Amazon Gardening Tools: Essential Tools For Your Gardening Needs

You need the right tool for the job! Gardening is no different. Here are the Amazon gardening tools I used as a professional gardener and currently use in my home garden.

I’ll begin by saying that I didn’t buy most of these tools on Amazon. For me, almost nothing comes close to a trip to the garden center or nursery—it makes me downright giddy. Most were bought in California and are ages-old. 

I was a professional gardener/garden designer in San Francisco (I used a lot of different gardening tools!) and brought them with me to Santa Barbara to use in my own garden. Many were given away but I brought these essentials with me when I moved to Arizona six years ago. 

Now that I live in Tucson, my garden needs have changed because my low-maintenance garden is full of cacti and desert plants. I wanted to share my essential Amazon gardening tools with you because spring is here. And if you’re new to this wonderful passion/pastime/hobby, I hope you find these suggestions to be helpful. 

Good tools, when properly cleaned and stored, will last a very long time. I buy the majority of what I use (food, plants, soils, amendments, etc) locally, but Amazon sure is convenient. If you live in an area without garden centers, big box stores, and hardware stores, this will help you out. 

I’ve had some of these tools so long that the model has been discontinued or the brand has gone bye-bye. These tools are the ones I’d repurchase again, or if I had to buy them on Amazon, would be the replacements.

“The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.” Benjamin Franklin, who penned that quote, certainly knew what he was talking about. And, of course, this applies to working (or playing!) in the garden.

The Best Gardening Tools for Beginners

In the gallery above, you see my most used tools for gardening. I’ve had most of them for years, so they look a little worse for wear. They still get the job done just fine! You may not need all of these tools, but I explain how I use each one, so I hope that helps you out in deciding which are best for you.

My Essential Gardening Tools List

The first five are the tools I use for gardening the most often.

Classic Manual Hand Pruner | $58.99

I flippin’ adore these pruners. They’re the gold standard for professional gardeners. I bought these at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery in 1997. They’re now over 25 years old and still going strong!

All the parts have a lifetime warranty and are replaceable but I haven’t had to replace any. I could replace the plastic coating for the handles but just haven’t gotten around to it because they’re still comfortable to use as is.

Micro-Tip Pruner | $13.88

This is another pruning tool I use regularly. It’s great for snipping finer stems like herbs, flowers, and succulents. Mine is an older model, and the one you see here is the updated version. 

Sharpening Tool | $17.03

Clean, sharp pruning tools are a must. This tool is so lightweight and offers real ease of use. I have my pruning tools professionally sharpened every year or 2, depending on the use. This handy little tool fills in just fine in between. 

For more details on how I keep my pruners tools ready to go, check out How To Clean And Sharpen Pruning Tools.

Gloves | $8.59

Now, you could say that these aren’t a tool, but because I use them so much, I say they are. I love these because, like other knit gardening gloves, they’re lightweight and allow for ease of hand movement. 

The bottoms are coated with PVC, which provides extra strength and is especially helpful when pulling stubborn weeds. I

I also used these gloves, which are very similar to the ones pictured. 

Tub Trug Flex Tub | $28.12

When I was a professional gardener, I would send clippings flying all over the place. Now that I’m a home gardener, I like to keep my mess as contained as possible. This Tub Trug is a great option for collecting all your trimmings and weeds.

You can also use it for hauling around small plants, harvesting produce, or mixing up blends like this DIY Succulent & Cactus Mix. I also use it when composting instead of hauling a 40 lb. bag around. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and jazzy colors. 

Extra Thick Kneeling Pad | $11.99

I had a smaller, thinner kneeling pad for years, but it blew away in the middle of an extremely windy night along with the Tub Trug. Both this and the Tub Trug I purchased not too long ago on Amazon.

Let’s face it, knees are boney, and I like to protect mine from the hard ground when weeding, planting, pruning, and/or composting. This kneeling pad is extra big and thick yet very light and easy to carry around. 

Hand Tools | $15.99

These hand tools are great for all kinds of gardening, especially in containers or garden beds. Even if your garden is on a deck or balcony, these are quite useful. 

My various hand tools are pieced together from various sets, but I like the one above because it has a narrow pointed trowel (which I use often!) and a weeding fork. This toolset, also with soft ergonomic handles, is another option.

Bypass Loppers | $22.98

My loppers are so old and used so much that the brand name has worn off. I bought them at Orchard Supply Hardware (which has since gone bye-bye) and believe they are their brand. These are necessary if you have trees and shrubs on your property, as they cut through those larger branches.

Mine have telescopic handles (meaning they extend), which I find quite handy when reaching taller branches. You can find loppers with different types and sizes of blades depending on what your needs are. The loppers up above are a good basic model with a stainless steel blade and cut branches up to 1.5″ in diameter.

Watering Can | $19.87

This is a must-have for watering container plants and those newly planted in the garden. It’s also great when you don’t feel like hauling along the hose.

It’s sturdy, and this 2-gallon size holds a good amount of water. The nozzle unscrews if you want a more concentrated flow of water rather than a gentler shower. My watering can is similar, and I have had it for years now with little sign of wear (except for the salt stains!).

Bionic Steel Garden Hose | $57.99

I can’t tell you how many clients’ garden hoses I struggled with. They were heavy, kinked, and in general a pain to haul around and roll up.

This bionic steel hose is light and rolls up like a dream. I have two of them (one is 50′ and the other 75′), and they have been long-lasting in my garden. It doesn’t have an extremely powerful spray, but I love the ease of use. Any avid gardener knows having a great hose is a must.

This Flexilla Hose has better pressure, is heavy-duty yet lightweight, comes in many lengths, and is very popular.

Hand Saw | $16.98

I don’t use this hand saw often now that I have a desert garden. I include it because your property may be more vegetated.

They’re great for cutting branches which your pruners and loppers can’t. We also used them to score and cut off the bottoms of tangled and extremely bound root balls.

Shovel | $45.99

Let’s face it; shovels are necessary for digging. I bought mine (an older model) over 30 years ago, and despite the fact it’s pretty beaten up, it gets the job done. 

They come with different handle sizes and different blade shapes. The one pictured above is a good, all-around shovel with a 57.5″ length. I also own trench-digging and floral shovels but rarely use them anymore. 

Rake | $32.25

I used a rake often as a professional gardener to clean up the “pruning carnage.” You’ll find this useful for the same, and if you live in a climate with many deciduous trees and shrubs, it’ll be necessary for the fall.

This rake is collapsible and telescopic, making it a breeze to store, use, and carry around.

Hori Hori Garden Knife | 22.95

The blade, one side smooth and the other serrated is super sharp. I found this garden knife handy for digging, scoring, and loosening root balls, cutting thick roots, and planting bulbs.

Weeding Sickle | $19.80

My garden here in Tucson gets very few weeds because it doesn’t rain very often. If yours has a lot of weeds (especially in the spring), you’ll find this very sharp tool handy. It cuts through crabgrass in no time!

This is me showing off my gardening tools:

I had other gardening tools, but I just wanted to include the ones I often used here. I hope this list of Amazon gardening tools is useful to you.

Note: This post was originally published in 2019. It was updated on 2/8/2020 & again on 4/17/2023.

Happy gardening,

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