Garden tools 2022 UK: gardening essentials to ensure your garden looks great, from greenhouses to composters

Get outdoors and get your garden in shape with these excellent, hard-wearing gardening tools
Essential gardening tools for spring Essential gardening tools for spring
Essential gardening tools for spring

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Whether buying for yourself or looking for a thoughtful gift for the green-thumbed in your life: these are the garden essentials that will work for you, not against you.

A good set of gardening tools will help turn your time pottering outdoors from a chore, to a pleasure. From Japanese-inspired pruning tools, to compost spheres, eco-conscious pots, to a built-to-last watering can, we’ve found the best rated essentials to help tame your jungle.

New to gardening? What to know if you’re just getting started

Get to grips with your garden - first of all, check the aspect. Is it south-facing or north-facing?

Knowing where the sun hits is essential to helping you decide what to grow, and what will thrive.

Find out what soil you have. Do a soil test (such as this one) to discover whether or not it is alkali or acidic, as this will dictate what flowers grow (if you don’t want to purchase a test, the presence of camellias, magnolias and pieris indicate the ground is acidic.

You can change the pH of your soil - there are great, clear instructions on the RHS website if it’s not the ground you desire.

Be careful when planting - read up on it before you head out

Don’t make the mistake of just putting your plants, seedlings or saplings into the ground into the ground and hoping for the best, especially if you’re new to gardening.

Take time to weed and prepare the soil before planting, and add mulch or fertiliser if necessary. Unsure how to plant something? Look online for instruction or read the plant packaging, rather than trying your hand.

Trees planted too deeply will not thrive, and root-balls that sit proud of the soil surface will dry out quickly, causing the plant to die.

Read up on when and where - and how much - to water your plants

This is variable. It may be the soil that requires water, or the root-ball. Read when and where to water to ensure your plant is neither left parched or drowning.

Start small - then go bigger

If this is your first garden, don’t plant the entire thing in one go. Cultivate an area then move to the next. Better to do things slowly and correctly than all at once and watch things wither.

Compost!

Composting kitchen and garden waste is great for the environment, wildlife, your bank account and also garden. Compost can be used as a mulch around the base of plants in your garden and veg patch.

Our favourite gardening tools on the market for 2022

Made from 100% recycled plastic, this CompoSphere allows you to make compost easily.

Rather than stir, just check the lid is secure, grab the ridged edges, and give it a regular roll around the garden to aerate your waste and accelerate the composting process.

Roll it to wherever compost is needed, with no need for a wheel-barrow. The flat bottom ensures it’ll stay wherever you leave it until it’s time for the next roll.

Easy use, efficient, and fun, it’s a great way to get kids out and involved in the garden.

Green houses are often prohibitively expensive, but this model from OutSunny is reasonably priced but performs excellently. With a powder-coated aluminium frame and UV-resistant, polycarbonate sheets, it will keep your plants, vegetables, and more safe.

The transparent sheets allow natural lighting to pass throughout the entire structure, while a rooftop vent ensures excellent ventilation within. With a single sliding door.  Easy to assemble and take down.

190L x 132W x 201H cm

If you’re after netting to support your climbing crops, this jute alternative to plastic is both better looking, and biodegradable.

Pruning is a vital part of gardening - don’t be daunted by it. Shortening vigorously growing shrubs in midsummer will keep them more compact and encourage flowering, while pruning dormant trees in winter encourages regrowth.

Japanese gardening tools are at the forefront of innovation within topiary, and these brilliant gardening shears are no exception. These shears are from Niwaki, the Japanese brand that specialises in pruning equipment.

The blade on the shears is made from SK steel and the handles are made from white oak. Great for hedges, shrubs and topiary - you could even attempt mastery of the cloud cut hedge with these. A good all round pair of shears.

Keep your gardening kit in order with this good-looking spruce potting bench. It’s weatherproof, with two deep drawers for loose soil, six hooks for hanging tools and a lower shelf for watering cans, planters and trays.

With blades made from Hitachi Yasugi high carbon steel, these are the most popular secateurs in Japan among professional gardeners.

Sharp and strong they feel great to hold, with a very satisfying, simple to use action.

The clip at the back of the handle locks the secateurs in a closed position, while the red upper handle and white lower handle make them easy to spot if you drop them or put them down and then find that you have forgotten where you left them.

Always outside pruning your borders? You’ll love this comfort-grip, RHS-endorsed pruner and colourful neoprene holder. Featuring dahlias and peonies in bloom, the holder has a loop for fitting onto a belt.

This iconic welly is a must-have for any serious gardener, which is probably why Monty Don owns a trusty pair. Though big budget you’ll have these handmade rubber boots for life.

Comfy, warm and waterproof, they have a tightening strap to ensure the best fit and a grippy, shock-absorbing sole. They can tackle all terrains, no matter the weather, and come in men and women’s size.

A traditional riddle is a useful tool if you want to cover seeds with a fine dusting of compost. This wooden model is good-looking and sympathetic to the feel of an earthy, rustic garden.

Made from natural bamboo and rice, these environmentally friendly pots provide a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic pots

Sturdy enough to provide five years of use, the pots can eventually be disposed of on the compost heap. Once broken up in active compost, they will decompose completely in 12 months to help you grow next year’s crop.

This windowless, overlap apex shed is brilliant for making use of the space in your garden. With double doors, for ease of access, this spacious shed is great for storing bicycles, lawnmowers, and general garden accessories.

The windowless design ensures that your belongings remain secure and out of sight.

Haws, the world’s oldest watering can company, is our go-to for elegant watering cans that are easier to carry and tip, meaning fewer splashes.

Made from galvanised steel, this 2 pint is perfect for any gardener who tends their own jungle. With a traditional shape, manufactured by hand in Birmingham, it will last any gardener a lifetime.

Portable and elegant, this planter is ideal for housing plants either within the home or outside.

This is a premium-performing trowel. Hard-crafted from carbon steel, it makes effortless work for weeding, planting and digging. Japanese design accounts for its efficacy, while the Beech wood handle is comfortable to hold.

With a two year guarantee.

This sturdy spade, with a T-shaped handle, is a high quality tool that will make swift work of your digging. With a solid-forged carbon steel blade and socket, it ploughs through the ground with ease. The handle is hardwood ash (very good-looking). It’s built to last and great to handle.

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