Okay, it’s hard, but we’ve narrowed it down to the best garden tools we use most, or that make the most difference in our yard and garden work. If you like geeking out on garden tools and gadgets, then you might enjoy perusing this list of our favorites.
One of our best garden tools is actually a plant! Please let us know your faves.
AUDIO ARTICLE:
Pest Repellents, Deterrents and Safety
Motion Activated Sprinkler Deer and Squirrel Repellent
This is our top tool for repelling furry critters from our gardens! We have the Hoontz Water Jet Blaster Animal Repeller. It took 15-20 minutes to set up, which just entailed running the hose and mounting it on a post. This works very well at keeping away dogs, cats, squirrels and deer.
An added bonus with this garden pest deterrent is that it also sprays the plants a little each time it’s activated. We had a couple sections where the squirrels found a dry pathway to our tomatoes the summer before, so we’ve adding another motion activated sprinkler to close that gap.
Now we have two in our lower garden and just one in the upper garden to help keep deer away. Squirrels haven’t yet been a menace there as the trees aren’t as close in the lower garden where they’re all around.
Motion Activated Trail Camera
A top tool for security and nature interest, we use trail cams with infrared night vision to get snapshots of wildlife. If you have predators preying on your plants and other measures haven’t worked, to capture the marauders on camera could help you better identify the culprits and determine the next best plan of action.
We’re using two different trail cams and are satisfied with both. The camera on the left is the Stealth Cam G42 No-Glo Trail Game Camera, and the one on the right is the Covert Scouting MP6 Camera.
These allowed us to see what was mauling our garbage—and how. An entertaining episode of Little Rascals starring our resident Raccoons!
We’ve also gotten great shots of turkey, fox, coyotes, deer and a bird facing off with the camera!
NEXT: a few tools we keep in a pocket or nearby, ever ready to put to good use. Btw… we keep these everyday tools in a mailbox right in the garden. Very handy and you can paint them to fit in with your garden decor.
Angry Birds Caught on Trail Cam
(Sort of). It’s a very fast and glancing blow, but it’s cool to watch and you can click your back arrow on your keyboard to see the bird greet the camera again.
Acrobatic Marauding Raccoon Caught on Trail Cam
Digital Garden Tools
Even non-techies can use these digital tech garden tools. For the garden planner, you’ll just need to be able to download it to your computer, but it’s not hard to learn if you use a computer regularly. The next one… the digital thermometer is super simple.
Digital Laser Thermometer Temperature Gun
The digital temperature gun we’re using and really enjoying for keeping a close eye on the temps of our beds—especially in spring and fall—is this Etekcity Digital Laser Infrared Thermometer.
The tomato seedlings do best in beds not below 55 degrees, so this helps us get a quick shot on the bed to determine if they need a cover.[1]https://gardensall.com/earliest-spring-vegetables-to-sow/[2]https://gardensall.com/winter-is-over-april-fools/
Garden Planner Pro App
Another favorite app which we’ve been using for several years now—and still love it—is the Garden Planner Pro. It’s easy to learn, fun to use and makes planning and tweaking your garden plans, planting times, companion plants, etc., super easy!
We’ve written more about this in another article where you can see our garden schematic, and even a video tutorial. (We’re not affiliated with this one… just love the tool, so wanted to share it with you).
Favorite Garden Hand Tools
These favorite low tech tools never never go out of style!