If you’re starting a landscaping business or upgrading your backyard, you’ll need tools. Most of them will be hand tools, as landscaping work is often tedious and requires care and attention. You’re probably aware that you’ll need a variety of shovels, spades, and buckets, but what specific types are needed? We can help you with that! Here are a 9 essential landscaping tools.

Transplant spade

A transplant spade is designed for moving or transplanting plants to different locations within the garden. It is similar in appearance to a small shovel but has a thinner blade that causes less damage to sensitive plant roots. It is also easier to wield in crowded or small spaces such as in between rocks.

Rakes

Important, but commonly forgotten, rakes should be included in any landscaping arsenal. Each collection should include a level-headed steel rake for leveling and spreading soil, as well as a rake with tines for dealing with leaves and garden debris.

Garden fork

A garden fork makes it easy to break up large patches of soil before commencing further work in the area. Garden forks are also handy for mixing in fertilizer, compost, and manure. The best garden forks have fiberglass handles and stainless steel prongs.

Dutch hoe

Dutch hoes are great for weeding gardens. The blades of the hoe can be used to separate weeds from their roots below the surface of the garden. The hoe should have a high-quality handle that is stable and easy to hold onto.

Trowel

Trowels are used to plant seedlings and dig up light, unimpacted dirt. They are especially useful when it comes to working around small plants and garden borders so that the area doesn’t get damaged.

Secateurs

Ideal for pruning, branch cutting, trimming twigs, and cutting bamboo that is up to 1 cm thick, secateurs are one of the most used landscaping tools. You should have two: an anvil and a bypass. Bypass secateurs have two blades that work in unison to make a smooth, even cut. Anvil secateurs are best for dried out or dead brambles, branches, and bushes.

Hand cultivator

Hand cultivators are essentially garden forks that have been made with bent prongs that makes them ideal for turning soil, mixing fertilizer, and revealing large weeds that are hidden within the dirt.  Hand cultivators are similar to Dutchhoes but have shorter handles.

Grass trimmer

Known by some as a “weed whacker”, grass trimmers are essential for lawn upkeep. They are to be used on lawns that have become too run-down with weeds to be mowed with a traditional lawn mower. Grass trimmers allow for straight edges and clean cuts to be made, and are good for trimming around trees and the edges of your garden or vegetable patch.

Garden shredder

If you haven’t heard of a garden shredder, it’s the power tool that landscapers use to destroy branches, bramble, and organic debris. The shredder shreds the matter and turns it into mulch which can be used wherever your heart desires.