I thought it would be fun to do a little “what’s in my bag” for the garden, because just like a purse, there are a handful of things I seem to carry around all the time, along with a few bigger things that obviously aren’t fitting in any garden bag but still get used constantly.
This definitely isn’t a list of everything you should own. Gardening is one of those hobbies where you can spend an absolutely ridiculous amount of money if you let yourself, and there is a specialty tool for just about everything. Over time, though, I’ve figured out which things I actually reach for again and again, and those are the ones worth keeping around.
Most of these can be picked up at your local garden center or big-box store without spending a fortune. For a lot of my tools, garden or otherwise, I personally like Husky, which I can easily grab at Home Depot. But brand is definitely not the important part here. If it feels good in your hand, holds up to the job and you actually use it, it works.
What’s Actually in My Garden Bag
Garden Gloves
I’m probably not the best advertisement for garden gloves because, if I’m being truthful, I garden with my bare hands about 90 percent of the time. I like being able to feel the soil and what I’m doing, especially when I’m planting or just poking around in a bed.
That said, there are absolutely jobs where the gloves are coming out. If I’m using a rake for any length of time, I know I’m going to end up with blisters or calluses without them. Then there are the plants that have made it very clear they don’t want to be touched. Rose bushes, citrus trees, cactus, bougainvillea and plenty of other thorny or prickly plants can make you regret going in bare-handed pretty quickly.
For those jobs, I want something heavier that actually offers some protection. So while I’m probably never going to become someone who puts gloves on every time I walk into the garden, they absolutely deserve a place in the bag.
Pruners and Garden Snips
I use both, and although they may seem a little redundant, they do different jobs for me. My pruners handle the heavier work like dead growth, thicker stems and small branches, while the garden snips are what I tend to grab for herbs, flowers and anything more delicate.
Neither needs to be particularly fancy, although I do think a decent sharp pair of pruners is worth having. I also try to remember to clean them, especially when moving from one plant to another. The snips, on the other hand, mostly need me to remember where I put them because I have an impressive ability to set those down somewhere in the garden and immediately lose them.
Hand Trowel
A hand trowel is probably one of the simplest things in the bag and one of the things I use most. It works for planting, moving soil around, adding compost, digging smaller holes and all those little jobs where pulling out a full-size shovel would be overkill.
If you’re just starting to put together some garden tools, this is definitely one I’d grab early. It doesn’t have to be beautiful or expensive; it just needs to be comfortable in your hand and sturdy enough that it isn’t going to bend the first time you hit stubborn soil.
Hand Rake
You may also see this called a hand cultivator, although I’ve always called it a hand rake. I use mine for loosening the soil, breaking up compacted areas and working compost or amendments into a bed.
It’s especially handy with raised beds when I only want to work a smaller section instead of disturbing everything around it. Simple tool, but one I use quite a bit.
Garden Twine and Plant Ties
Something in the garden always seems to need tying up, whether it’s leaning, climbing, flopping over or simply growing somewhere I didn’t intend for it to go. I like keeping soft plant ties around for supporting stems without damaging them, along with basic garden twine because it somehow finds a use for itself sooner or later.
They aren’t exciting, but they’re exactly the kind of little thing I’d rather have in the bag than have to go searching for halfway through a job.
Plant Labels and a Marker
Every year I convince myself I’m going to remember what I planted and exactly where I planted it. Every year, apparently, I forget that I am not nearly as good at this as I think I am.
Plant labels are especially useful when I’m direct sowing or planting several things close together. Before anything comes up, one patch of dirt looks an awful lot like the next patch of dirt, and a few weeks later I really don’t want to be trying to remember what I put where.
So I label things now. Or at least I try to label things now.
A Few Things That Definitely Don’t Fit in the Bag
Hose Sprayer with an Extension
This may actually be one of the things I use most in the garden. I like a hose sprayer with a longer extension because it gives me more reach around raised beds and containers, and it makes it easier to get the water where I actually want it without climbing over or around everything.
Having control over the spray is important too, especially around seedlings or freshly planted seeds. There is nothing quite like carefully planting everything exactly where you want it and then immediately relocating half of it with an overly aggressive hose setting.
A Full-Size Rake and Shovel
These aren’t exactly interesting purchases, but they’re basic workhorses. The rake handles cleanup, leaves, garden debris and larger areas of soil, while the shovel comes out anytime I’m moving a decent amount of soil or compost, digging a larger hole or planting something that has clearly outgrown anything my little hand trowel can reasonably handle.
You don’t need six different versions of either. A solid rake and shovel will cover a lot of ground, and these are another place where I tend to look at Husky first because I’ve had good luck with their tools.
One Garden Gadget I Like
A Multi-Function Soil Meter
I don’t think you need a gadget for every part of gardening, but if I’m going to keep one around, I like something that does more than one job.
A multi-function soil meter can give you information about moisture, pH and, depending on the model, light levels. I find the moisture reading particularly handy because the top of the soil doesn’t always tell you what’s going on farther down around the roots. The pH reading can also give you another clue when something isn’t doing particularly well and you’re trying to figure out why.
I wouldn’t treat an inexpensive meter like laboratory equipment, but I don’t need it to be. It’s simply another tool that gives me a little more information before I start changing things.
So, What Do You Actually Need?
If you’re just starting out, I wouldn’t walk into the garden center and fill a cart based on somebody else’s list, including mine. Start with a hand trowel, a good pair of pruners, some gloves and whatever you need to water properly, and then let your own garden tell you what comes next.
That’s really how my collection has grown. I add things because I keep running into a job where I think, you know what would make this much easier? Those are the tools that tend to stay.
So that’s what’s in my garden bag, along with the handful of things sitting nearby that obviously aren’t going to fit. Nothing terribly glamorous or complicated, just the things I actually use.
