A few comments from somebody who has no interest whatsoever in selling or marketing them!   Just some lessons learned - as a few tools need to be a little more robust and better quality than the lightweight "small-garden" type of tools.   I started with "cheapo-cheapo" bottom-of-the-range tools - one way of finding out where I should have spent a bit more in the first place, but not necessarily the best!

Tools on which I'd be prepared to spend a bit more for quality are marked with a

Scroll down for some care and maintenance tips.

Essentials - getting started

• A Spade - Choose one that is comfortable to use and hold.   Don't recommend get the cheapest, since I have broken two of them, one at the neck, and one at the handle fitting.   The better the spade, the better it should hold a cutting edge.
  • The quality of your soil may affect your choice - a very heavy soil will need more robust tools; I've seen stainless steel spades recommended for heavy clay soils, since they cut so cleanly through the clay - but these are not necessary on most soils.   Keep clean, rust-free, and sharp.
  • Using a spade
• A Fork - Most have four square-form tines; good all-purpose tools.   Choice - more or less as for spades, but the demands on them are a lot lighter, so I'm happy with the cheaper models.   Faced with pairs of forks and spades, I'd choose a more expensive spade and a cheaper fork, rather than a matching pair!   Keep clean and rust-free.
• A Barrow - This will see rough and heavy use on your plot, on rougher ground than a garden; a cheap, light-weight barrow may not be the best choice.   Based on my wrecked cheapo, I look for:-
  • A strong frame, in one piece; not the cheap, bolt-together thin tubes;
  • A large wheel, with an inflatable tyre;
  • A sturdy bucket;
  • And watch the height of the handles - when you're holding it comfortably, are the rear legs well clear of the ground?
• A Ball of Plastic Twine, and Two Sticks! to use as a garden line.
• A pair of Secateurs - I've broken a couple of cheap pairs, with weak plastic handles; I have elderly fruit bushes and some tree branches to cut - so my next secateurs will be better quality, with good quality metal handles.

Essentials - sowing and growing

• A Dutch Hoe - Choose one that is comfortable to use and hold, with a strong handle fixing and a good blade you can keep sharp (you want the hoe to slice the weeds off, not push them out of the way).   Well worth paying a bit extra.   Keep clean, rust-free, and sharp.   I usually carry my scythe sharpening stone, and sharpen the hoe every 5-10 minutes; just because hoes are sold blunt doesn't mean that's the way they should be used!
• A Watering Can - a squat long-necked one is easier to use than a tall traditional shape; don't necessarily get the largest you see - a couple of slightly smaller ones will be easier to carry!
• A Hose - and your chosen attachments; my experience is that the attachments rarely live up to their promise - my thumb works better!
• A Rake (not a spring-tined lawn/leaf rake) - on a limited budget, I buy a more expensive hoe and a cheap rake, rather than a matched pair!
• A Dibber - fancy name for the bit of stick with which you make holes in which to transplant your veg plants; be extravagant - make one from an old tool handle!

Good to have

• A Three-pronged Cultivator - I only use mine because I have it, but I wouldn't buy another; a hoe and rake do the job perfecly well.
• A Draw (or Swan-necked) Hoe - ideal for earthing up potatoes.   However, I find it's useless for weeding - I would need to walk on my beds, tread my newly hoed weeds carefully back into the soil again?
• A Shears - good for all sorts of trimming jobs; invading brambles, path edges, etc.
• Small Hand Tools - I really enjoy using these; I get right down among the plants, and can spot all sorts of goodies and baddies.   It is slower - but oh so enjoyable!
  • A Trowel - useful for transplanting jobs;
  • A Hand Fork - useful for removing perennial weeds from close planted crops, like onions, or from underneath herb plants;
  • A Hand Cultivator - best of all for weeding between close rows and plants;

Once Tried - Never Forgotten

Slightly unusual tools - some of them I have, some of them I'm looking for in car-boot sales and the like, and others seem to have entirely disappeared.

• A Stable Fork - More of a shovel shape than a normal fork, and it has thinner round tines; great for shifting manures.
• An Onion Hoe - like a draw hoe but with a short handle; or, if home-made, a paintscarper strapped tightly to a 15 inch piece of old tool handle!   Ideal for weeding in between onions and other close planted crops.
• A Scythe and a Sickle.
• A Wheeled Hoe - I used these thirty or more years ago (and those were old!) - but with well-adjusted, sharp blades, these make weeding so much faster and easier.
• The green, plastic Thingummy-jig - 40p in a clearance sale; it has a 15 inch handle (which works as a dibber), and two heads, one like a hoe blade, the other a three-pronged cultivator head.   I'd be lost without it now!
• If you're interested in different tools, there are several sources for azadas, long-handled spades and forks, and scythes
  • One example - Get Digging.
  • Another - Implementations, who supply hand-crafted bronze garden tools, with long handles in ash, beech and lime.   They say that the copper is good for the soil - I don't know myself.   But I've seen their range, and they are truly beautiful tools, very well balanced, and a real pleasure just to pick up and hold.   Sadly, I was just too poor that day to invest in any ("Just as well," whispers bank manager).

Care and Maintenance

Keep your tools clean and rust free - in a dry storing place, with a light spray of WD40, or a wipe with an oily cloth.

For cutting tools - spades and hoes - make sure they have a good edge on them; they will cut that more easily!   It's worth having a smooth file with a straight side and a curved one for this job.   Use the file to restore the bevelled/angled edge of the blade.