Heyyyy Plant Lady! Are you feeling empowered to get out into your own yard and update your landscape so it reflects your style? Or maybe, you’re ready to follow your passions, change your careers and join the horticulture industry! (Kinda like Chelsea did.) Either way, this list of plant lady essentials that we’ve created is truly our MUST-HAVES for any plant lady – from the backyard gardener to the landscaping pro! Of course there are so many other specialty tools we love for unique or large jobs but these are the basics that should be in every plant lady she-shed!
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Women’s Water-Resistant Leather Work Gloves – We love heavy duty, leather work gloves like these when using equipment like shovels, pitchforks, chainsaws, string trimmers, or anything else that might give us blisters but doesn’t require our fingers to be super precise, like pulling weeds.
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Hand Pruners – This is a no-brainer. Everyone needs a pair of these. No question!
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Hose Splitter – This is a lifesaver when you only have one hose faucet but you need a hose in either direction of the faucet. Attach two hoses instead of one and avoid dragging your hose back and forth across your yard. You can also use this splitter to attach two soaker hoses in two different directions. This one is perfect since it has the shut-off valves on both directions.
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Bedding Pitchfork – This type of pitchfork is a must-have for moving and spreading piles of mulch. If you’ve ever shoveled mulch with a regular digging shovel, you’ll know how hard it is to even get the shovel into the pile and get a good, full scoop. These wide pitchforks with small tines slide right into the pile and give you a nice, full scoop with less work on your back!
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Anvil Loppers – Okay, so anvil-style loppers might not be a must-have but this is the pair we really love. Anvil-style loppers are often easier to cut with than bypass-style pruners but they should only be used on dead plant material or where a clean cut is not necessary. Anvil loppers crush the plant material on both sides of the cut. If you need clean cuts (any time you’re pruning and leaving an open wound on the plant), choose these bypass loppers instead.
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Trenching Shovel – We could have put a traditional round shovel on this list but there are so many times we find ourselves reaching for the trenching shovel instead. These long-bladed trenching shovels are better for digging up and transplanting plants because they can reach deeper into the soil, keeping more roots intact. We love these shovels for actually digging small trenches too, like we do around every landscape bed we install. And, of course, it will dig holes just like a traditional shovel. Basically, it does it all!
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Garden Hose Nozzle – You can’t just plug your finger over the hose to get it to spray… you’ve just got to have a nozzle. These nozzles with several settings allow you to use a gentler spray for your containers, a firm spray for washing off equipment, and everything in between.
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Soaker Hose – Soaker hoses are the best when you have new installations in concentrated areas of your yard, especially annual display installations. These hoses lay on the soil surface and slowly release water all along the length of the hose. They reduce water waste as the water is being applied directly to the base of each plant. It can also save you time – just cut on the hose in the early morning, let it run for 30-60 minutes, and come back to cut it off before you head out for the day! Super easy.
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SwivelGrip Hose – Yes, this hose is a gorgeous neutral color, which totally fits our vibe. What we really love, though, is the swivel grip. You know when you’re dragging your hose around and it keeps getting all twisted and turned funny? The swivel grip allows the part where you grip and have a nozzle to twist and turn separately from the hose piping, preventing those twists and kinks from happening!
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Hori Hori Knife – If we had to choose one single handheld tool for gardening, it would be the hori hori knife. It digs like a trowel to plant annuals, perennials, bulbs, and vegetables or to help dig up weeds. It has a serrated edge that can be used for cutting things like tough root balls or twine. Keep it in the included sheath to protect and preserve the sharp edges and use the file to keep it sharp after many uses. The hori hori knife does it all!!
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Action Hoe – These are sometimes called stirrup hoes or scuffle hoes and they are AH-mazing! This is used to scrape up weeds. The bottom of the stirrup goes right under the soil surface to pull up and cut off the roots of weeds. This tool is most useful where there is bare ground but can still be used where light mulch is present. It’s a game-changer, especially for edible gardens or areas where frequent weeding is required.
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Rubber Coated Work Gloves – We mentioned we love the leather work gloves for when we might get blisters using larger equipment but don’t need our fingers to do too much. These are much thinner with rubber coating. They’re so lightweight and we can actually use our fingers for fine work like weeding. The rubber makes them fairly waterproof but they also dry out quickly if they get too wet.
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Outdoor Wagon – We love using this wagon to keep all of our gardening essentials ready to go! Keep your wagon packed with your gloves, pruners, gardening trug, hori hori knife, and all of the other gadgets you need. When it’s time to get some work done, just wheel your wagon out where you need to be. When you finish, wheel into your garage or shed and you’re ready to go for the next time!
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