To me there is nothing more frustrating than trying to do a small job but it takes you forever because you do not have the right tools. It is like wanting to hit a single nail into the wall but you take thirty minutes to find the hammer to do a thirty second job.

It’s easy to go overboard when purchasing gardening tools. They can take up a lot space and cost a lot of money, but staying focused on the basics can keep your shed or storage area from becoming overcrowded. There’s always bigger and better, but buying the best quality tools that your budget will allow, and maintaining them, can go a long way in getting the most out of your investment.

Here are ten essential garden tools to get you going on any garden project you have in mind:

• Gloves – While gardening can be a wonderful hobby, it can quickly turn into a thorny and splintery hassle without the right pair of gloves.
• Pruning Shears – Hand pruners, also called secateurs, help reign in plants that are getting out of control and taking over. Anvil-style pruners cut with a sharp blade meeting a flat surface, similar to a knife on a board. Bypass pruners cut with a sharp blade passing by a sharp-edged flat surface, more like scissors.
• Loppers – Another cutting tool, loppers are basically long-handled pruners used to trim hard to reach areas and cut thicker branches.
• Garden Fork – An efficient tool for turning soil, garden forks can dig into dense soil better than a spade.
• Hand Trowel -The essential hand tool, trowels are wonderful for transplanting bedding plants and herbs, planting containers, and taking out weeds.
• Spade – These short-handled square shovels are garden workhorses. They make easy work of digging holes for plants, edging, lifting sods, and moving small mounds of dirt from one area to another. This tool can be more on the pricey side, but a good spade will last you the rest of your gardening life.
• Rake – When leaves and debris fall, your sturdy rake is there to whisk them away. Rakes come in a wide variety of styles and sizes, but a great starter is a standard leaf rake.
• Garden Hose, fittings and Nozzles – Water is the foundation of your garden’s life and it’s important that your garden hose can reach and spray every area.
• Watering Can – There are 2 basic types of watering cans, plastic or metal. There are hundreds of styles, colors, sizes and nozzle options.
• Wheelbarrow – If your garden has extra soil to be moved around, compost or mulch that needs to be added to garden beds, or any other heavy lifting and moving project, a wheelbarrow can help you haul hundreds of kilograms!

A regular maintenance routine keeps your garden tools in good working order and helps them last longer. Tools not only need to be sharp, but also clean and sterile. Tools that are exposed to plants or soil with bacterial, fungal or insect infestations can spread those problems throughout the garden. It only takes a few minutes after each gardening session to take care of your tools and protect your garden the next time they are used.