The best gardening tools for beginners, chosen by experts
Looking to invest in some basic gardening kit for yourself or a green-fingered friend? Whether you're a small space gardener, a dedicated veg grower or fanatical about your borders, you'll find a tool among these recommendations that will serve you for years. In fact, you'll wonder how you ever managed without them.
We asked three experts for their recommendations: Alice Vincent started with houseplants and now gardens a town patio; Charles Dowding is the guru of no-dig vegetables – and Bunny Guinness gardens in style in the country.
Best gardening tools for beginners
Alice Vincent
Telegraph columnist and houseplant gardener
The kind of tool that is little-known but which has a small army of devotees. Amazing if you’ve not much space as it does the work of a trowel, fork, dibber and hoe all in one. I use mine mostly for rooting out weeds but also planted most of my bulbs with its assistance this year.
⇢ Haws Rowley Ripple watering can
With houseplants I used to water them with anything that came to hand (often the glass I was drinking from), but having a small, dedicated spout makes for far less mess, and I use the detachable rose for seedlings, which are usually on the same windowsill.
Essentially a posh groundsheet/mini picnic blanket, left. I find myself reaching for this whenever repotting, pricking out seedlings or loading up seed trays simply because of the soil and mess it saves.
Once you’re done, funnel the leftovers back into your compost or soil bag – or top up some of your other pots; it means no more endless sweeping up.
Follow Alice Vincent on Instagram @noughticulture and on Twitter @alice_emily
Charles Dowding
Author and no-dig guru
This is a constant ally in the garden whenever I am planting seedlings, mostly raised in modules. They are quick to pop into a pre-dipped hole; we plant thousands every year like this. I use it for marking lines as well, much quicker than using string. I have tried to interest various horticultural suppliers in making and selling such a dibber, but so far I have drawn a blank.
I grew exasperated with module trays not fit for purpose so I’ve designed my own, and it’s made by Containerwise in the Midlands. I hesitate to mention it because it keeps selling out. The idea is you buy it once and use it for a very long time; the drainage hole is big enough that you can push seedlings up and out with your finger, and the cells are quite small so you use less compost. This also means less waterlogging and stronger growth of small seedlings.
The metal does not rust so slides easily in and out of the soil, causing less disturbance. I use it to make a slit in the soil surface when planting potatoes, no need for a trench.
Shop module trays and online veg-growing courses at the website. Visit Charles Dowding on YouTube for growing advice
Bunny Guinness
Telegraph columnist and garden designer
The first seeds to germinate are always the strongest plants. My kitchen sills are the warmest, but I hate a mass conurbation of trays and pots with dribbly bottoms and saucers. So I asked a local blacksmith to custom-make shallow trays in galvanised iron, just an inch or so deep, to fit my windowsills exactly. They are fab, indispensable and always full of young plants.
Pots with no bases are a revolution. The plants don’t need watering or feeding once the roots have grown through into the soil; they stay healthy and cannot be pinched. I have them in metal, wood, stone, fibreglass and lead. They are especially brilliant for raising the eye level to deflect from ugly buildings.
My Genus trousers with padded knees, protected pockets, lined and waterproof throughout, make wet winter/spring/autumn/summer gardening so much more enjoyable. I had not realised the huge upside of warm, dry legs!
I wear them over a pair of leggings and strip off the trousers outside to avoid bringing mud in the house.
Visit Bunny Guinness on YouTube for Seeds of Success and Baseless Pots – the Ultimate Time Saver and Design Hack
