Best garden tools buyer’s guide: What you need to get your grow on

This classic spade from Spear & Jackson is a great all-rounder, suitable for digging, shifting, edging, and more. It has a solid forged carbon steel blade that's attached to the handle with an extra long socket to make it stronger and sturdier. The blade has a powder-coated finish which means it's rust-resistant, while the shaft has also been weatherproofed. The D-shaped handle offers "Suregrip" security. The top of this spade's blade has handy footplate treads to give you better purchase.

Customer review: "Excellent. Well made, sturdy, and did the job without bending or damaging."

This garden fork's lifetime guarantee caught our eye, as did the fact it's endorsed by the RHS, so you know it's a high-quality option. In fact, it's been strength tested to over 100kg. This is made from rust-proof stainless steel with forged tines that help with that extra strength. Those tines are given a mirror polish finish for less soil adhesion. The fork's shaft is crafted from solid ash wood, certified by the FSC.

Customer review: "Bought this to go with the ground breaking spade and it has a nice long shaft so is great for tall people. Mainly digging in clay and it seems up to the job."

A decent hand trowel is an absolute garden essential, useful for a variety of tasks such as weeding, planting, digging holes, and moving smaller quantities of materials around your garden. This trowel, from Spear & Jackson's popular "Elements" range of garden tools, is a budget-friendly option that offers robust spec. It has a hammer finish, epoxy coated head which S&J says improves resistance to rust, scratches, humidity, and alkalines in the soil. The ash wood handle has been weatherproofed and there's a handy leather hanging hook.

Customer review: "This is good and sturdy and perfect for your gardening uses. I feel like it's very good value for money. I highly recommend this product."

Sitting in your garden toolbox alongside your trowel is your ever-useful hand fork. Great for aerating soil, mixing in compost and mulch, getting to the roots of shallow weeds, and even transplanting seedlings and other small plants, it's a multi-purpose marvel. This durable Draper fork is manufactured from epoxy-coated carbon steel which has been through a hardening process to make it super-sturdy. This has a practical, wipe-clean, plastic handle that's attached to the fork section with a steel ferrule. The leather wrist strap allows you to hang this when not in use.

Customer review: "Sturdy fork, ideal for small jobs around the garden."

Pruning larger plants, such as hedges, shrubs, and trees, can be an arduous task for even the keenest of gardeners. One way to make the job easier is to invest in a decent pair of garden shears. These Davaon shears are premium quality and heavy-duty. The razor-sharp blades are made of carbon steel and boast a slightly wavy blade edge which means they grip the plant better for a more precise cut. The shears' gearing mechanism helps you with more robust cuts. These have comfort grip handles and weigh in at just 820 grams.

Customer review: "I am very pleased with these. They are sturdy and well-made but not heavy. They make the trimming and cutting of hedges, bushes, etc, to be very easy. Well worth the money."

These best-selling pruning secateurs will cover you for smaller trimming and cutting jobs that full-size shears are too unwieldy for. These have a drop-forged body and handles which offer greater strength. The blades are made from premium titanium steel giving an ultra-fine polish treatment for sharp, smooth cuts. The ergonomically designed handles have a non-slip finish so you can feel confident when making even the most delicate cuts. We like these secateurs, they have a "sap groove" to channel off sticky plant substances and stop the blades from sticking.

Customer review: "Loads of good feature e.g., titanium blade, padded grips, easy to use safety clip. The whole thing is very well built and feels like it will last a long time."

There are actually a confusing amount of different types of hoes, but a Dutch hoe or 'Schöffel', to call it what they would in the Netherlands, is a good all-rounder that will help you in many everyday tasks. This hoe's sharp blade can remove weeds from borders and hard-standing areas and can help you move and shape soil. This can also be used to harvest root vegetables with the long handle saving you from too much bending and stooping. This measures in at 140cm long but is lightweight at just 800 grams.

Customer review: "Bought this to clear weeds from wall and outside pavement. It was so effective I ended up doing most of the street! Very pleased with this purchase."

This funny-looking fella will become your go-to tool if you're plagued with stubborn weeds such as dandelions, ragwort, or thistles. Its curved blade has a pronged end, the curve and the prong work to really get at weeds at their base to lever them out of the ground. This tool's tough blade is made from die-cast aluminium that's been given a rust-resisting treatment. The handle is rubberised, offering a firm grip during your weed-removing activities.

Customer review: "Does what it says it does. I was using a knife to remove dandelions and breaking them off part way down root. This pulls them easily. Very sturdy. Easier on my back for bending."

There are more attractive watering cans out there, but this is a very capable, budget-friendly choice that will fulfil your basic garden hydration needs. Its capacity is six litres, so more than enough to water a few hanging baskets and planters before needing a refill. Refilling is simple, thanks to the large mouth. The two handholds, one on top and one on the back of the can means you can easily manoeuvre this even when it's full and the short spout makes it more manageable. This slimline can comes with a fine rose that offers a gentle flow - good for more delicate plants.

Customer review: "An excellent, small watering can which provides a combination of near perfect balance in use, good handholds – if slightly lightweight in construction. Affordable and excellent value. Recommended."

These gardening gloves from the Pine Tree Tools company have well over 10,000 positive ratings on Amazon, so they are obviously doing something right (and left!). The key to their successful ratings is the breathable bamboo material, snug, comfortable fit, and sizes ranging from small to XXL so you can be sure to get a good fit. Add into the mix reinforced fingertips, a textured rubber coating, and the fact these are machine-washable and they come highly recommended.

Customer review: "Great glove giving very comfortable and flexible feel when gardening. I've been clearing a large area of garden that was full of building rubble, flints, stones, etc and it was very easy to sift through the soil to find and pick up what I needed to remove as the gloves provided decent protection and were so flexible that it felt like I was working with bare hands."

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