A hobby is a relaxing pastime that everyone should have to unwind after a hard day at work. While some prefer more sedentary hobbies like reading or listening to music, other may enjoy a more active hobby like painting, gardening, carpentry etc. These types of active hobbies require you to have some tools to enjoy the hobby. For example, a painter will need brushes, paint, palette, drawing board, paper and such. A carpenter will need wood, saw, hammer, nails etc.

Similarly, a person who enjoys gardening will also need to get some tools. Gardening is a rewarding and relaxing hobby for while you have to work hard to plant and maintain a garden, the result – lush foliage, abundance of flowers or a vegetable garden overflowing with produce will be a fulfilling experience. Besides gardening also helps to protect the ecology and you are contributing to saving the ozone layer by taking to gardening.

To make sure you enjoy your gardening experience, you need to know the basic tools you need for gardening. Some of these tools are expensive and you can try and find discounts at home improvement stores or buy them at flea markets or garage sales too. Your basic set of tools will cost you less that $100 and you can add more tools if you feel that you will want to continue gardening as a long term activity. Here are the 6 basic tools to start gardening:
– Spading fork
– Hoe
– Watering can
– Shovel
– Bow rake
– Garden shears

The spading fork is the first tool all budding gardeners who are starting from scratch need. It will open up and rake the soil which is needed to fertilize it and get it ready to plant seedlings. The spading fork resembles a pitchfork with a short handle and wide tines. It is extremely useful for digging and breaking up hard soil. The hoe is needed to cultivate the top soil and get it ready for water and nutrients to penetrate. It is also a much needed tool to combat the enemy of all gardeners – weeds.

Plants need water and a watering can is an essential item for a new garden for you can pour a gentle flow of water on to young seedlings. If you get a watering can with a detachable head, you can spray longer distances. As your garden gets bigger, you may need to add a water hose with a spray nozzle attached so that you can reach the far ends of your garden. A lawn can have a simple and inexpensive sprinkler system that will look attractive and water the lawn and surrounding flower beds at the same time while conserving water too.

Need to dig deep and plant trees and shrubs? Then you need to buy a round-ended garden shovel for this. A bow rake with a metal frame to which is attached short tines is needed to level the soil after turning it so that it is ready for planting, to remove rocks or large clods of mud and also to smooth the soil using the flat end prior to planting. Pruning plants, shrubs and tree leaves and roots is a must to have healthy plants. So, get a good pair of garden shears to aid you not only with pruning but also with shaping shrubs and removing dead branches or unnecessary foliage.

Here are a few other tools that you can add to your basic gardening tool collection as you feel the need. The cultivator is used to mix fertilizers and soil, remove soil lumps, aerate the soil or clean moss. Used with different attachments, the cultivator can also plough the soil or cut through overgrown vegetation. If you decide to continue with gardening, you can add different shears like the secateurs meant for pruning thick branches. The grass shears are meant specifically to cut edges of lawn and grass which has not be cut by a lawnmower

A hand-operated wheelbarrow is helpful if you have a big garden and need to move large quantities of soil, pots, garden equipment or plants from one end to another. Those with big lawns can have a lawnmower that makes cutting grass so much easier. All these garden tools and equipment come in a range of prices. You can choose what you want depending on your budget and how extensive a garden you plan to maintain.

Author Bio: Article by Kenny Leichester of http://www.patioshoppers.com, a website with the best patio furniture information on the web.

Category: Gardening
Keywords: Know the basic tools you need for gardening