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For home gardeners, there are few things more satisfying than plucking the fruits (or veggies) of your labor. When it’s time to harvest, the right tools can make the job easier. Not only can they reduce stress on your body, they can also prevent damage to delicate produce. If you’re learning how to grow your own food and want to streamline the harvesting process, one of these tools is sure to help. We’ve rounded up some of the best harvest tools for home gardeners ahead.
1. Truly Garden Hori Hori Garden Knife
The Truly Garden Hori Hori Garden Knife is our top pick in our best hori hori knives guide. It’s just a good product: It has a durable full-tang rustproof blade, smooth beechwood handle, and comes with a protective leather sheath. In our testing, we found it comfortable to use since it felt sturdy in hand, even when digging in compacted soil. It’s a major help when digging for root vegetables, but at heart, it’s a multipurpose tool, so it’s useful for a variety of cutting and weeding jobs too. Read our full review of the Truly Garden Hori Hori Garden Knife.
Get the Truly Garden Hori Hori knife at Amazon for $29.95.
2. Fiskars Ergo Garden Trowel
Looking to update an old trowel? We voted the Fiskars Ergo Garden Trowel as the top garden trowel in our best shovel guide. In our testing, it performed well, and we particularly liked the ergonomic cushioned and nonslip hand grip (a great feature for long harvest tasks). This trowel is lightweight but sturdy, and we recommend it for medium-duty jobs. It has a pointed tip that makes it easier to drive into the dirt to unearth root veggies.
Get the Fiskars trowel at Amazon for $9.99.
3. Showa Atlas 300 General Purpose Work Glove
Protect your original harvesting tools (your hands) with some sturdy gardening gloves. The Showa Atlas 300 General Purpose Work Glove is our top pick, tested for our best gardening gloves guide. These gloves are comfortable and flexible, with the necessary dexterity for harvesting tasks. They have a rubberized coating that provides a reliable grip to hold tool handles. Woven cotton backing prevents excessive sweating. These gloves are machine washable too, making them easy to clean after dirty jobs.
Get the Showa work gloves at Amazon for $32.41.
4. Eversprout 12-Foot Fruit Picker
Grab ripe and juicy fruit from up high with the Eversprout 12-Foot Fruit Picker. This highly rated picker has over 7,000 five-star reviews, with many praising its sturdiness and easily adjustable length. It’s possible to extend this fruit picker up to a total of 13 feet to reach tall fruit. Eversprout offers a longer 24-foot pole version too. Inside the picker basket, a foam pad protects fruits like apples, oranges, apricates, mangos, and avocados from bruising.
Get the Eversprout fruit picker at Amazon for $47.99.
5. Fiskars 6-Inch Harvest Knife
Chop through tough stalks with the Fiskars 6-Inch Harvest Knife. This garden knife is made of tough stainless steel; the blade has a flat tip for push cuts and a serrated section near the handle to saw through fibrous stems. The multiuse knife has an extended tang and sits in an ergonomic plastic handle. A hard plastic sheath with a belt loop is included to make it safe and easy to carry around the garden.
Get the Fiskars knife at Ace Hardware for $19.99.
6. Felco 2 One-Hand Classic Manual Pruning Shear
Our top pick tested for our best pruning shears guide is the Felco 2 One-Hand Classic Manual Pruning Shear. This tool is suitable for a variety of jobs, including snipping plants for harvest. We liked everything about this pruner when we tested it. It’s comfortable, easy to use, and full of user-friendly features, like a bright rubberized grip, replaceable blade, locking mechanism, and sap groove to prevent sticking. It snipped reliably through branches that were nearly 1-inch thick, so it’s a great alternative to a knife for cutting these thinner stalks.
Get the Felco pruning shear at Amazon for $62.46.
7. Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips
Delicate plants and herbs need a lighter hand. There’s where the Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips can help. These snips have a micro-tip nonstick blade made of hardened, precision-ground steel that’s sharp to the very tip. They’re ideal for pruning flowers and herbs. A spring-handle design gently opens the blades to help reduce fatigue during precise pruning and harvesting jobs.
Get the Fiskars pruning snips at Amazon for $13.13.
8. Maine Garden Hod
Come harvest time, you need a place to put your bounty—like the Maine Garden Hod. This stylish hod makes it easier to carry produce and wash it too; the colander sides make it possible to rinse veggies and fruits right in the basket. The frame is made of wood with a wire mesh body (the wire mesh is coated with PVC so it won’t rust). Besides being useful, this garden hod has a whole lot of rustic charm.
Get the Maine Garden hod at Amazon for $64.99.
9. Fiskars Harvest Basket
The Fiskars Harvest Basket is a budget-friendly alternative to the Maine Garden Hod. It will get the job done, though it might not look as fashionable doing it. This basket is made of plastic and is divided into useful sections. There’s a colander part with drainage holes, making it possible to wash your produce right after harvesting. Two enclosed sections can be used for holding or soaking produce or tools.
Get the Fiskars harvest basket at Amazon for $25.99.
10. Mod Hod Trolley With Teal Mod Hods
The Mod Hod Trolley is a hod holder on wheels; beside providing more transporting space, it’s also a good choice for those who can’t easily carry a basket around the garden. The frame is made of lightweight aluminum and can fold up flat for storage. It has three levels and comes with three mod hods: the brand’s stackable plastic hods that double as a colander and have fold-out legs to keep produce off the ground.
Get the Mod Hod trolley at Gardener’s Supply Company for $159.99.
11. Roo Gardening Apron
If you don’t like carrying baskets, bins, or trolleys, the Roo Gardening Apron is a useful alternative. This adjustable gardening apron clips around your waist. True to its namesake, it has pouches and pockets across the front to carry harvested plants. Made of water-resistant washable canvas, it’s durable and simple to keep clean.
Get the Roo apron at Amazon for $34.50.
12. Fiskars Multipurpose Garden Shears
A good pair of garden scissors can accomplish a range of harvesting jobs. Fiskars Multipurpose Garden Shears fit the bill. These snips have sharp, nonstick hardened stainless steel blades to create precise cuts, and the precision-ground edge maintains its sharpness, even with heavy use. A spring-system easy-open handle reduces hand strain; these shears have been awarded the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Commendation.
Get the Fiskars garden shears at Lowe’s for $19.98.
13. Gorilla Carts Poly Yard Cart
Our top pick in our best wheelbarrows guide is the Gorilla Carts Poly Yard Cart. It’s not a traditional wheelbarrow, but it will do just as well for carting an abundant harvest out of the garden. It was smooth and pleasant to use in our testing, with one-handed operation, pneumatic tires, and articulating front wheels. When you’re carrying a large load of potatoes, carrots, or other heavy, sturdy veggies, this is a much better choice than a basket.