My 4 Favorite Garden Tools

As we begin another gardening season I wanted to share 4 of my absolute favorite and most used garden tools.

Clockwise from left: bed prep rake, broadfork, Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife, CobraHead weeder.

Bed Prep Rake: This makes your garden bed into a lovely flat surface, just perfect for planting. The one pictured here I purchased from Johnnys Seeds. It is extra wide which makes it easier to get a level surface with less passes.

You can also purchase small plastic sleeves to place on the tines to mark your rows. These can be removed or adjusted depending on your row spacing. If you have a smaller space, or are not ready to make the investment, you could use a classic bow rake available at any hardware store.

Broadfork: If you have a large garden, eventually you must invest in one of these. With the known hazards that come with tilling, this is a tool that will loosen and aerate your soil while keeping soil microbes and beneficial soil beings happy.

Folks with smaller gardens could get by with a regular pitch fork. The key here is not to lift and flip but to insert straight down, rock the handle back about 45 degrees, then lift out and begin again about 4 inches back from the first insertion.

Once you garden has been prepped in this manner, you can easily hand weed any perennial weeds if needed, rake and plant. This makes for happy soil!

Fiskars Big Grip Garden Knife: While I haven’t tried out too many different “garden knives” I happened upon this one and haven’t bought anything superior since. It has a serrated edge that you can use to saw stubborn weeds in a pinch and a nice sharp end to easily dig holes for planting.

I prefer the straight handle to anything that looks “ergonomic”. Straight handles give me plenty of control and actually feel better on my wrists after hours in the garden.

CobraHead Weeder: This tool we bought in while living in Wisconsin. It’s designed and distributed just miles from our original farm! And it makes EASY work of deep rooted weeds and nasty invasive grass. I’m using this now as I prep my gardens for planting!

Happy gardening folks! And if YOU have a favorite garden tool please leave a comment below :)