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When you first start out as an amateur gardener, you may not be sure what tools you need to begin. Many of the items marketed as necessary are anything but and only take up space in your storage. The veteran gardener will tell you that if you ignore the gimmicks and mumbo gumbo, you will find that there are just a few tools you will love to have in your arsenal to start.
The first of those is the garden trowel. While this instrument may appear to be just a small shovel, a trowel can assist in the transplanting of plants or flowers, break up soil, measure depth for proper seed sowing, weeding, and much more. No matter how many seasons you have been working in your garden, a trowel will be a wonderful addition for daily use in your green space.
Here are our recommendations for the Best Garden Trowels UK
Sufang Stainless Steel Garden Trowel
While Sufang is not necessarily a gardening company, or even a tools company for that matter, both their Scale and Smooth garden trowels can withstand many of the tests of the everyday garden. Built with a silicone grip handle, with built in storage handle hole, and an aluminum alloy head, this instrument is convenient, simply, and gets the job done.
- Size: The garden trowel tool size is 30cm/11.8inchx7.5cm/3inch. Bright orange color always easy to spot in garden.
- Material: Our garden trowel tool is made of stainless steel, durable and sturdy, not easy to break or deform, rust-resistant, The handle is non-slip, cuts through tough turf cleanly.
- Ergonomic design: Large ergonomic handle with rubber palm rest and contoured finger grips reduce hand and wrist fatigue. Ideal solution for gardeners who have difficulty holding tools with small or narrow handles.
The Scaled version of the Sufang Garden Trowel is preferrable over the Smooth because it doesn’t interfere with any of the usual tasks and makes measuring depth easy and painless. Both options have the same comfortable silicone handle that eases the tension on the fingers and wrists during use, lessening the fatigue and helping you work just that much longer in the soil.
Coming in around £7, both Sufang Garden Trowels are affordable to even beginner gardeners and indoor plant parents alike. The 29.6 cm (11.6 inch) tool requires nothing more than a place to hang or store it, and the occasional cleaning to avoid rust.
Spear & Jackson Elements Transplanting Trowel
The brand Spear & Jackson says they have been “selling hand, garden, contractors, agricultural and landscaping tools since 1760.” That is quite the claim. As lofty as that declaration may sound, Spear & Jackson has the experience, high reviews, and wide range of tools to back it up. Their Elements line that this trowel belongs to boasts over 20 other tools, none with an average rating less than four and a half stars.
- Spear & Jackson quality garden tool
- Hammer finish epoxy coated head
- Improved resistance to rust, scratches, humidity and alkalines in the soil
The Transplanting Trowel itself features a lacquered Ashwood handle to withstand a lifetime of uses and a hammer finish coated trowel head that resists rust, scratching, humidity, and even the alkalines in the soil. Spear & Jackson’s understanding of even the most minor details in gardening is wonderful and shines through in their products.
Priced around £9, the Elements Transplanting Trowel is a great midrange price for beginners and seasoned gardeners alike. The 20 cm (7.9 inch) trowel comes with a loop for hanging, so storage comes second nature to this instrument.
Fiskars FiberComp Trowel
Last, but certainly not least, is the Fiskars FiberComp Trowel. Fiskars is not a garden-specific company, but their array of home and garden goods are used daily worldwide, so their reputation is one to appreciate. This trowel, while the largest and most expensive on our list, comes with many reasons why it may be the best for the experienced gardener.
- Flower trowel (total length: 29 cm) for easy planting and transplanting in flower beds, boxes, tubs and pots, Also suitable for weeding in the garden
- Sturdy and comfortable handle made of glass fibre reinforced material with hanging loop for easy storage and maintenance (can be cleaned under water without risk of corrosion)
- Optimum soil cultivation and easy penetration into the soil thanks to the pointed trowel for allotments or greenhouses
The FiberComp Trowel is made from one piece of solid, heavy duty composite, so it is far more difficult to break than the others on our list. The oversized head makes breaking into hard soil and getting the job done efficiently easy.
Coming in at £27 (with a lifetime warranty!), this is the highest-priced garden trowel on our list, however it seems to be clearly worth the cost. The whopping 45.7 cm (18 inch) length does makes this option a little harder to store, but the built in hollow handle makes hanging it simple.
Top Tips on Buying the Best Garden Trowel
As with every product, there just as many duds are there are studs. To help you not waste your money on the duds, we have a few criteria that we used when finding garden trowels to review and recommend:
- Durability – will this trowel stand the tests of time, or will it rust and crumble after a few seasons in the garden?
- Multitasking – is this trowel only able to dig, or can it help you with other things around the garden bed?
- Foolproof – is this product easy for everyone to understand and use, or do you need a University degree to operate it?
While there are many different types of garden trowels (curved trowels, Hori Hori, trowels with serrated edges, etc.), we are going to focus on the standard Planting Trowel. These tools are designed for use in all areas of the garden with a design that includes not just a scoop for transporting and digging, but a sharpened edge for extra use as well. If you would like use to review another type of garden trowel in the future, just let us know in the comments below!
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Spear and Jackson Pressure Sprayer
