suitably long handle, in my opinion, should be nearly as tall as you are. It is a phenomenal tool, and once you find a hoe you like, you'll never be without it again.

Garden hoes come in many shapes, but there are two I especially like and use frequently. The standard hoe, which had a more rectangular shape, is fine but I prefer a hoe with a lower profile, more like a cartoon drawing of a moustache, to sneak under plant foliage. The other hoe I frequently use is a stirrup hoe. These hoes have a ribbon of steel, which creates a squareish opening similar to the stirrup for your feet on equestrian gear. They are perfect for slicing just under the soil surface and severing weed roots. 

Hand trowel or soil knife (Hori Hori)

Whether digging a hole in a perennial bed to transplant some echinacea or popping garlic out of the ground, a hand trowel is where it's at. You are likely going to beef on it, trying to use it for jobs it isn't meant for (like digging up a rock), so buy one with some strength to it. 

Soil knives, also called Hori Hori tools, are my new favorite version of the hand trowel. They're somewhat narrower, pointy, stout (I break wimpy tools), and have a serrated edge on one side for cutting open bags of potting mix, severing twine, hacking a small tree root, or any other number of tasks. 

Pruning shears

High-quality pruning shears are a dream to use, and if you don't have one, put it on your holiday wish list. Hand-held pruning shears can be in two basic designs: bypass or anvil. The bypass pruners are more common and what you'll use most often. One blade is sharpened and slides past the other. Anvil-style pruners have a sharp steel blade that meets with a softer metal anvil, usually brass or aluminum. They're meant for cutting dead woody material and small branches, but don't do a good job making clean cuts on green vegetation. 

Buckets

You gotta have some buckets. Watering, carrying supplies, moving a bit of soil, holding a transplant while you carry it across the yard, even harvesting tomatoes. If you don't care about the color, they can be bought new for a few bucks apiece at big box chains and farm supply stores. 

Garden hose with a watering head

Unless your garden is limited to a balcony or patio, you'll probably need a garden hose and a nozzle on the end. With a garden hose, buy the best quality you can afford. The endless frustration of working with a cheap hose is much worse than shelling out a few extra bucks. A larger diameter hose loses less pressure over long distances, so if your back yard watering is more than fifty feet from the faucet, you'll want the ⅝ or even the ¾ inch (inside diameter) hose. 

A hose with your thumb over the end is fine for washing soil off tools, but not so great for watering. Get a nozzle that creates a gentle rainfall effect but maintains a good flow rate. For small gardens, a watering can can do the job, but it still isn't quite as handy as a good hose.

Garden Tool Nice-to-Haves

You can garden forever with just the tools above, and no more. But a few additions from the list below make your gardening either more efficient, less laborious, or just less frustrating.

Garden Fork

This is not the fork you use on your salad. A garden fork is a stout tool with a handle about up to your waist or a bit longer. Usually, four stout tines make a fork, and they often have a D-handle on top for better leverage.

Garden forks are the most commonly used long-handled tools in my garden, especially during spring and fall. I use them to turn compost piles, loosen soil, work in soil amendments, dig rocks (much easier than a shovel), dig potatoes, dahlias, and other bulbs, and more. A standard-duty fork will work well for most gardeners, but if you have rocky ground, get the most well-built model you can find.

Flower snips

Like pruning shears, flower snips are designed for cutting vegetation, but they resemble scissors more than shears. Flower snips should be very sharp and are used to make clean cuts on soft green vegetation. They're perfect for harvesting cut flowers for bouquets, grabbing some basil or thyme from the herb garden, or doing some tomato pruning. Never use them for cutting woody vegetation. 

Grow lights

If you never start seeds indoors, you probably won't need any grow lights. But if you wish to germinate your tomato, pepper, snapdragon, petunia, kale, and other seeds early to get a head start on the growing season, you'll likely need to provide supplemental light. 

A sunny southern window is a good spot to sprout a tomato, but for most of us, you'll soon notice the plants starting to lean toward the window, and they'll get elongated and pale. They're reaching for more light and can't get it. Young plants without enough light are less vigorous, have longer spacing between nodes, and are more susceptible to diseases like damping off. 

A good wheelbarrow

Again, if your gardening is limited to a balcony, you don't need a wheelbarrow. And it's not strictly required for any gardening. But it can surely make moving loads of compost, rocks, topsoil, or mulch much easier. 

A trusty wheelbarrow will be your gardening helper for years. Most wheelbarrows have one front wheel, which makes them nimble at getting around in the garden, but requires more strength to keep the load balanced. Designs with two front wheels are much easier for carrying heavy loads, but aren't as agile in tight garden rows. 

Rent these garden tools or skip altogether

Some tools we use infrequently, or are essentially duplicating the function of a tool listed above. And some are just plain gimmicks. 

Rototiller

In the old days, gardeners rototilled in spring and again in fall, and sometimes between the rows during the season. We didn't know much back then about soil microbial life, the soil food web, or the damaging effects of smashing our soil to smithereens with a tiller. 

Rototillers are valuable for breaking new beds out of sod, or reclaiming that bed you neglected and went to weeds for a couple of years. Rent a heavy-duty tiller for that purpose, and otherwise avoid these soil-crushing machines.

Fancy weeding tools

If it has rotating spikes, twisting forks, or has a battery, it's likely a gimmick. Most of these tools work well only in loosened, prepared soil that didn't really have much for weeds anyway. Spend your money on a high-quality soil knife and a good garden fork and your garden will be happier, and so will you.

Stand-up weed pullers

While a benefit for those with mobility or back issues, most weed pullers that claim to allow you to remain standing while pulling weeds work poorly, if at all. A good hoe with a proper length handle will allow you to weed while standing up, faster and with less effort.

Dibblers

I have a beautiful dibbler made for me by my woodworker father. But it seldom gets used. Not because it's too pretty (although it is), but because I just push the seed down into the soil with my finger or use my soil knife to make a shallow trench. Your finger will work fine as a dibbler, and you probably always remember where you put it and have it with you

Moisture meters

Soil moisture meters for gardeners are meant to tell you when to water. But, like the dibbler, they’re a solution in search of a problem. Not only are they frequently not accurate, but your finger works much better. Stick your finger into the soil and feel it. If it's wet, hold off. If it's dry an inch down, it's time to water.