Urban Gardening Tool Essentials

Urban Gardening Tool Essentials

Haxnicks Precision hoe in a raised bed - header image

Urban gardening often involves having to make the most of small spaces. Just how much space you have to work with will depend on circumstance, but it’s possible for even an apartment-dweller to carve out their own little green space. Don’t believe us? See here and here. 

Which garden tools are best for small spaces?
Your gardening essentials will include tools such as a spade, a digging fork, a rake, a hoe and a trowel. Each of these tools serves a purpose, but in many cases they are designed to make it easier or more ergonomic for the user to cover large areas of soil. 

Filling a container using a potting scoop

On the other hand, urban or small space gardening often involves working within tighter spaces where long handles or wide tool-heads might become a bit unwieldy. 

Container gardening - whether in raised beds, raised planters, pots or window boxes - is one effective way of tackling space limitations. In these cases, compact hand tools can be more suitable. Pruning tools can also be invaluable if you’re growing climbing plants and want to keep the foliage neat. 

With garden tools it can be best not to go for false economy; some options can seem more expensive, but these also tend to be more durable and reliable in the long-term. Cheaper trowels, for example, are prone to snapping or breaking with repeated use. 

Here follows a list of some essential tools for urban or small space gardens.

Hand Trowel
A hand trowel is an invaluable tool in any garden, but it will certainly see plenty of use when you’re working with containers, planters or raised beds. It is typically used to make small holes for planting seeds, bulbs and seedlings, but can also be used for weeding, levelling soil and for mixing soil, compost or growing medium.

We recommend the Kent & Stowe Capability Trowel (it’s actually named after 18th century English gardener Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown), which was awarded ‘Best Buy’ status from BBC’s Gardeners’ World. 

This multi-purpose garden tool can be used for potting, planting, weeding and turning over soil, but it also has some other neat features that only add to the versatility. 

 

One side of the blade has a serrated edge, which can be used to cut open bags of compost or on tough roots, while the opposite side has a smoother sharp edge suitable for transplanting. The stainless steel blade has a pointed, sharpened tip that can tackle the toughest of soils, as well as an accurate planting depth scale for precision. 

Turn the Capability Trowel upside down and you can use the robust handle to hammer in stakes, posts and what have you. The handle meanwhile is made from contoured ash wood. 

Hand Cultivator
A cultivator is often referenced as a weeding tool (and it is very handy for that task) but the versatile tool can also be used to break up compacted soil in raised beds, create a ‘fine tilth’, or mix in compost and soil amendments - the latter of which can be particularly important when growing in containers. 

Greenman’s Cultivator tool comes with two handle sizes. The medium length (51cm) handle is kind on the back and ideally suited to working raised beds in tight spaces, planters or pots on balconies. The sharpened arrow head consists of three stainless steel tines, enabling a ‘clawing’ motion which gently cultivates your soil or growing medium.

 

Potting Scoop
A potting scoop can be an invaluable tool when growing in containers, allowing you to transfer compost, potting mix, soil amendments and so on with minimum spillage and mess. 

The deep, wide scooped head of Kent & Stowe’s Hand Potting Scoop is ideal for filling or adding to pots of all sizes, beds, planters and hanging baskets. The stainless steel head has excellent rust resistance with minimal soil adhesion, while the contoured ash wood handle is comfortable in the hand. Overall highly recommended! 

A Hoe
With many garden tools, there’s only really room for subtle variations (in other words a rake is always going to resemble a rake); it’s the materials and build quality that tend to distinguish one from the next. Garden hoes, however, can come in a range of designs - to the point where you might be unsure which one to go for. There’s Dutch Hoes, Oscillating Hoes, Onion Hoes, Draw Hoes, Stirrup Hoes…you get the picture. 

Hoes are mainly regarded as a weeding tool, but (as you may imagine considering the array of different types) they can also be used for other tasks such as sowing in drills, mounding beds or for loosening heavy soils. 

Depending on the model, they can also have different modes of operation: draw hoes for example are pulled towards the user, oscillating hoes glide through soil just below the surface with a push/pull motion, while some of the more heavy duty hoes are used a bit like a pickaxe. 

To get firmly back on topic here, small gardens or tightly packed spaces call for a hoe tool with more precision. The aforementioned draw hoe, for example, is likely going to be too unwieldy for your average urban or container garden. 

In her (highly recommended) book Grow Your Own Vegetables Joy Larkcom recommends the Onion Hoe for small gardens. This is also known as a ‘swan neck’ hoe due to its elegantly curved neck, which allows you to work with precision around tightly spaced vegetables. 

 

If you have a bit more space or are working with larger raised beds, the ‘Stirrup’ or Oscillating Hoe is also a very efficient tool. Its double edged blade pivots as you move it through the soil, using either a pull or push motion. 

This ultra-sharp blade will slice through weeds just below the soil surface, and completely uproot the smaller ones. It’s very effective when used regularly, and due to the gentle, just-so action it causes minimal soil disruption to your beds. 

 

Speed Precision Hoe
The Haxnicks Speed Precision Hoe is a compact, short handled version of the Speed Hoe. It features the same angled stainless steel blade design, which slices efficiently through soil just below the surface. This slicing action severs weed roots and opens up soil without digging and disrupting it. 

The Precision Hoe is lightweight enough to be used one handed, and is ideal for working around tightly spaced plants with pin-point precision (hence the name). The hoe can be used with both backward and forward motions, with a single front point and ultra-sharp twin points at the rear of the blade. 

lifting a heavy pot with the aid of a Potlifter

Pot Lifter for carrying heavy or awkward loads

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Potlifter
Growing plants in pots is a good way of making the most of limited growing space. Pots are generally portable and can be moved around to maximise sunlight or as space becomes available. However, sometimes this is easier said than done - particularly if it is a large, deep pot that is full of growing medium. 

Enter the Potlifter: a handy 2 person lifting system that can also be used for lifting heavy loads in general (compost, bags of cement or large logs). This simple-looking carrier system can lift weights of up to 200 pounds (or 90.7kg).The lifting straps are made with high strength polymers and have easy-carry handles. Needless to say this is a very wise addition to your garden toolkit, as no-one wants to throw their back out if they can help it. 

the Felco no. 7 secateurs in action

Secateurs
A good pruning tool is necessary if you are growing trees, shrubs, roses or perennial flowers. It can also become invaluable in an urban garden, particularly if you are overcoming space limitations by growing crops vertically.

Deadheading keeps flowers in baskets etc looking their best, as well as encouraging further blooms; while some judicious pruning can keep vertical growth looking neat and prevent plant overcrowding. 

A secateurs can be your best friend here, particularly a bypass secateurs: this design features two blades which glide over each other like a scissors to make clean cuts on living stems or branches. Secateurs fit easily in the hand and can be used for precise pruning or in tight spaces, as opposed to loppers which can be a little more unwieldy and tend to require two hands. 

Felco are widely regarded as being top of their class when it comes to garden pruning tools. Their secateurs are compact, natural and effortless to use, and will last you for decades if you look after them. 

Watering Can 
Watering is a very important aspect of container gardening, as the soil in containers (and particularly in pots) will dry out faster than outdoor soil, where plant roots have a wider reserve to draw moisture from. The smaller the container the more true this will be. Soil in containers also tends to heat up faster in warm weather, which leads to more water evaporation. 

Both a drip irrigation system or a soaker hose are perfectly applicable to raised beds, but if you have a mix of different sized containers - as well as pots indoors or on windowsills - then the traditional watering can will be your best friend.

Choose one with a rose attachment, which emits a fine spray for gentle and even watering. A rose attachment is especially recommended when watering seedlings or delicate plants. 

Border Spade
We recommend keeping digging in the garden to a minimum where possible, but for small gardens the border spade will be most suitable for preparing beds, edging flower beds or splitting up perennials. 

The narrower head of a border spade (compared to the traditional spade) is more suited to working in the tight spaces of a small urban garden, minimising disturbance to nearby plant roots.

The Greenman Border Spade, for example, is designed for precise work and confined spaces. The stainless steel head has a high carbon content and the Y shaped ash wood handle requires less effort from the user.