Which gear and tools does Natasha Nicholes recommend for starting a community garden?

Based on what I’ve shared about starting and running our community garden, I lean into simple, hardworking tools and reusable gear more than fancy gadgets. I talk more about the process than brand names, but you can clearly see the categories that matter most to me:

• Basic bed-building tools: Shovels, rakes, hoes, wheelbarrow, tape measure, string, and stakes for laying out raised beds (we use 4×4 and 4×8 beds) and pathways
• Soil prep tools: Hand trowels, digging forks, buckets, and something to help sift out rocks from new lots
• Seed-starting gear: Seed trays, cups and containers that fit in sunny windows, labels, and a watering can or spray bottle for gentle watering
• Protection and maintenance: Gardening gloves (like the ones I loved from the Women in Agriculture gift), fencing materials or farm-style fence with chicken wire to deter critters, row covers or netting to protect brassicas from cabbage moths, and basic pest-check tools (your hands and eyes are the most important)
• Compost and worm gear: A sturdy bin or pile setup for compost and a container system for vermicomposting (with a tight lid and air holes so the worms don’t escape like mine tried to)
• Chicken-keeping basics (if your garden will have hens): Materials for a coop, feeders, waterers, and safe fencing around their space

I also rely on a camera or phone to document growth and share updates under the #WeSowWeGrow hashtag, which helps build community around the garden.

Are you starting from a bare lot, or do you already have some beds or tools in place?