10 Vegetable Gardening Essentials

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Gardening season is here! If you’re planting a vegetable garden this spring, you’ll want to check out these 10 items that make the job a lot easier. These are all items I personally use or are as close as possible to the ones I use myself.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something by clicking a link, I earn a bit of extra coffee money at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

The Seeding Square

You guys, I can not wait to use the seeding square in my garden. The seeding square takes all the confusion out of square foot gardening. Just find the colour your vegetable uses, put the seeds in the circles, and watch your perfect garden grow. The funnel and wand make it practically no-fail.

Bonus? The creator is a Canadian female entrepreneur. Get yours here!

P.S. Be watching for my upcoming post on my experience planting my whole garden with the seeding square.

Vinyl Garden Beds

I am getting two of these raised garden beds for my front yard and I can’t wait. These ones are no ordinary raised beds. They are super strong, won’t bend or warp, and you will never have to replace them.

Beds made of regular wood last about 3-5 years, cedar lasts around 10, but these will last forever and come with a lifetime warranty.

Don’t get the cheap imitations, watch the video to see why.

These beds are also made by a Canadian company and are local to Saskatoon.

Gardening Gloves

The more I garden, the pickier I get about gardening gloves. I have these latex coated ones, and I really like them because they are breathable and I don’t get hurt by prickly weeds as easily. I have fairly meaty hands, and I like that these gloves stretch to fit without being uncomfortable.

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Compost Bin

I have the best neighbours in the world. They recently gave me their old compost bin and I am in love.

This is the model I use. I love that it’s large enough to handle all my lawn clippings and weeds, as well as all my kitchen scraps.

Gardening Course

When you’re just getting started gardening, it’s really helpful to have all the information you need in one place. Gardening courses are especially helpful if you don’t know any other gardeners and feel overwhelmed by all the information that’s out there. Check out mine that I’ve developed just for you. I’ll be adding videos and extra content over the summer, so get it now before the price goes up in the fall.

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The Garden Weasel

I actually use the Garden Claw circa the mid-1990’s, but it’s been discontinued. The garden weasel is the closest thing I can find. It has been a lifesaver for loosening weeds and overgrown nuisance perennials out of my backyard flower beds.

Read about my backyard adventures here.

Mini Greenhouse

The mini greenhouse is essential for those few awkward weeks in the spring where it’s too cold to put anything out in the garden, but it is warm enough during the day to start hardening off your seedlings.

Speaking of seed starting, I’ve also found these really useful this year. . .

Windowsill Seed Starting Kit

I prefer to start my seeds in my south facing windows and these seed starting kits have been wonderful. I love the little pods, and it’s easy to reuse the kit and buy replacement peat moss pods next year.

Also, I love watch the pods spring to life. Silly, I know, but it’s kind of fun.

Related: How to start seeds from your window

Wide Brimmed Hat and Sunscreen

I have a confession to make, I do not look glamourous when I’m gardening. Any pictures you see on this blog where I look remotely glamourous have been staged. I am super pale, so I always wear my wide brimmed hat and slather on heaps of sunscreen before I go out.

The tiredness in the picture above is real. The whole berry-picking-in-my-perfectly-co-ordinated-with-the-berries-outfit-complete-with-bling-necklace is not.

Planting your first vegetable garden this year? Get started here:

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What are your gardening essentials? Do you agree with my suggestions? Tell me about it in the comments.

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Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.