Garden tools: names, pictures and what each one is used for

What actually decides whether a tool lasts

Garden tools fail in one of two places, and almost never in the middle of the blade. They fail at the joint where the head meets the handle, and they fail at the handle itself.

So that joint is the thing to look at. A solid socket, where the head is forged as one piece with a deep collar the shaft sits into, outlasts a tang riveted into a tube by years. If you can see a thin pressed collar with one rivet, it will loosen the first time you lever with it.

Handle length and material matter as much. A spade too short for you means bending your back on every cut, and there is no way to work around it.

Look at the socket, not the blade

A deep forged socket is what survives levering. A thin pressed collar with a single rivet is where cheap tools break, usually in the second season.

Stand the tool up next to you

A digging spade handle should reach somewhere around your hip. Too short and you bend for every cut, which is what actually hurts backs.

Ash or hickory over tubular steel

Wood absorbs shock and can be replaced when it breaks. Tubular steel is lighter and transmits every jolt into your wrists.

Stainless is easy, carbon steel cuts better

Stainless slides through soil and does not rust. Carbon steel takes and holds a genuinely sharp edge, and needs drying and oiling.

Weight is not quality

A heavy tool tires you and does not dig deeper. Balance in the hand tells you more than mass on a shelf.

Buy the ones you use weekly properly

A spade, a fork, secateurs and a hand trowel get used constantly. Everything else can be cheap until it annoys you.

The tools people buy twice by mistake

More than any other category, gardening sells pairs of tools that look alike and do different jobs. Knowing which is which saves both money and a lot of wasted effort.

Spade cuts, shovel moves

A spade has a flat straight edge for slicing into soil and cutting turf. A shovel has a curved scoop with raised sides for lifting loose material. Digging with a shovel is exhausting.

Fork loosens, cultivator breaks up

A digging fork has four thick tines for turning and lifting soil. A cultivator has curved prongs that scratch and aerate the surface without turning it over.

Secateurs for green, loppers for reach, saw for thick

Secateurs handle up to a finger's thickness. Loppers add leverage and reach to about a wrist. Above that a pruning saw is faster, safer and kinder to the plant.

Bypass cuts living, anvil cuts dead

Bypass blades pass each other like scissors, giving a clean cut that heals. Anvil blades crush against a plate, which suits dead wood and damages live stems.

Rake gathers, aerator opens

A leaf rake is springy and wide for gathering. A scarifying rake has stiff blades that pull thatch out of a lawn, which is a completely different action.

Hoe for weeds, edger for lines

A hoe slices weeds off at the roots just under the surface. A half moon edger cuts a clean vertical line at a lawn edge, and neither does the other's job.

Pruning, and the one rule that matters

Most pruning damage comes from a blunt tool or the wrong time of year, not from cutting the wrong branch. A sharp clean cut heals; a crushed or ragged one invites disease into the plant.

The timing rule that covers most of it: prune spring flowering shrubs just after they flower, and summer flowering ones in late winter. Cut a spring flowerer in winter and you are removing this year's flowers.

Sharp, clean, and disinfected between plants

Blades carry disease from one plant to the next. A wipe with alcohol between plants costs seconds.

Cut just above a bud, sloping away

Too far above and the stub dies back. Too close and you damage the bud. The slope sheds water off the cut.

Never leave a stub

A stub cannot heal over and rots back into the branch. Cut to the collar, and not into it.

Three cuts for a heavy branch

Undercut, then top cut further out, then trim to the collar. One cut from above tears the bark down the trunk as it falls.

Stop when a third is gone

Removing more than about a third of a plant in a season stresses it into throwing weak growth. Spread heavy work over two years.

What to buy first, in order

Stage one: the six that do everything

A digging spade, a digging fork, a hand trowel, a hand fork, secateurs and a watering can. With those six you can plant, move and maintain almost anything.

Stage two: maintaining what you planted

A hoe, a rake, a hose with a spray gun, loppers, a wheelbarrow and gloves. This is the point where a garden becomes manageable rather than a battle.

Stage three: lawns and hedges

A mower suited to your size of lawn, a half moon edger, long handled shears, a hedge trimmer if you have hedges, and a spring tine rake.

Stage four: growing from seed

Seed trays, modules, a dibber, a sieve, labels, a propagator and a watering can with a fine rose. Cheap, and it changes what you can grow.

Mistakes that cost plants or backs

Digging with a shovel

The curved blade cannot slice into ground. It is for moving loose material, and using it to dig is twice the work for half the depth.

Pruning with blunt secateurs

A crushed stem cannot heal and lets disease in. If you are squeezing hard, the blade needs sharpening rather than more force.

Watering little and often

It keeps roots near the surface where they dry out fastest. Water thoroughly and less frequently so roots go down looking for it.

Watering the leaves rather than the soil

Most of it evaporates and wet foliage in the evening encourages mildew. At the base, in the morning.

Hoeing too deep

A hoe should slice a centimetre under the surface. Deeper brings buried weed seed up and cuts the roots of what you planted.

Leaving tools out overnight

One night of dew starts the rust that eventually ruins the edge. Wiped and put away is a two minute habit.

Buying a set instead of the tools you need

Garden tool sets pad out the count with narrow gauge tools nobody uses. Six good tools beat a fifteen piece set every time.

Looking after garden tools

Clean the soil off before putting them away

Soil holds moisture against steel, and that is where rust starts. A scrape and a brush at the end of the day is enough.

Oil the metal at the end of the season

A rag with a little oil on every steel surface stops winter rust. Linseed on wooden handles keeps them from drying and splitting.

Sharpen spades and hoes, not just the cutters

A spade with a sharpened edge cuts roots and turf with a fraction of the effort. Almost nobody does this and everybody notices it.

Keep secateurs adjusted and take them apart

Most secateurs come apart for cleaning and blade replacement. Sap glues them up, and a stiff pair is usually just dirty.

Hang tools rather than standing them on their edges

Standing on a blade blunts it and standing in a damp corner rusts it. A rail of hooks solves both.

Drain hoses before frost

Water left in a hose or an outside tap freezes and splits it. A five minute autumn job that saves a spring replacement.

Frequently asked questions

What garden tools do I need to start?

Six cover almost everything: a digging spade, a digging fork, a hand trowel, a hand fork, secateurs and a watering can. Add gloves, a hoe and a rake once you know what your garden actually needs.

What is the difference between a spade and a shovel?

A spade has a flat straight edge for slicing into soil, cutting turf and edging. A shovel has a curved scoop with raised sides for lifting and moving loose material like gravel or compost. Digging with a shovel is much harder work for a shallower hole.

What is the difference between a garden fork and a cultivator?

A digging fork has four thick straight tines for turning soil and lifting plants. A cultivator has curved prongs that scratch and aerate the top few centimetres without turning the soil over, which suits weeding between plants.

What is the difference between bypass and anvil secateurs?

Bypass blades pass each other like scissors and give a clean cut that heals, so they are right for living stems. Anvil blades crush the stem against a flat plate, which is acceptable on dead wood and damaging on live growth.

When should I prune?

As a general rule, prune spring flowering shrubs just after they finish flowering, and summer flowering ones in late winter. Cutting a spring flowerer in winter removes the buds that would have flowered that year.

How thick a branch can I cut with loppers?

Roughly up to the thickness of a wrist, though it depends on the loppers and the wood. Above that a pruning saw is faster, safer and gives a cleaner cut, and forcing loppers on thick wood bends the blades.

Should I buy stainless steel or carbon steel garden tools?

Stainless slides through soil more easily, does not rust and needs almost no care, which suits digging tools. Carbon steel takes and holds a sharper edge, which matters on cutting tools, and it needs drying and oiling to stay sound.

Are garden tool sets worth buying?

Usually not. Sets pad the piece count with narrow gauge tools that flex under real use, and the handles are frequently the cheapest part. Six well made tools bought individually will outlast three sets.

How do I stop my garden tools rusting?

Clean the soil off before putting them away, since soil holds moisture against the steel. At the end of the season, wipe every metal surface with an oily rag and treat wooden handles with linseed oil.

Do I need to sharpen a spade?

Yes, and hardly anybody does. A file along the leading edge takes a few minutes and makes cutting through turf and roots dramatically easier. The same goes for hoes, which are cutting tools rather than scraping ones.

What is the best way to water?

Thoroughly and less often, at the base of the plant, in the morning. Little and often keeps roots near the surface where they dry out first, and watering foliage in the evening encourages mildew.

What is scarifying and do I need a special rake?

Scarifying pulls dead thatch out of a lawn so air and water reach the roots. It needs a stiff bladed scarifying rake rather than a springy leaf rake, because the action is raking out rather than gathering up.

What are the essential garden tools for a beginner?

A spade, a digging fork, a hand trowel, a hand fork, secateurs, a rake, a watering can and a pair of gloves. That handles planting, weeding, pruning and tidying in most gardens. Add loppers, a hoe and a hose once you know which jobs come up most in yours.

How many garden tools do I actually need?

Fewer than most people own. Eight or nine cover the great majority of jobs in an average garden, and the rest are bought for a specific task. Buying a large set usually means owning several tools you never pick up and none of the ones you use being particularly good.