Whether you’re a novice gardener or have a green thumb, the right tools are essential for a seamless and pain-free gardening experience. Plus, many tried-and-true basics, like a spade and shovel, are designed to reduce the physical strain of watering, pruning, weeding and more, says Sasandra Roche, co-owner of The Farm, a nursery and garden center in Orleans, Massachusetts.
That being said, gardening tools aren’t hard to find on Amazon, but which ones are actually worth adding to cart? Read on for a roundup of top-rated options that come recommended by experts and the NBC Select reporters who garden in their free time.
Our top picks
Show 2 More
Show Less
How we picked the best gardening tools
Roche’s family has operated The Farm since 1974, and through the years she has seen traditional gadgets evolve to be more adjustable, multifunctional, lighter in weight and more durable and ergonomic — all of which aim to help you and your garden stay healthy and strong. We asked Roche what to look for when shopping for essential gardening tools and rounded up a list of highly rated options on Amazon based on the following factors:
- Durability: Gardening tools should typically last at least 10 years with constant use, according to Roche. Ideally, they should be rust-resistant, easy to clean and made of strong materials, like steel and hardwood.
- Weight: Gardening is time consuming, so lugging around a heavy hose or shovel will ultimately cause fatigue and strain your muscles and back, says Roche. She recommends looking for lightweight tools that don’t sacrifice durability.
- Comfort: Gone are the days when you had to crouch, reach and strain now that there are so many ergonomic products on the market, says Roche. She recommends looking for gloves that are thick and have a long sleeve to avoid cuts and scratches when pruning, knee pads with extra-thick padding, tools that have a long reach to avoid straining your back and hand tools with a comfortable, more ergonomic grip.
- Versatility: Any tool that’s multifunctional is ideal, says Roche. For example, she recommends purchasing a hand trowel with a serrated edge so you can also cut roots.
Want more from NBC Select? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter.
The best Amazon gardening tools in 2025
All of our picks are highly rated for durability, strength and comfort. Some come recommended by NBC Select editors with gardening experience, and others were chosen based on Roche’s expert guidance.
The most important gardening tool is your gloves, according to Roche. “Gloves make for a more pleasant experience and protect your hands from blisters, rashes, cuts and bites.” She recommends a washable glove that has a long sleeve to keep your forearm safe when cutting things like roses and evergreens. These elbow-length pruning gloves are breathable and made of 100% natural pigskin, with extra padding on the palm and fingertips to avoid punctures, according to the brand. Plus, they are also machine washable.
A bypass pruner has two blades that glide past each other to cut soft branches and leaves cleanly. Roche recommends looking for rust-resistant shears that have a coated, comfortable grip. The Fiskars Bypass Pruning Shears are made of steel, so they won’t rust easily, and can cut through stems and small branches up to 5/8 inch thick, according to the brand. The blades are also coated so sap won’t stick to them, according to Fiskars.
Garden tools with a multipurpose design are always a plus, says Roche. This hand trowel turns over soil and has a dual-sided serrated edge to cut through hard patches, rocky clay and tough roots. It has a 12-inch blade made of carbon steel, so it won’t break or bend while digging, according to the brand. Its nonslip rubber handle is also oversized for comfort, and it comes with a carrying sheath that you can clip onto your belt, as detailed on the brand’s website.
This digging shovel is a multipurpose tool like the hand trowel above. Its inverted V-shaped blade makes digging through hard-packed rocky soil easy, while the serrated edges tear through tough roots. Its ergonomic circular handle is designed to reduce stress on your hands and wrist too, according to the brand. The carbon-steel, shock-, scratch- and impact-resistant blade is powder coated to protect it from corrosion, according to Radius Garden. Plus, it also comes with a lifetime warranty in the continental U.S.
Spades have a flat edge and are ideal for creating border edges or transporting soil, says Roche, who recommends one with a long shaft so you can dig deep without straining your back. At less than 5 pounds, the Fiskars Garden Spade is quite lightweight. It has a weather- and corrosion-resistant steel blade and shaft that can accommodate even tall gardeners. An extra-large handle offers two-handed control when digging, and it has a foot platform so you can step on it to help force the blade into hard-packed soil, according to the brand.
This bamboo weeder has a 45-inch shaft so gardeners can pull weeds without bending, kneeling and pulling with their hands. It works by thrusting the metal claw into the center of a weed and pulling. You can use it on most softer soil types, especially after a rainfall, according to the brand.
A hand rake is ideal for tight spaces and for removing debris and leaves from delicate plants, says Roche. You can also use it to cultivate, turn and loosen soil when preparing to plant flowers and vegetables. This Garden Guru rake weighs less than a pound and has stainless-steel prongs that gently remove sticks, leaves and other debris from around plants without damaging them. Its ergonomic handle is designed to alleviate pressure on the palm and fingers and reduce hand and wrist fatigue, according to the brand. It also has a hole on the handle so you can hang it up when not in use.
“Nothing is more frustrating than carrying around a heavy hose that always kinks when you’re trying to water,” says Roche, adding that the ideal weight for any standard hose is under 15 pounds. This 100-foot hose — the longest in the Flexzilla lineup — is 14.4 pounds and featured in our guide to the best garden hoses. It won’t kink under pressure, coils easily and lays flat, according to the brand. Its outer cover is abrasion-resistant while its aluminum fittings are crush-resistant, according to Flexzilla.
If you don’t have a sprinkler system, or just want to place your watering needs on autopilot, a timer can be your best friend. This single-dial, battery-powered timer has an easy-to-read oversized display and attaches directly onto your hose. Screw one end of your hose to your faucet and the other end to a sprinkler and set your desired runtime. It can run up to four hours at a time and you can program it to go off starting every six hours to once every seven days. It also has a manual turnoff button so you can use your hose without removing the timer.
Like a garden nozzle, a watering wand also has adjustable pressure settings which you can use to water your lawn, shrubs and flowers. This wand, available in both 16 and 24 inches, is made of lightweight aluminum, and can reach high overhead hanging baskets and window boxes. It has generous holes and curves to mimic a shower head and has a clip that keeps the nozzle open so you can spray continuously without tiring your hand.
Kneeling pads are great for taking pressure off the body when gardening, says Roche. You can kneel on this multifunctional model directly or use it as a garden seat. It comes with a tool pouch that attaches to the chair so you can have your must-have items right by your side when needed. The cushion is made of foam, and because the kneeler seat weighs just 5.7 pounds, it’s not too difficult to carry around the yard.
If you have a vegetable garden, this basket makes it easy to collect your harvest and clean it. One side is a colander for washing your produce (it has drain holes so the water can fall through); the other is for your clean tools or just-cleaned produce to sit or soak.
NBC Select SEO editor Nikki Brown uses these stakes to prop up her tomato vines every summer and reused about half since purchasing them years ago. They give her “more freedom than the circular plastic stakes you see in a lot of home improvement stores,” and because they break easily, she uses them to support shorter plants as well. The stakes are made from natural bamboo and range in diameter from 13 to 17 mm, according to the brand.
When she needs to carry seedling pots from her apartment to her backyard, Brown uses these growing trays from Mr. Pen. She says they make staying organized easier — “I throw seed packets in them too when I’m in a rush and want to at least get everything into one contained pile,” she says. These trays come in a pack of five and can be used for germinating seeds or growing sprouts, according to the brand.
Brown has two of these heavy-duty raised garden beds in her yard, and says they’re lightweight and easy to assemble. They’re made from anti-corrosion metal, which Brown says has held up “beautifully” through multiple growing seasons. She also likes that the thin ridges are ideal for attaching pest-proof netting for protecting her crops.
As Brown’s gardening skills have grown over the years, so has the type of starter pots she uses. This kit comes with 40 pots and 10 plant labels to help you cultivate your seeds indoors before moving them to your garden. Since these pots are on the bigger side, she likes that she can wait longer to transplant her seedlings without feeling too rushed. She also likes that they’re biodegradable, so she doesn’t have to “disturb any roots” when moving them outside.
Brown hasn’t stopped using these gardening gloves since receiving them as a gift from her landlord a few years ago. “They’re snug and not too thick so I can still feel the soil and plants I’m working with,” she says. She likes that the anti-slip dots make gripping things easier. These gloves are also machine washable but she recommends air-drying them to keep the grippy dots intact longer.
