Beginner Gardens - Tips and Shopping List

There’s love in my garden,                                        this I know—

It’s the thing that makes my flowers grow.

Before I loved, my thumb was black,

In my garden, I couldn’t grow jack.

When I first loved, and was loved too.

I planted flowers, and—surprise!—they grew

As pretty as buds in a magazine.

Thanks to love, my thumb turned green.

Gardening hasn’t always held an important place in my life. I didn’t begin seriously gardening until I left my long-time New Jersey home and moved to Louisiana.   My early attempts involved putting seeds in dirt and letting them rot. I also bought seedlings; their fate was more burial than planting. As a matter of fact, before I would put seed or plant in the ground I would give them last rites, say a few prayers for the dead, shed copious tears, and forget about them.

 Another reason I didn’t garden is that I couldn’t stand to get dirt on my hands. That feeling of dirt under my nails was enough to send me into hysterics. Even handling the average toddler sent me to the sink, nail brush in hand, scrubbing vigorously.

 As fate—or love—would have it, I married a Louisiana farmboy. Well, he wasn’t a boy when I married him; his boyhood was long behind him. Unfortunately, his love of gardening was not. Don’t even try to figure out how a  New Jersey gypsy and a Louisiana farm boy cross paths; it’s not a pretty story.

 Of course, I wanted my new husband to be  happy. If that meant sitting outdoors while he planted magnolia trees, crape myrtle, daffodils, and daylilies, so be it. Happily I supplied the cold drinks and hot words of encouragement.

 Reluctantly I was sucked into the vortex of his pretty world of gardening. Oh, pretty all right. Pretty dirty. Pretty sweaty. Pretty muscle-pulling.

 I’ve learned a lot about gardens in the past ten years. One of the things I learned was what equipment was needed right from the start, and what could wait.

There are hundreds of tools and contraptions designed to make the gardener’s life easier. Some of them actually work and will help you accomplish your green goals. Today’s list includes a few items that may not routinely be recommended, but every item included is a must-have for your comfort, ease-of-work, or safety.

Before you consider buying your first seed or plant, you must have gloves. You do not want fancy, flowery, pretty, or jewel-encrusted gloves. You need heavy duty gloves that thorns and broken shards of glass or pottery will not penetrate. Recommended: thick suede gloves. Be sure they fit properly, if they are too big for your hands they will be difficult to maneuver in. 

Despite wearing gloves, your hands will still get dirty, just not as dirty. For really clean hands, wear surgical gloves under your work gloves. For really clean, really soft hands, apply moisturizing lotion before putting on the surgical gloves. The combination of lotion and heat works miracles!

For some garden tasks, surgical gloves alone are preferable; they keep your hands clean but aren't in the way. If safety is a concern, however, wear work gloves.

Who are your neighbors? If your neighborhood includes snakes, fire ants, or other pests, get a pair of fireman-style rain boots. They also come in handy when the ground is soaked from a heavy rain or soggy due to a nearby creek or stream. (They were indispensable during the Hurricane Katrina clean-up.)

There are many sources for "garden boots," and they are available in bright colors and patterns for those who want to make a fashion statement when they're mucking about. Find them in the shoe department of your local big-box store, or order on-line (where the variety is dizzying!).

Speaking of annoying neighbors, remember the insect repellant. It’s not just mosquitoes that will try for a piece of you while you’re toiling in the sun.

Insect repellents are not always pleasant to use, but they are more pleasant than contracting an insect-borne disease.

Long-sleeved shirts and long pants are also helpful, but not always desirable in hot weather.

Both large and small gardens require hand tools, and the essentials are spades, cultivators, and hand rakes. Buy the very best you can afford. Don’t choose your tools by their looks; a nice looking tool is not necessarily a good one.

Gardeners should use tools that are not going to fail in the middle of a project. It is more important to have good tools than a lot of tools.

Spades are used for digging holes, cultivators are helpful for both weeding and seeding, and hand rakes—get two—are very helpful when picking up piles of leaves or weeds and taking them to your compost heap.

Plastic laundry baskets are great for transporting all kinds of things, especially leaves and grass cuttings when you take them you-know-where (hint: compost heap). Laundry baskets are also convenient for toting plants from one location to another (e.g., when you’re moving fifty seedlings in small pots).

A speed spade is a shovel with a narrow blade. It is often used for planting trees, but it’s also more manageable for petite gardeners who find full-sized shovels cumbersome. Don’t be embarrassed to use the speed spade, even big gardeners find them essential. My preference is for a narrower blade, deeply curved.

Always consider the weight and size of large tools, such as shovels, rakes, hoes, and cultivators. If a choice of handle lengths is offered, try them out. Tools that you can’t easily handle will tire you quickly and may cause injury.

A clog-free rake costs about twice as much as a regular rake, but pays for itself in time saved. The design of the rake prevents leaves from jamming between the tines, making lawn and leaf clean-up phenomenally easier. Whatever kind of rake you buy, and you will buy a rake, should be the best you can afford.

The “buy the best” rule is true of all tools, but some more than others. The problem with cheap tools is that they break or don’t actually do the job for which you bought them. Some aren’t safe. You cannot expect tools that you buy in a dollar store to last or be very effective, with one exception. Hand rakes do not take much abuse and aren’t used for heavy-duty projects, so if you need to sacrifice quality somewhere, do it with your hand rakes

There are two “luxury” items that are worth your consideration. The first is an electric leaf-blower. Why electric? It’s lighter and you don’t have to fool with gasoline. If you want the most out of your leaf-blower, get one that is also a vacuum (preferably one that shreds the leaves). Electric leaf-blowers start at about $40 and go up. A nice unit with vacuum and shredder is available for about $70.

Finally, the last item that makes gardening so much more pleasant is a shirt. Not just any shirt, though. Hikers wear long-sleeved shirt that are made from an incredibly light fabric that truly “breathes.” It also washes and dries beautifully. I got mine from Duluth Trading Company. They are available for both women and men. (If short shirts are a problem, Duluth Trading also carries a good selection of long-tail t-shirts.)

If you are going to be working in the sun and around insects, these shirts will protect you from both, but will not be uncomfortably warm. You can definitely live without one of these, but once you’ve tried one you won’t know how.

Remember, you have hundreds of tools from which to choose. Start out with the basics and learn, through experience, what else you need. You’ll be surprised how few tools it takes to do a superb job.