In order to make the most of your garden soil you need to have adequate soil-turning tools. These tools are essential for all gardeners so it's best to have them ready whenever you want to work in your garden or a lawn.

Let's face it: loosening up your garden's soil is very tiresome and it feels like a chore. In order to make it easier it's best to use quality tools. These tools can help you with the workload and make you turn the soil more easily and without a problem.

Hoes

There are many different sizes and shapes of garden hoes. They are generally divided by functions so you can buy a tool made for preparing and furrowing soil or the one made for weeding and cultivating. You need to have several good garden hoes for working on the soil. You may also choose between the warren hoe, the oscillating hoe or the collinear hoe. Every gardener should have at least 2-3 hoes. These tools are important for working on the soil.

Rakes

It's best to use several rakes, one of each type. You should have a sturdy, steel garden rake as well as a steel or bamboo leaf rake. Garden rakes are great for leveling out ground and making raised beds. Leaf rakes are great for spreading mulches as well as smoothing the finely prepared soil on top of a seedbed. Rakes are important for many other gardening chores so you should invest in them.

Shovel

You should have at least one sturdy shovel. This is a must have tool. Pick a shovel with a rounded edge. This is a great tool for scooping compost, digging soil out of planting holes and for cutting into hard ground.

Tillers

You should use handy rotary tillers made for easy breaking new ground, as well as breaking up large soil clumps. Tillers can also be used for digging furrows as well as mixing in soil amendments, cover crops and compost. However, you should be careful not to overtill the soil because it will destroy the soil structure.

U-bar Digger

This is a unique tool with five 10 inch long tines attached to a U-shaped bar. This tool is made to loosen the soil. The tines will loosen up the soil as you push the tool into the earth and pull it out. It makes workload much easier.

Pickax

This is an important tool made for rocky soil. You will need it to be able to work on the rocky soil or the soil full of tree roots. It's best to use a broad, hoelike blade so you can easily pulverize small rocks as well as soil clods.

Spade

Spade is important for easy cutting through sod. It has a squared-off blade which makes cutting easy. Spades are also useful for digging new beds as well as borders. You may also use them for edging.

Spading Fork

This tool is specially designed to cut into the soil. It has 4 flat (or perhaps slightly rounded) tines. It is made to mix materials into the soil quickly and easily. You may also use it to harvest root crops.

Trowel

Trowel is a miniature shovel ideal for digging holes in the soil made for smaller plants or bulbs. You may also use trowels for removing unwanted weeds.

This miniature shovel is perfect for digging holes for smaller plants and bulbs and for removing unwanted weeds.

Hands

Believe it or not, your hands are probably the most important tool you'll use for working the soil. Because you will use your hands so much, it's important to protect them by wearing gardening gloves. You should also wear gloves while working with the tools described above.

Photo credit: Steenbergs