Top 5 garden tools for the homestead
Out here on the homestead, your tools aren't just accessories—they're extensions of your hands. Whether you're turning soil, tucking in seedlings, or slicing through stubborn roots, having the right gear makes the difference between a frustrating chore and a job done right. Over the seasons, I’ve put plenty of garden tools to the test. Some broke. Some bent. A few earned their permanent place in the shed. These five are simple, tough, and built for real work. They are the ones I keep reaching for. Here's what I use and why they’ve earned their spot in the homestead kit.
Heads up: Some of the links below are Amazon affiliate links. If you click through and buy, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I use, trust.
Stirrup Hoe to save your back
The more you can stay upright and save you back on the homestead the better. A decent Stirrup Hoe you can sharpen with a file does wonders. You can even get them in different widths to perfectly fit you plant spacing. A sharp hoe can make easy work of any weeds you can throw at it, even is heavy dried out soil. It also works great to crop out tightly spaced beds like radishes, salad turnips, and baby greens.
Marker and plant labels that last in the sun
I get a little OCD about what varieties work better than others and nothing gets my goat more than a label that has faded in the sun. Worse yet I can more about long season crops and they are the most vulnerable to this problem. I’ve yet to find a solution that is perfect but these are as close as it gets. A marker built for the sun and injection molded tags. You can stretch them two season if you want be be careful with then towards the end of year two.
Heavy duty seed cell trays & Heavy duty 1020 tray that you can reuse year after year
Durable cell trays not only save you money in the long run and reduce waste, but they also can save your seedling. On more than one occasion I’ve crushed seedlings with cheap disposable seed trays. These make that problem a thing of the past.
The same benefits as the cell trays with the added benefit of the them not breaking as you walk through your house. I enjoy sweeping up dirt and wasted seeds as much as the next person but if I can avoid it, you know I will. I’ve even left these in the sun for a full season and they are still good for the next season.
A small shovel is the most efficient tool for potting up plants
A small shovel was the biggest surprise to me out of this whole list. How useful could a 28” shovel be? It’s too small to use standing, and I already have a trowel. It turns out if you grip it in the middle of the handle it works like a trowel on steroid. I do a lot of potting up into 1 and 5 gallon pots and this make that job a breeze. Even for 10 gallon pots I’ve stopped grabbing my full size shovel. In the last 2 years I’ve moved 10 cubic yards of soil with this little things, and it’s still going strong.
Hori hori knife makes transplanting and direct seeding a breeze
My all time favorite garden tool. Harvesting lettuce heads, transplanting starts, digging trenches for seeds, marking plant spacing. This thing literally does everything. And not only that it does it well. the long slender nature of the blade lets you get seedling plugs as deep as you need them. The measurements on the blade save you from having to run back in the house for a tape measure. It even withstands the rain when I forget it outside. If my house was on fire, this is a tool I’d run in to get.
Progress, not polish.
Thanks for stopping by. I share guides, tools, and lessons from the work. Stick around, dig in, and feel free to share what’s worked for you.
Keep showing up. It’ll pay off.
— Ryan
Alder Branch Homestead
