You will eventually need a large set of loppers as your plants grow. Get the ones with extendable handles. Mine are Corona but Fiskars is a good brand also. Both should be available at Lowes, HD or Osh or any garden center.
I keep a pair of old athletic shoes for working outside. They give me good support and keep my feet dry all day.
For gloves get a pair that are nitrile coated on the palms and a breathable fabric on the back of hands. They are easily rinseable and also keep your hands cool and allow you to grip things. Lowes has them starting about $5+.
I will never be without my foam kneeling pad. Its about 15x15 inches and got it at HD.
A set of small hand tools will be indispensable. Usually includes 2 trowels, digger/weeder and a cultivator which I have never used. Padded or cushioned handles are nice.
A good hose with sprayers is usually needed.
I have a 2 prong hoe which works great for digging in rock hard soil but I would wait and see if you really need one later. If you are replacing a lot of old landscaping a hoe would be useful. Probably just a round point shovel to start with is good and wait on buying the other types later.
I use a pail for gathering weeds and other debris...just don't accidently toss your tools in it before dumping.
A pair of hedge shears might be useful.

You have a pretty good list!

When I go out to garden the two tools I put in my back pockets are

1.pruners and

2.a sharp trowel. By sharp I mean as pointy as I can find because I use it to weed and also cultivate around plants. Cultivated soil cannot sprout weeds!

I use loppers a lot, too and the ones I have are Florian Ratchet Loppers I inherited from my Dad. You can get good rachet loppers at owe's or Home Depot though. The racket makes them SO much easier to use. You'll be glad every time you use them. You can get ratchet pruners, too, BTW.

The only other thing I could add is, if you have a big yard, why not just pile up your compost in a hidden corner somewhere? Use the money you save for plants!
I had a great compost pile 3 feet tall and wide. I added a bag of manure and grass clippings every week as well as prunings and kitchen scraps. I got another tool, now that I think of it

3. a pitchfork!
It was actually pretty fun to turn the pile every few weeks.

Gardening makes you happy.

Sue Langley
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a heavy tarp. When I am digging planting holes I pile the dirt on a tarp near the hole. It has other uses too.
leather gloves.

I recommend the following:

Expensive sewing scissors. You must spend at least fifty bucks on these. This is the only thing that will keep you from grabbing them on your way into the garden. Otherwise you will never have a sharp pair of scissors in the house- they will all be in the garden.

At least three pairs of hand pruners. One for the front, one for the back, and one to be lost in the shrubbery. I use Coronas. They can live through an entire season of being buried.

2 heavy hand trowels of good quality, one in each part of the garden.

A trenching shovel. I call mine the girl shovel. It is straighter than most, and mine has a wooden handle, which makes it light as well.

At least one wheelbarrow. Two is better, so that you can leave all of the dug-up daylilies and irises in one for three weeks while you make up your mind about where to transplant them, and your significant other will still have a wheelbarrow for their relatively insignificant chores. We have one with nice metal handles from Home Depot, and invest in the solid wheel so you don't got out and find it flat every time you need it.

2 big rubber tubs with handles from Gardener's Supply. I like the lime green- I can see it and it does not get as hot as the dark colors. That way when I forget that I left it on Mike's lawn, full of weeds, it leaves less of a burn mark.

Screwdrivers with a skinny end to fit in the sprinkler adjustment screws (1.49 at Harbor Freight). I have them spread out all over the property so that Mike doesn't find his Craftsman screwdriver stabbed and rusted into a bed of campanula.

Step-on grass edger blade. I love this thing. It has a swinging arm and a flat top and the half-moon cutting blade below for edging grass.

Corona extendable long loppers. Mike gets a new pair every Christmas.

I use a shovel for tilling the veggie beds, so no tiller, I do not use a hoe, although many people with weeds of substance and vigor swear by the stirrup-style hoe for weeding. I like a regular compost pile, since I have too much greenwaste for a tumbler, and I use a pitchfork to turn it.

Finally, if there was such a thing as a good hose, I'd recommend it. But all hoses are evil, so you just have to roll the dice and hope it doesn't break your hip one day.

Happy Gardening!
Renee

Renee -

That was hysterical!

As for hoses & tools, you've already gotten great advice. I'll just add a nod for Craftsman and ditto the Fiskars.

Happy gardening....

I have to agree with Renee about multiple clippers, they sneak off the second you put them down. Be sure to buy ones with brightly colored hand grips, so you can eventually find them. Trowels are known to do the same flit, so beware...

LOL Renee!

I agree with the others. I can only add a couple things: A quality pair of gloves is good, but I also keep a box full--literally--of the cheap ones (a buck per pair). Reason being, I dig and water and pull wet weeds with those, they get soaked and muddy, and it's nice to be able to pull a pair off and grab a dry pair as I need them. I keep the better quality gloves for when I'm working with thorny things, cutting wire, stuff like that.

Ditto on the foam kneeling pad, but I use a swimmer's kickboard that I bought at the sporting goods store. It's a little larger than the ones made for gardening, but either one works.

And lastly, if you're going to buy quality tools, you'll want to take care of them. Buy a 5-gallon bucket for $3 at Lowes or Home Depot. Fill it with a bag of sand. Pour in a quart of motor oil and mix. Every time you're done using your tools, grind them around in the sand/oil mix. The sand is the abrasive to clean them off and the oil will coat them to prevent rust.

Good luck! Wish I was going on a tool shopping spree. I can never seem to pass the tool section without believing I need just one more thing!

You need a good hat too to keep the sun off you.
You need a whet stone to keep your pruners sharp.
When I go out to do battle, I have my hand pruners in their little holster which I attach to my belt. My holster also holds my gardening knife, which is a six-inch long, 2-inch wide heavy blade with fairly dull edges, one edge of which is serrated to saw through small stuff. Good digger, weeder and all around useful item.
Other basic items: shovel (regular size and 1/2 size), mattock or pick, loppers, shears, trowels, edging shovel, pole pruner, rake, good ladder, wheelbarrow type conveyances, tarps and yes, I love pitchforks (I have 3!). I have hoes, but I consider it a failure of my mulching practices if I ever need to use one. I haven't hoed in quite a while. Oh yeah, a sharp machete is also useful.
I have gotten many nice tools at garage sales for cheap.
If you're buying new tools, always buy quality tools. Always. It is cheaper in the long run to buy quality and to maintain them properly.

1. Reel Mower --> not recommended, miss a couple weeks and you are hosed as they don't work well on tall grass or long stems. I like the electric - corded models - same $ as a fancy reel mower
2. Wheel Barrow --> yes, agree with renee :) If you plan to mix concrete often get a metal one...
3. Pruners --> Felco, cheapest price is at Frostproof.
4. Rake -- bamboo if you will rake around plants, but it's better to leave the leaves there anyway. For the lawn the big plastic one is best
6. Shovel - get a digging fork and spade which have the U or T handles. Stainless steel looks nice :)
5. Tiller --> biggest waste of money I ever made... Don't get one - layer mulch/amendments on surface and 'fork' in.
6. Composter --> also a waste of money, just make a pile 3x3 or use some old fence boards to make open bin(s)
7. Hoe --> get a scuffle or hula hoe, small and narrow for weeding around plants
8. Garden clogs/ gloves that will fit a small hand. I buy gloves regularly, the Nitril coated ones are great for touch, but wear quickly, aren't padded and make your hands stink :) Expensive leather ones are cool, but turn your hands yellow...clogs are whatever slip on shoes I have which are no longer clean enuf for work.
9. Anything else you use often.. Gopher traps...Sluggo...Garden Knife...

10. Automated Watering System !!!

Chad

Thanks for the great advice! I like the idea of a tool belt for all the hand tools for the daily trips to the garden.

Any brand/ website recommendations for wheelbarrow, pointy trowel, longer tools like hoes, pitchfork, showels, bamboo rakes etc? I will look at Felco/Corona pruners.

I will definitely do the sand/ motor oil set up for the clean-up.. Saw it on martha stewart ones but I had forgotton. It is a good thing :)

- Lalitha

Renee --> Loved your post.. Hoses are evil indeed :)

Home Depot online only had a tool belt thingy that wrapped around the outside of a 5 gallon bucket. It had numerous pockets. I saw something similar at Osh also.

Don't get a wooden handled Ames shovel. I just broke my new one. I used the same old wooden handled shovel for fifteen years without breaking it, and the new one broke inside of three months.
Renee

As your garden changes your tool inventory will also gradually refine. Some of my best hand tools I have found at estate sales. Generations past did a lot more gardening by hand and some of the old tools, no longer being made, are often made of better material and have been lovingly maintained. Al

Al, your comment about generations past reminded me that I have a wooden-handled rubber mallet that belonged to my grandfather. He died 50 years ago (before I was born), but everytime I use his mallet, I think of him.

I get Craftsman shovels at Sears. If they break they replace them for free. I broke one and took it back and got another for nothing.

My experience a garden cart with two wheels is easier to manage than a wheelbarrow. I am not strong enough for a wheelbarrow which is tip-prone. I use my garden cart all the time, and in winter even use it as a rain barrel sometimes. I collect water overspill from a particular part on the roof and just roll it to a chronic dry spot. I have stored daylilys it in for weeks at a time as well. ;)

I don't use many tools. One shovel, leaf rake, soil rake, one trowel, one lopper, one pole pruner for the big climbing roses, one pair of Felcos, the garden cart. If you have too many tools you end up with a storage problem.

Actually the tool I use the most is a 5 gallon bucket. For clippings, for veggies, for dirt, for water, for all kinds of chores.

LMAO @ Renee!

I'm new to gardening. I love my Felco pruners and leather holster. I clip them on and put on my wide-brimmed hat every time I go out to the garden.

5 gallon buckets are great for weeding, moving dirt, etc.

Shovel and pitchfork for double digging. The only other item I really enjoyed having from the start was a digital camera to take pictures of my progress. Everything else you can figure out as you go.

Buy only top quality pruners as they are worth the cost. I like Felco. The tools I use most are the trowel, pruners, scissors, twine, trimmings bucket, mechanical pencil, and plastic name tags (gotta mark those bulbs otherwise I keep digging them up thinking I have an open spot to plant something....) I keep two identical sets of the above listed tools, one in the front yard and one in the backyard because I use those tools the most. I keep the remaining tools in the garage. I use the twine/scissors for tyeing up leggy plants in my country garden.