Tools to begin digging a garden?

cnthrdlywt2bwZ

We're planning to dig out the garden plot this weekend. I have sturdy metal garden rakes and a mini-trowel & rake but nothing else. What should we have to create a space about 4-5X8-10?

Thanks!

nitaw

Tools in my garden shed ...

A shovel. I hand rake/trowel only go so far and will kill your back with all the bending. If I have a lot of flowers to plant, I get out the shovel.

A garden fork. Great to use when lifting clumps of plants for dividing. I didn't get this one right away. I got it this past fall when I needed to divide my lilies.

Also - I have a bulb planter and an edger.

To get started - pick up a shovel. That will help you out for digging holes to plant your flowers.

~NB~

In hard, clay soils, I dig with a mattock and a spading fork.

In loose, sandy soils, I dig with a shovel.

santacruz2009

If you need to do a bunch of weeding it'll save you so much time and frustration to get a weeding trowel-- it allows you to get down to the roots and really eradicate those weeds.

 

anneg

if the soil is hard, a pickaxe.  dh pickaxed our entire garden (L-shaped, 12' x 6' and 6' x 21') before i dug it.  i couldn't have done it otherwise.  

SpceCadet

Our most used garden tool is our rototiller.  It was about $200 at Lowe's and if it broke tomorrow, I would have no hesitation forking out for a new one.  We opted for the electric over the gas because of fuel mixing, storage, etc.  It has sufficient power for our needs, which was H's concern.  We have tough soil and it has saved us much pain and suffering from turning over the soil each season.  Many of the larger home improvement stores rent them if you are planning to just plant once.