The beginner who walks into his garden supply store—or even a large florist shop—is going to be overwhelmed at the number and variety of home garden equipment he is going to find on sale. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of pots and trays, dibbles and trowels, hand rakes and sprayers on the market. Almost all of them are useful, but only a very few of them are essential.
If you are not scared off by the number of different things available, the tendency is usually to buy more than you need, or at least more than you are sure you need. Too many beginners have let themselves get carried away, only to find later on, to their dismay, that the only uses they could find for the expensive decorative pot they bought was as the base of a home-made lamp or broken up into small pieces for crock material. Don’t let it happen to you.
Actually you can cultivate a home garden with no special equipment other than the pots you need. However, if you start off with the basic list we have compiled below, you will be equipped for every eventuality. All the tools, equipment and implements mentioned here and elsewhere in this book are easily available in any five-and-ten or the equipment you need garden supply store. The beginner can get everything he needs for less than a total of five dollars. The listings are broken down by category and those items that are basic for the beginning gardener are marked with a star.