We spend a lot of time tending to our yard and garden throughout the spring and summer months. Over the years, we’ve tried several tools to help us out—and while many have gotten the job done, a handful have made our lives so much easier! From saving time, to making work easier on backs and knees, to providing great end-results, these are the tools and gadgets we’d recommend, without question, to those who are looking to spend a little more time enjoying their yards than working on them!

Keep in mind that we have a small-to-mid-sized yard in the city, so we’re not working with a lot of lawn space. However, we do have a great deal of landscaping and garden area to keep up with! These tools would be great for anyone, but a couple of them do require being plugged in—so if you’ve got a lot of ground to cover away from your home or garage, definitely plan to invest in an appropriate, outdoor-safe extension cord!

8 Yard & Garden Tools We Love

Expandable Garden Hose

I’m going to start off with my absolute favorite item. For years, I figured the expandable garden hoses I was seeing advertised were just gimicky, overpriced tools that probably got all tangled and torn after a few uses. But after reading more and more positive reviews and getting more and more frustrated with my standard garden hose, I decided to give one a go for our backyard. And about a week later, I bought one for the front! These hoses shrink up when not in use and take up such a small amount of space compared to standard garden hoses, then expand when you turn them on! They’re way easier to carry, wrap up, and store. I also love the little lever on the end that allows you to adjust the water pressure as you go.

My best tip for using these types of hoses is to turn the water off during the last few minutes of watering in order to use up the water that’s left in the hose and allow it to shrink back down (to just a third of its size!) before hanging it back up. | BUY NOW.

Multi-Function Hose Nozzle

While the hose nozzle that comes with the hose I linked above is nice, it honestly didn’t last very long. I find that sprayer attachments that are made entirely of plastic just don’t hold up the way metal ones do. And I also can’t imagine having a nozzle that doesn’t include multiple functions. I love this one so much because it’s got several great options for watering plants (I usually keep mine on the “Center” option), but it’s also got a high pressure settings that come pretty close to the lowest settings of a pressure washer! I frequently use these for spraying down our patio, sidewalks, and steps. This nozzle has performed really well and held up great. A friendly reminder: Don’t forget to detach the nozzle from the hose when storing them for winter to ensure all the water is out of both to prevent either one from bursting! | BUY NOW.

Reusable Yard Bags

When my mom showed up one day with a reusable lawn bag for me to try, I knew right away I’d get a lot of use out of it. What I didn’t know is just how much use and how much it would save my body (and sanity)! We go through paper lawn bags like crazy, especially when cleaning up our yard and garden in the spring and fall. And I still easily fill one up every week or two, but let me explain how the reusable bags make it SO much easier! Rather than filling up the standard paper lawn bags one by one as I go, I can instead toss anything and everything that needs to get out of the yard into this bag—weeds, leaves, grass clippings, and so on—and easily glide it across the lawn by its handles to the alley, then fill the papers bags up from there. I’ve also used it to haul heavier items (but not heavy enough to warrant a dolly or wheelbarrow) from one area to the next (bags of mulch or soil, several pots at once) without having to lift a finger. So convenient! | BUY NOW.

Combination Leaf Blower, Yard Vacuum & Mulcher

A few years ago, Jeremy and I built a flagstone patio ourselves. We became the proud (and often confused) owners of many a-strange tools in the process. One of which, was this. We needed to blow away any stray polymeric sand before wetting it to set. I sent Jeremy out to get a leaf blower and he came back with this because it was one of the more affordable, yet highly-rated options. I kind of laughed at the time, asking why on earth we’d need a “yard vacuum” and mulcher. I stopped laughing the minute he turned it on and proceeded to sweep up little piles of grass left in our yard from mowing. I use this thing all. the. time. All the time. After mowing the yard, I’ll quickly rake the leftover grass into little piles and sweep it right up. If I notice our patio has collected some grass, twigs, or other (natural) bits and bobs, I’ll break this thing out and within minutes, it’s all gone. I also hate to admit this, but we tend to let our Christmas trees hang out in our yard for a few months after the holidays have passed, and in that time, they drop a lot of pine needles wherever we have them sitting. This clears them away in just a few seconds. The bag can hold quite a bit because it shreds whatever you’re vacuuming into mulch! Plus, don’t forget that it’s primary use is a leaf blower, so it really is a 3-in-1 yard tool miracle. | BUY NOW.

Battery-Powered Weed Trimmer

I’m not really sure how we went so many years without a weed trimmer, but after using this one just once, I knew it had to be a staple step in our lawn mowing process forever! There’s nothing quite like taking all the work you’ve put into mowing the yard and making it look ten times more clean and professional by touching up the areas around sidewalks, flower beds, and the fence line. We love this trimmer because it’s battery-operated, so we don’t have to deal with any cords or gas, and because Greenworks® creates universal batteries that work in several of their yard tools! So, if we ever look at getting a new lawn mower or other piece of equipment, we’ll likely go with this brand to save on cost in the long-run and enjoy the convenience of not tripping over cords or having to run to the gas station mid-project to refuel! | BUY NOW.

Electric Hedge Trimmer

Until last summer, we had some massive shrubs in our front yard that were always out of control. I used to go out on a ladder and lean as far as I could across them to trim one branch at a time with s small pair of shears, and while it got the job done, it took forever, was dangerous, and never looked great. And it took an hour each time, at least. Enter these electric hedge trimmers! Just a few passes over the tops and they were evenly cleaned up in a matter of minutes. While we removed those from our yard and replaced them with flowers, we still break these out every now and then to make trimming up other parts of our yard and alleyway a breeze! | BUY NOW.

Small Garden Tools Set

While we definitely have and use fuller sized tools (shovels, hedge shears, rakes), having the handheld sizes make it so convenient for everyday maintenance in the garden. I’ve actually purchased all of mine separately over the years, but love the idea of the sets that come with a small bag for easy transport around the yard as you go! I get the most use, almost daily, out of my trowel, spade, and pruning shears. | BUY NOW.

Compact Fertilizer/Seed Spreader

While our garden fares quite well year over year, the grass in our lawn has always been a struggle. It looks amazing for the first few weeks of spring, and then quickly fills with weeds and turns brittle and yellow. We finally invested in some fertilizer and grass seed, and while we could have spread it straight from the bags or with a little handheld spreader given how small our yard is, I decided to take the plunge and invest in this mini push spreader and am so very glad I did. It ensures a much more even application in a much quicker fashion! | BUY NOW.

There you have it—some of our most tried and true yard and garden tools for getting things done quicker and better. Let me know if you have any questions or want any additional information on these tools or how we use them! And if you’ve come across any yard care gems that have changed the game for you, please do share!

xo, Aly

This post contains affiliate links.