Every Spring I plant a small vegetable garden for my family. I make it a habit to ask my son what he would like to grow and to learn about, and I always get the same answers: pumpkins and carrots. I don’t mind because every year he learns something new about the plants and also new uses for my gardening tools.
Below is my list of the top ten tools you will need to have a happy and healthy vegetable garden.
The Garden Claw: This is an awesome tool to have for a new garden. It is a hand held rototiller of sorts. It has handles on the top for turning clockwise or counter clockwise, and four prongs at the base for turning the dirt. It is a very simple tool but it works wonders on small garden beds! It is simple to use and has wonderful results. All you do is push it into the dirt, like you would a shovel to dig, and then turn the handle. It does take a bit of upper body strength, but not as much as you would think. My eight year old loves to turn the dirt and get it ready for planting. It is also great for weeding.
A small garden trowel: This is a small hand size shovel that makes it very simple to make your dirt mounds to plant the seeds or an established plant. I have a small blue one with a Garfield head on it. (I bought it for my son years ago, with our first batch of pumpkin seeds, and we use it every year.)
A garden hoe: This is a great tool to not only help make the mounds and hills for your seeds, but it is also great for weeding. Make sure you get a sturdy blade/head and not a cheap model. You might only use it for shifting the dirt and small weeds at first, but it also makes a wonderful tall weed cutter, too. We have white rocks that surround my garden beds and the garden hoe makes it easy to trim tall weeds. Having a sturdy blade on a sturdy handle ensures that it will not break or fly off when I am pounding the rocks and dirt.
A small hand held rake or claw: This is great to have once your vegetable garden is growing nicely. One of the worst things you can do to your precious veggies is let weeds overtake their little areas. The weeds will suck away all the nutrients in the dirt and the water from your veggies. Use this small rake to remove the weeds at the root level to minimize the return growth.
Tomato cage or large garden stakes: Depending on what you are growing, either one of these tools would be asset to your garden. If you are growing tomatoes, you definitely want to have a tomato cage. This is a circular cage that goes over the top of the plant and has prongs that stick into the ground to support it. The cage has wide open spaces on the sides so the tomato vines can have support for the heavy tomatoes. I have tried to grow them without this item, and the vines sag to the ground and the tomatoes rot. The large garden stakes are great for any tall plant that need the extra support, such a s tall sunflowers. A multi-head sunflower, like the Moonwalkers in my garden, need the extra support to hold the many sunflower heads that bloom all summer.
A good sprayer nozzle for your hose or a drip hose: I recommend having either a squeeze sprayer or a multiple sprayer nozzle for your garden. You do not want to use the water straight from the hose to water your garden because the force of the water will make little holes in the dirt and may uproot your plants. A good sprayer that makes a rain like shower is best for veggies. You want to be careful which you use for what plants you are growing. Some like to have water on their leaves, others do not. For the plants that do not like the water on their leaves, like tomatoes, then use a drip hose.
A 2-gallon watering can: This is essential for the hard to water areas or when you want to feed a certain plant, but not the entire garden. I like to feed my pumpkins right after they sprout, and then again in the middle of the summer to keep them healthy. If I use a as feeder that attaches to my hose, then I waste a lot of the food on places I don’t want to grow. The watering can will give the exact amount of food to a particular plant.
A sharp set of gardening shears: This is important when it is harvesting time. Large pumpkins have thick green stems at the vines, and a small pair of scissors will make it very hard to make a clean cut. You want to trim the pumpkin right where the stem meets the vine, and make a quick and clean cut. A proper pair of spring loaded gardening shears is best.
A good pair of gardening gloves: This is essential to have if you do not want pricklies in your fingers when you harvest pumpkins. The pumpkin vines have small prickles on then, and believe me, if you are not wearing a good pair of cotton gardening gloves, your tweezers will become your best friend for days. I just harvested our first small pumpkin a few days ago (yes, in July I harvested a pumpkin) and forgot my gloves! I learned my lesson. If you do not have a pair, then get some, or a good pair of tweezers!
A small wagon or large basket: Depending on what you are growing will dictate what type you will need. Since I do carrots and mini-jack o’ lanterns, too, I also like to use a good size picnic style basket at harvest time. For my jumbo pumpkins, I like to use my son’s Radio Flyer plastic wagon. It is a great pumpkin holder.
Having a supply of the above listed tools, will help you grow the best garden you can. I do not have a large garden area, but using my tools really helps save what little space I have. The items listed may be purchased at the following store sites:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?marketID=90401&locStoreNum;=8125&N;=10000003+502411%2b90401&catalogId;=10053&dim;_search=1
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=categorySelect&Ne;=4294967294&category;=Lawn+%26+Garden+Tools&N;=4294952719
