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Gardening season is upon us, and while that comes with all kinds of incredible physical and emotional benefits, it can also put a significant amount of strain on your body. Thankfully, there are countless ergonomic gardening tools designed to minimize pain and strain on your joints and muscles, all while boosting your enjoyment of spring and summer’s most wholesome activity.
From padded knee cushions to ergonomic rake and shovel attachments, here are the best garden tools that put less stress on your body while working outside.
1. Raised Garden Bed
A raised garden bed won’t only stand out more prominently from a visual perspective, but it might even save your back and knees. The pre-lined VegTrug raised garden at The Home Depot allows you to stand comfortably while you work and is also wheelchair-compatible at 32 inches high. Made from responsibly sourced cedar wood in a natural or a gray hue, it comes with a food-safe finish to preserve its integrity and a V-shape at the base to facilitate growing deeper roots.
Get the VegTrug Wall Hugger Raised Garden Bed at The Home Depot for $189.99.
2. Garden Tote
Instead of having your tools scattered across the garden, shed, or garage, consolidate them in this easy-to-handle garden tote complete with a steel and wood digging trowel, a planting trowel, and a cultivator. The sturdy canvas tote provides an easy and safe way to transport your tools, including any other sharp gardening essentials you need on hand. With its roomy interior and total of six pockets, it’ll make staying organized in the garden a breeze.
Get the Garden Tote With Tools at Pottery Barn for $59.
3. Collapsible Wheelbarrow
Gardening is all fun and games until you need to lift a heavy load of stones or shrubs and you end up straining a muscle. Save your back with this collapsible wheelbarrow made with a lightweight canvas material with sturdy reinforced seams. It folds up easily for efficient storage, and the larger of the two sizes supports up to 350 pounds, making it ideal for gardening jobs big and small.
Get the Allsop WheelEasy Foldable Garden Cart at The Home Depot for $118.99.
4. Gardening Folding Seat With Storage
To avoid having to sit on mucky and wet soil and grass or kneel uncomfortably for hours, treat yourself to this garden kneeler and stool, which has built-in storage on the side for your tools. With more than 5,000 rave reviews, it’s super light to carry around the garden yet it also has a steel frame to keep you feeling secure while you toil away. The entire frame folds up into itself so it stays out of your way when not in use.
Get the Gardening Kneeler, Stool, and Folding Seat With Gloves on Amazon for $59.99.
5. Self-Propelled Lawn Mower
Freshly cut grass is one signal you can send to your neighborhood that you’ve got your life together. But mowing the lawn can often be a source of back pain. This ergonomic Honda lawn mower does most of the work for you, and our experts dubbed it one of the best lawn mowers of 2022. Its powerful 170cc engine propels the mower between 1 and 4 miles per hour, assisting you on hills and reducing the need for physical exertion.
Get the Honda Self Propelled Lawn Mower at Home Depot for $469.
6. Portable Outdoor Garden Center
You’ve got a wheelbarrow for lugging around heavy stones—now it’s time to consolidate your tools into one easy-to-transport two-wheel garden center made of sturdy and rust-resistant resin. It features interchangeable shelves you can personalize to your liking, and a handy 4-inch bin to mix soil and pot plants. Ample slots are available around the perimeter and within the cart to ensure your tools are always within arm’s reach.
Get the Suncast Lawn & Garden Center Utility Cart at Walmart for $131.72.
7. Extra-Thick Kneeling Pad
Whereas a bench can help you stay comfortable while seated, a kneeling pad can help you stay even closer to the ground during gardening jobs that require a little more elbow grease. Available in 12 nature-friendly colors like grass and turquoise, the 1.5-inch-thick Gorilla Grip kneeling pad allows you to maintain a kneeling position for an extended period of time, leading to heightened productivity and less pain. Best of all, you can use it elsewhere around the house, too.
Get the Gorilla Grip Extra Thick Kneeling Pad on Amazon for $21.99.
8. Ergonomic Shovel or Rake Handle Attachment
Shoveling soil and raking leaves are necessary evils when it comes to maintaining a picturesque yard, but both activities can wreak havoc on your spine. Facilitate your outdoor chores with this ergonomic shovel or rake attachment that slides anywhere on the handle that’s comfortable for you. The device is designed to reduce lower back compression and the incidence of blisters, all while promoting muscle efficiency and better posture. It comes in blue, green, and yellow.
Get the BackEZ Ergonomic Shovel or Rake Handle Attachment on Amazon for $10.36.
9. Heavy-Duty Multipurpose Pump Sprayer
If running back and forth to fill your watering can or spray bottle is leaving you too fatigued to enjoy the gardening process, you’ll appreciate this 2-gallon multipurpose pump sprayer with a reinforced hose, an adjustable nozzle, and a low-effort pump you can efficiently operate with one hand. Its transparent tank allows you to easily see the contents inside, so you’ll always know when it’s time to refill the liquid, whether you’re using bug or weed repellent across the garden or giving your soil a quick watering.
Get the Eliminator 2-Gallon Heavy-Duty Multipurpose Pump Sprayer at Walmart for $16.76.
10. Nitrile Garden Gloves
Named as one of our editors’ best gardening tools of 2022, these reusable gardening gloves by Showa protect your hands from scrapes, blisters, and burns from UV rays. The machine-washable nitrile-coated material fits snugly against your fingers while still providing ample ventilation during summer heat waves, and comes in six colorways like pink and purple.
Get the Showa Atlas Nitrile Garden Gloves (6-Pack) on Amazon for $29.80.
11. 4-Claw Weeder
Fewer things are more frustrating than a garden full of weeds, which isn’t only unsightly, but can compromise the integrity of otherwise healthy plants. Keep intruders at bay with our experts’ all-time favorite stand-up weeder, which eliminates the need for manual extractions. The Fiskars stand-up weeder features four stainless steel claws that latch onto roots for easy removal and at 39 inches long, it will allow you to stay upright for a pain-free gardening session.
Get the Fiskars 39-Inch 4-Claw Weeder on Amazon for $48.96.
12. Ergonomic Pickup Rake
Do away with old-school standard rakes that often require multiple rounds of sweeping, and replace it with this highly efficient ergonomic pickup rake. Our experts chose it as one of the best leaf rakes available because it neatly collects dead leaves, debris, clippings, and trimmings with its jagged-edged double-headed scoops, allowing you to tidy up your lawn with less effort in less time.
Get the Amazing Rake Ergonomic Pickup Rake at The Home Depot for $44.95.
13. Bypass Pruning Shears
Pruning your plants and stems can be taxing on your wrists, forearms, and fingers, so it’s especially crucial for your pruning shears to have an ergonomic design. Our experts found the Mockins pruning shears the best pruning shears you can buy for their sharp stainless steel blades that reduce the need for manual effort, their soft-grip rubber handles, and their built-in safety lock that activates when not in use.
Get the Mockins 8-Inch Bypass Pruning Shears on Amazon for $11.99.
The prices listed here are accurate as of publication on May 5, 2022.