Weeding is essential if a garden is to look its best. I love weeding. Does that make me a little crazy? I don't think so- weeding is very soothing. It's so satisfying to see that pile of weeds grow as you tidy the garden. For fun and effective weeding you need the right tools. I've got my favorite tools which I'll show you here, and I'll explain why these gardening tools are the best at their job. Weeds stop your flowers and plants from reaching their full potential. Weeds look a mess. Weeds can take over the garden. Banish weeds with the best gardening tools . Here are my personal tips for happy weeding.
Garden tools for happy weeding
by whitemoss
I love weeding the garden. I've got my favorite weeding tools that I'd like to share with you. Don't enjoy weeding? Maybe you've just not got the right tools! They're here.
Yes, I love weeding - just give me the tools
The best garden tools make weeding easy
She enjoys weeding? is she crazy? I do, and if you want to give me a gift , birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, then a nifty garden tool would be perfect.
She'd really love weeding tools as a gift?
It's true, I do love weeding, and I'm not alone. The famous British gardener Christopher Lloyd says this in his 1973 classic , " The Well-Tempered Garden"
"Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony".
I agree, weeding is soothing, therapeutic even, and after you're finished weeding you can stand back and admire a beautiful tidy garden and toss away a big pile of unwanted weeds.
I am talking about hand weeding here. I'm not a fan of chemical weed killers. I'm a green gardener.
Take a look at the dandelion at the top of the page. It's bullying the nearby plants. Wouldn't it feel great to grab that weed and pull it out?
It's essential to have the right tools if you're going to become a fan of weeding.. I have my favorite weeding gloves, weeding tools, a comfortable kneeling pad and a big bag to collect the weeds in. I have all of these ready as I march out into the garden. Add a hat if it's sunny, and I'm ready for those ugly critters.
Here I'll show you the best equipment to make your weeding fun, and give you some of my tips on how to enjoy weeding.
All the photos are my own. You may use them if you credit me. Feel free to pin them
Gardening gloves- the first essential garden tool for happy weeding
One pair of gardening gloves is not enough
I know there are purists who think gardening gloves are for softies who don't like to get their hands dirty. They'll say "real gardeners don't wear gardening gloves" I say "rubbish to that!" Even if you do wear gardening gloves you still get soil in your nails. i don't know how it happens, but it does. If you don't wear gardening gloves at all your nails will be ruined.
I have a variety of gardening gloves. That's part of the fun of weeding.
Gardening gloves make a great gift. Really. If you have a friend or relative who loves gardening , he or she would love gardening gloves. You can never have enough different gardening gloves in my opinion. I have heavy duty gloves, waterproof gloves, thorn proof gloves, lightweight gloves, spare gloves, gloves that have holes in from constant use that really should be thrown away, and inevitably I have odd gloves- where did the other one go?
Which gloves shall I wear today?
I love to have a choice of weeding gloves. Here's my pick of the best around for you to buy right now.
My choice of the best gardening gloves for women.
Here are tough heavy duty gloves, more flexible nitrile gloves, and lightweight gloves.
 | Gardening Gloves for Women - Durable Blue Work Gloves For Ladies with Nails - Safety From Scratch... 15 REASONS WHY YOU NEED THESE GARDEN GLOVES TO PROTECT YOUR HANDS FROM NASTY THORNS,BLISTERS AND SPLINTERS!! THESE "GARDEN GURU" gardening gloves are the latest development - wi... |
 | G & F 2030 Women garden gloves with Micro Foam Nylon Latex Coating, Texture Grip, 3 Pair Pack G & F Micro form nitrile coating garden gloves offers 60% Nylon shell, 40% Nitrile coating, 3/4 coating covering most of the hand,Ultra Cool and Very Comfortable to Wear, Breath... Only $5.88 |
 | HandMaster Bella Leaf Print Garden Glove, Medium The Bella collection of dipped gloves offers increased dexterity, a textured finish for enhanced grip and extra resistance to keep hands clean and protected. Naturally comfortab... |
Gardening gloves for men.
Purely my own observations- not intended to be sexist- just realistic
When I buy gardening gloves I occasionally treat myself to a top of the range pair, but often I'll buy a cheap and cheerful special offer pack.
When my husband buys himself gloves he goes for a higher quality specialist gloves. It may just be in my family this happens, though friends tell me that the same thing happens in their family.
With this in mind I have picked some pretty great gardening gloves for men, bearing in mind that they might be doing more of the heavy duty weeding and clearing.This is based on my own experience in our garden, where I do the fiddly weeding and my husband goes in for more robust cutting back and clearing. Observation not stereotyping!
Gardening gloves for men. My husband loves a range of gardening gloves for heavy weeding and clearing
A great Father's day gift or birthday gift.
 | CAT Premium Grey/Black Leather Palm Work Gloves - Large #CAT013201L Gray Lined Split Leather Palm Glove with Black Cotton Back & CAT Logo - Large Only $9.03 |
 | Badger Gardening Gloves for Digging & Planting- No More Worn Out Fingertips - Claws on RIGHT Hand... The Gardening Tool That Fits Like A Glove! TM. Digging Gloves for Today's Gardener. Designed - By Gardeners For Gardeners. PATENT PENDING Comes in four sizes : XS - S - M - L Cl... Only $19.99 |
 | Magid TE194T-L Terra Collection Professional Rose Gardening Gloves - Mens Large With a puncture-resistant, synthetic leather padded palm and reinforced fingertips, this rose glove provides what professional rose gardeners need most strength, durability and ... Only $39.22 |
A patch of weeds waiting for action
These little weeds will soon take over- stop them now!
 Weeds- need I say more? |
For a patch of weeds like this you need a Dutch Hoe
I love my Dutch hoe for weeding
I don't know why it's called a Dutch Hoe- I expect it was a style used by the Dutch many years ago,
The Dutch hoe is a very simple tool, which makes weeding a fairly large patch of weeds into a really fun pastime. Yes! Fun!
The Dutch hoe is best used when the weather is dry. You slice the weeds at their roots, and leave them to die. If you want to, you can rake them up and burn them, or put them in the trash pile to make sure that the weeds don't regrow. Go backwards and forwards with your Dutch hoe, sing and smile with pleasure as the weeds fall victim!
The Dutch hoe works best on a patch like this, which is not surrounded by plants that you actually want to keep. If you have plants, you can use the Dutch hoe to go around them, but take care not to slice the good plant. We only want to kill the weeds.
Here's my favorite Dutch hoe which you can buy right now from Amazon.
Get this stainless steel Dutch hoe for a sharp blade, and a great feeling in your hands as you carve through those weeds. This is guaranteed for 10 years, but will probably last much longer.
.UK readers can buy the Spear & Jackson Select Stainless Dutch Hoe here
The Spear and Jackson Dutch Hoe.
Buy this classic Dutch hoe and it will last for years- maybe for ever
 | SPEAR & JACKSON R740 Spear & Jackson Traditional Stainless Steel Dutch Hoe with long wood handle ... An ideal tool for breaking up lumps of soil and beheading weeds. The mirror polished stainless steel head resists rust minimizes soil adhesion and is tanged for knuckle clearanc... |
Small hand held weeding tools.
I have one favorite harden hand tool.
For hand weeding I have one favorite tools. It's rakes, digs and scrapes.No weeds can resist this wonderful multi purpose tool.
If you buy just one tool to help with weeding, this is it- The Garden Pro Multi Purpose Tool.
You'll see that it's a little pricey, so put it on your wish list for a gift.
Readers in the UK can buy a similar tool here.
 | Backyard Garden Pros H50VW Do It All Prohoe Rogue Garden Hand Tool Having a tool that you can depend on to perform reliably is essential. Prohoe's H50VW Hand Tool is just such a tool. Individually hand crafted right here in the USA, the tool "h... Only $9.99 |
See these pretty flowers? They are weed free.
Get rid of the weeds and the flowers will look great.
For a delicate weeding jobs you need to get down on your hands and knees and carefully remove the weeds, leaving the flowers free to grow without being overgrown by rampant weeds.
I'm not a masochist however. You won't find me kneeling on bare earth or a hard patio. Oh no! I have a very comfortable garden kneeler that takes the pain and strain away. Weeding is fun if you have the right equipment, and a soft kneeler is vital.
Essential for fun weeding- a kneeler that becomes a seat. - Kneel on this to weed, then sit on it to admire a job well done.
When you reach a certain age, getting upright again can be a problem ( I know- I'm that age). You can heave yourself up with the handles on this great kneeler. Easy.
My preferred kneeler bench is this wide kneeler. This is not because I'm large and overweight ( well maybe I am a little). I like a wide kneeler because I shuffle around when I'm weeding. I used to have a narrow kneeler and I was forever crawling off the edge, so I sourced a larger kneeler and find this suits me very well.
 Fuschias in bloom Sue Dixon |
Make sure that you can get up easily from weeding!
When you feel like a break, turn this kneeler over , sit on it and admire your work.
 | Wide-Seat Garden Kneeler Our customers asked us to make a version with a larger seat — and we listened. Our Deep-Seat Garden Kneeler has all the same great features as the original model with a seat tha... |
You must have a trash bag to hand for your weeds
Collect the weeds as you go along- it's vital for fun weeding.
You've dug your weeds out, now what do you do with them? I think it's absolutely essential that you equip yourself with bag for collecting the weeds as you go along.
Don't let the weeds pile up on the soil or the path. Throw them into the bag as you go along. It's a great feeling to see that bag filling up with weeds! Yep! Iv'e done that! I've filled that bag! It feels great!
I've actually just bought myself a new bag exactly like this one. It collapses down when you're not using it, and fastens into a neat flat pack.
See that handle on the base? It has a purpose. It's just so satisfying to grab that handle as you tip the bag upside down and watch the weeds fall out.
Readers in the UK can buy a similar bag here from Amazon.
Here's a quality garden bag that will last for years.
This bag collapses when not in use, but is strong and firm when in use.
 | Fiskars 30 Gallon HardShell Bottom Kangaroo Garden Bag (9413 ) Make outdoor cleanup chores quick and convenient Fiskars' 30-gallon premium Kangaroo gardening container provides an easy way to clean up weeds, grass clippings, other types of ... |
Well that's my take on weeding.
Weeding- much more fun than housework.
I might not have convinced you that weeding is fun, but even if you don't love weeding, it is essential, and like all chores, it can be made easier if you have the correct tools for the job.
As you'll have gathered, I love to garden. I have a gardening blog which I write occasionally- Notes from a Lake District Garden. I don't post here as often as I'd like, because to be honest, when the weather is good I'd rather be gardening. Still, you might like to see what I've been up to.
I garden in England's Lake District, home to William Wordsworth ( who owned my house).
The climate is wet and mild. We're on a latitude with Newfoundland, but the Gulf Stream warms us.
You can find more about my home on my blog from White Moss House , Grasmere, England's Lake District.
Thank you for reading this.
Updated: 06/16/2015, whitemoss
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What are your views on weeding? Chore or delight? Will these tools help?
I am so intrigued by the gardening gloves with claws, I do dig around in the dirt a lot making sure to get the roots of weeds, seems to me these would be great for weeding and planting. Gotta give them a go, thanks.
Absolutely tight!
Weeding is such an important part of gardening.