• A hoe, a rake and a spade are gardening must-haves.garden tools on the grass image by Bartlomiej Nowak from Fotolia.com
  
  When you start a garden, you undertake a hobby that benefits both you and the planet. Cultivating the earth and helping a living thing grow is a rewarding experience, albeit one that requires some special supplies. Just as you wouldn't try to eat a salad without a fork, you can't grow the ingredients for your salad without the most basic gardening tools and supplies. Still, your basic garden doesn't require any great number of tools to build it up -- a small and simple variety is all you need to turn your boring bed of soil into an abundant produce wonderland.
  
  

Preparing the Soil

• The first thing you need when cultivating your soil is a spade -- one with a sharp edge is the best for turning soil. When you want to mix in fertilizer, use a hoe. Whether you want to smooth out the cultivated soil or pack it back down in when you're finished, a rake is the best tool. Garden tools undergo a lot of stress -- unlike traditional hand tools like screwdrivers, gardening tools are used for heavy duty digging and lifting. They must be able to withstand hard, heavy use, so if you plan on making gardening into a serious habit, invest in pricier, stronger tools.
  
  

Managing the Plants

• Soil isn't the only thing you need to worry about -- the plants themselves need to be managed. You need two different types of shears or pruners. Secateurs are small hand pruners that you use to trim off smaller branches, because they are either dead, dying or otherwise problematic. For this same reason you need a pair of long-handled pruners. The long handles give you the leverage you need to snap through thicker and stronger branches, as well as helping you get into hard-to-reach places.
  
  In case you need to water your plants, don't just dump a bucket of water on them. You need a watering can, which simulates rainfall, in order to water your plants.
  
  

Miscellaneous Tools

• Nature can be unkind, so protect your hands with a good pair of gardening gloves. These should be thick enough to protect your hands and fingers from thorns, jagged branches and prickly bushes. A wheelbarrow may be used to cart branches, bushes, rocks, mulch and fertilizer around your garden, saving you the trouble and ache of lugging these heavy and unwieldy supplies around. Twine or ribbon is also a useful, albeit optional, tool -- if your plants are blowing around in the wind too much, use the string to lash them to a wooden stake in the ground.