google720f2659d3043361.html Love My Big Happy Family Whit, Whim, Wisdom & Wonder, A Family Lifestyle Blog

Gardening Essentials for Beginners

May 11, 2017|Posted in: Uncategorized

Gardening

What you need to start gardening.

Essential tools for the beginning Gardener.

My Dad was a Masterful Gardener, he had a natural love and talent and even attended a local university extention service and graduated with a Master Gardener Certification!  As a kid I spent countless hours with him in our beautiful yard, talking to him as he worked and sometimes trying my hand at a little gardening myself.  I could recount to you that yard and garden in much greater detail than I could the house.  He passed his love of gardening (not so much his talent or masterfulness) on to me and when I spend time in my garden all those sweet and wonderful childhood memories keep me company!

Gardener Essentials

My Dad watering the yard at my childhood home.

Growing up, I learned the ins and outs of gardening and it was all second nature to me.  But recently, I got to wondering, “if I hadn’t grown up that way, how would I have learned about gardening?”  So I put together this fun little post about Essential Tools for Beginning Gardeners.  I hope it finds it way to a few would be gardners who could use a little help getting started.  I’ve added links to products you can get on Amazon, just click on the photo or it’s desccription and you’ll be directed to Amazon to make your purchase or you can find all of these items at your local garden store.

Gardening Essentials 1 thru 5

Sunscreen

When it came to wearing sunscreen I learned what not to do from my dad.  He liked to get a tan while he worked in the yard and I can’t remember him ever wearing sunscreen.  In his later years he had to have the doctor remove spots of skin cancer once or twice every year.  I have age spots from the sun on my arms that my three older sisters don’t have on theirs so now I wear sunscreen all the time.  If you don’t want to be in the same unfortunate boat as my dad and me, then you should make wearing sunscreen a habit from the get go! Choose a sunscreen with 50 SPF or higher and apply to any skin that is exposed to the sun and don’t forget your neck, ears and nose!

Banana Boat Sunscreen Sport Performance Broad Spectrum Sun Care Sunscreen Lotion – SPF 50, 8 Ounce

A Wide Brimmed Hat

A wide brimmed hat provides additional protection from the sun.  I have a fun and floppy bright pink hat that my son, daughter-in-law and grandson gave me for Mother’s Day a couple of years ago!

 

Women’s UPF 50+ Wide Brim Braided Straw Sun Hat with Lanyard Natural-Brown

Waterproof Shoes

A proper gardner treks back and forth through dirt and mud. Shoes that you can hose off are a must.  I have pink ones that match my hat!

Black Pansy Sloggers Waterproof Garden Shoes, Black Pansy, 10 – Made in the USA

Gloves

Protect your hands from dirt, thorns and  insects with a good pair of gardening gloves.  You can choose from general purpose cotton gloves, leather gloves for extra thorny jobs or rubber gloves if you’d like something waterproof.  I often garden without gloves because of course every good gardener likes to get his or her hands dirty!  But I do always have several pairs of gloves on hand and I use them frequently.

Ladies Floral Print Jersey N’ More Gloves, 589F6, Size: Large

Miracle-Gro MG23010 Women’s Lady Leather Palm Glove, S/M, Tan

G & F 2030 Women Garden Gloves with Micro Foam Nylon Latex Coated, Texture Grip, 3 Pair Pack

A Small Hand Spade/Shovel

Your hand spade should have a comfortable, cushioned grip and make sure it’s made of quality metal in a thickness that won’t bend. They come in all kinds of fancy colors and styles these days.  I love mine with the lime green handle that my sister gave me for Mother’s Day last year!

Amgate 2 Pcs Random Color Thicken Iron Garden Hand Mini Trowel Home Garden Tools

Here are some of my gardening photos.  We added the raised beds last year and I just love them.  The posies and peppers are fun too!

Gardening Essentials 6 thru 10

A Hand Rake

Just like your spade, your hand rake should have a comfortable, cushioned grip and be made of quality metal in a thickness that won’t bend.  You’ll want to use your hand rake to smooth out dirt, loosen dirt around plants and pull weeds from the soil.

B.S.H.U.N Durable and Rust-resistant Aluminum alloy Hand Rake with Soft Touch Handle – Great For Scarification, Fertilizer, Mixing, Pick Up Leaves, Weeding…

Weed Digger

You’ll need a weed digger to get those pesky weeds out all the way down to their roots, they’re really handy for that.  I inherited my dad’s old weed digger and it is so well used that the tips are round and shiny smooth!

Fiskars Duraframe Scratch Weeder (370100-1001)

Hand Trimmer

A nice chargeable hand trimmer is a must for a neat and tidy garden,  Mine is just like this one; it works great and it has been going strong for five or six years.

Black & Decker GSN35 Compact Grass Shears/Shrub Trimmer with Interchangeable Blades

Clippers

Sharp clippers will allow you to cut and prune wayward twigs and branches.

MBW – Professional Premium Titanium Bypass Pruning Shears Hand Pruners, Garden Clippers

Watering Can

You’ll need a watering can to water in your seedlings or hydrate your potted plants.  Choose a nice big one so you won’t have to refill as often.  I have five watering cans, my big one, three snaller ones and a pink one that looks like a flamingo!

Antique Finish Spring Decorative Watering Can (Green)

Here is some of the produce from my garden.  My raspberries, of course come back every year and I absolutely love berries of all kinds! The cucumbers are easy to grow and tomatoes are a must for every garden.  I’m especially proud of these nice big cantaloupe I was able to grow and they were delicious too!

So stock up on these essentials and you’ll be all set to start on your very own gardening adventure!  Happy Gardening!!!

You might also enjoy reading Gardening With My Grandkids and Critters in the Garden.

Please like & share:

5 Comments

  1. Leslie
    May 17, 2017

    Leave a Reply

    I keep coming through the ends of my gardening gloves. Same fingers over and over. Ha! Love the waterproof shoes you shared. Great idea. We get our tennies all soaky and muddy and then I have to wash them. Bet we could just rinse those waterproof shoes and be done with it.

    • LoriGraceH
      May 19, 2017

      Leave a Reply

      Leslie, I can tell you have a love for gardening. Waterproof shoes are great, just hose them off and they’re all clean. You should get yourself a pair (and throw in a new pair of gloves or two)! Happy Gardening!!

      • ANNAREED
        July 1, 2017

        Leave a Reply

        Hi LoriGraceH,
        I am also a gardener and I find that I prefer your post here so much.
        Hence, I just writing here to say thank you.
        And I want you to know that I admire you father a lot.

  2. Dee | Grammy's Grid
    May 4, 2019

    Leave a Reply

    Thanks so much Lori for linking up and co-hosting at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty 37! Shared x 3 ♥

  3. Theresa Muth
    May 4, 2019

    Leave a Reply

    I am not a gardener, but want to be one so this is just the starting point I needed! Keep these coming!

Leave a Reply


You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.