With autumn approaching as quickly as ads for pumpkin lattes, you’re gearing up to get your garden in shape. Fall leaves are a beautiful sight to behold, but they are ruinous for your garden. 

All that foliage blocks your plants from getting the light that they need while driving your dog wild with excitement as they hop through the leaves. 

So, get ready to retool your garden with a few tools and an abundance of patience.

Gloves

Shield your hands while handling branches, brushes, and piles of yard debris. Gloves help protect you from poison ivy, oak, or sumac if you’re fixing to pull out handfuls or if you accidentally come into contact with a sneaky stem. 

Gloves are affordable, necessary, and they will help prevent pesky injuries. They also keep your hands warm as the weather cools down. They keep your nails clean too, during a brief and well-deserved gardening break. 

Loppers

Loppers are a two-handed tool that is best used for “lopping” off twigs and small-sized branches. If you have overhanging branches that need to be pruned for the fall or if your plants are just going crazy with growth, then this tool is the best for you.

They help you extend towards hard-to-reach areas and loppers can also protect you from pointy plants if you need an extended tool for trimming that too. Loppers remove dead foliage from your tree so that they can continue to thrive.

To further protect your tree, use a sealer to seal in sap and keep out moisture so that healthy new buds are bound to form. Sealer provides a protective coating like a bandaid to aid in healing and growth.

Garden Fork

When it comes to transferring garden debris into your compost pile, it’s hard to find a better tool than a garden fork. This tool is worth its weight in gold when fall arrives and you have mountains of leaves to move.

We all have pesky weeds to get rid of and sometimes they can dominate the soil or your plants. Garden forks, also known as spading forks, allow you to get rid of weeds without damaging vital root structures. 

Having a garden fork to loosen roots allows you to transplant a plant without causing any distress. It’s also helpful with turning over and lifting garden soil.

Rake

When those colorful leaves tumble down in fall, they’re bound to cover your property and your garden with copious amounts of soon-to-be decaying leaves. Rakes are endlessly useful.

They can be used to scoop debris together and to level gravel and mulch. If leaves aren’t gathered by the end of the season, before winter begins, then your garden and your lawn can be in disrepair come spring. Leaves create a great home for bacteria, mold, weed seeds, and pests, but not for thriving plants. 

Rakes make your garden work more bearable so that you can get to the fun work of planting. They’re also helpful when fresh soil is put down to even it out before you apply the use of your garden hoe.

Hoe

There are several types of hoes but begin with a simple garden hoe. Use your garden hoe to get rid of weeds and cultivate a luscious garden. When you prepare your garden, you’ll be raking, lopping, using the garden fork, and then clearing a final path with a hoe. 

Don’t forget to till the veggie garden and consider a cover crop to enrich it with nutrients. A cover crop, such as purple prairie clover, helps manage soil erosion, smother weeds, enhance water availability, and keep out pests and disease. 

Wheelbarrow or Garden Cart

So you’ve got your hands full, with a bag of leaves and debris, and you want to bring your potted plants to their new home. Garden carts make gardening more fun and less of a struggle. Load up your debris and bring it to the curb, then gather your soil, tools, and plants to wheel them to where you need to be. 

Buying one with a rust-resistant powder coating means you can leave it outside, without worrying about rust damage. Carrying a bag of fertilizer or soil can strain your back. Avoid injuries and embrace this helpful garden accessory.

Shovel

Shovels are a no-brainer. They help you dig to fix a hole-home for your plant in the soil and to relocate plants as they go dormant. If you’re going for bare minimum gardening to begin with, start with a shovel, rake, and gloves. 

Shovels are indispensable for removing weeds and planting your garden. You would be remiss to forget to add one to your home gardening shopping list. 

Fall into Gardening Success

Gardening is a great way to help the earth and ease anxiety. You can also plant some of your favorite fruits and vegetables to make your very own garden of Eden. 

Your plants don't need to fall into disarray when your schedule gets busy. Pick up some gardening tools and find ease in gardening as you enjoy the autumn leaves and maybe some pumpkin-flavored treats too.

Happy planting!