My passion for gardening has led me to try many different tools and items related to my pursuits. I have put together an ultimate guide to my favorite gardening essentials – tools, harvests, canning/ preserving, organization, and chickens.
Tools
A few good pair of snips are essential for any gardener. I reach for both my fine pointed snips and larger pair daily. Another great tool to have on hand is a hori hori – you can cut, dig, and remove plants in the garden with ease.
Harvest Baskets, Bags and Trays
Safely bring your harvests inside with a sturdy bag, basket, or tray. In addition to these selections, I always like to pop in to a second hand store to see if they have any vintage baskets.
Canning and Preserving
What better way to save the flavors of the season than canning and preserving? All of the items below are tools that are essential to my canning, dehydrating and preserving process. The canning kit contains all the tools you need to get started whether you are water bath canning or pressure canning. I use Ball canning jars. The half pint jars are the most versatile size for jams, jellies, pickles and other preserves. For low acid foods such as squash, peas, carrots, and more, you must can using a pressure canner. While definitely an investment, the All American pressure canner is extremely durable. A dehydrator is a very useful to dry herbs, peppers, and fruits quickly. I rely heavily on the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving for tried and tested recipes for water bath and pressure canning. Lastly, my pride and joy is my Mauviel jam pan – it is an heirloom piece that will last generations.
Organization
Any gardener knows that it is easy to quickly amass a large collection of seeds. I use this photo organizer system – the photo cases are the perfect size for seed packets.
Garden Wear
Chickens
Amazon and Chewy make it quick and convenient to order essentials such as feed, straw, treats, and nesting pads for my flock. I set up automatic subscriptions for most of my regular purchases so I spend less time out shopping and more time in my garden with the chickens.
