I've recently been gifted with money towards my new hobby/obsession (gardening, of course) and I don't have any tools to speak of. So...I need some help fattening up my Christmas list.

So, what's your favorite gardening tool?

Weebus

Diann
Iowa Z5

You can buy it from Home Depot. It is a long green metal post with nails on the bottom. You step on the foot rest to push it into the ground, twist, and pull up on the handle. I weeded our 1/2 acre lawn with it and was very pleased with the results.

It is made by Hound Dog Products in Edina, MN (800 My Hound)

I was digging in our nearly empty compost bed, scrounging for some fertile ANYTHING to fill a pot with. I was just using my hands or whatever I could lay my hands on to loosen this dirt, when all of a sudden I dug up a chunk of sandstone-but not just any chunk of sandstone. This one was hand sized, had a little series of bumps- like a grip- that FIT MY HAND and was SHARP ENOUGH TO DIG WITH on the other edge- the most perfect digging tool I ever met. This remains my favorite tool- it reminds me that Someone cares enough about me to even make me spur-of-the-moment garden tools. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Gardeners' Suppy called it a 'Scoop Trowel'. Enter 'scoop' in the Search field, and it will come up.

The follow-up favorite is a pair of GOOD gardening gloves. Mine are from Lee Valley Tools, but there are many good brands. Good fit is such an individual thing, you'll need to try different ones to find a brand that suits you best.

3. A five gallon pickle bucket. Its about five years old, has seen more than its fair share of abuse, but still one of the most usefull items in my shed!

2. The wheelbarrow DH bought for us a couple years back, I would be lost without it!

1. My Pitchfork! $3 at a yardsale, the most usefull tool I own =)

(a) Long-bladed Japanese pruning shears
and
(b) Large bottle of Advil

Other than that, it would be a toss up between the buckets that 40 lbs of kitty litter come in, or chopsticks. (Honestly! You'd be amazed how handy they are for all sorts of weird things!)

And garden gloves. And, and, and.....

(Hard to believe I gardened successfully for years with just an old spoon!)

Sharon

small anvil pruners. I never buy very expensive ones because I lose them frequently. Cheap ones work just as well, with the anvil blade. I think the bypass blade might be better in an expensive brand, but i prefer anvil blades in a smaller pruner.

large black plastic cement trough. I found this when I was actually looking for a very large cat litter box. I paid about $4 for it and it was too big for any litter box liners so I started using it in my garden. It's big enough to hold clippings from an entire bush, weeds from a pretty large flower bed, and even thick and sturdy enough to hold about half a wheel-barrow's worth of garden soil or mulch. But unlike a wheelbarrow, you can pick this up and carry it sideways on your hip when it's full. You can also set this on top of a full wheelbarrow and push an even larger load in one trip. It has a nice sloped side that makes it easy to dump the contents into a compost bin or trash can. It's handy for loading up all the tools and things you'll need as you're heading outdoors, like a bottle of water, sandwich, trash bags, etc. and you will find you are constantly using it for something new, like mixing up special potting soils or collecting worms from the curbside (they breed in rotting leaves). It also works well as a huge dustpan when sweeping leaves off porch steps. I have two of these now, and recently saw an even bigger one ($7) that I plan to acquire in the spring.

Next most favorite garden tool: Long-handled pruners. I have both anvil and bypass blades on these, and spend quite a bit more for this tool than I do for small pruners. Even so, they won't last forever (15 years of heavy use is the most use I've gotten out of a pair). Rubber handles are very helpful on these, but wood handles work ok, too, especially if you can find an old/used pair where the wood is already smooth.