My Top 5 Time-Saving Denver Kitchen Garden Tools
If you’re anything like me, your to-do list grows faster than your radishes. Between soil prep, planting, weeding, harvesting, and chasing squirrels away from the strawberries, time in the garden is precious. That’s why I don’t mess around when it comes to tools.
Over the years, I’ve tested a lot of gadgets… some helpful, some a total waste of money (looking at you, flimsy pruners). But a few have stood the test of time and the unique challenges of gardening here in Denver: rocky soil, wild weather, and compact growing spaces.
Today, I’m sharing my top 5 time-saving tools: the ones I grab at the start of every season and basically never put down.
Get our free Denver Kitchen Garden Tool Checklist now!
1. Felco 6 Pruners
For: trimming, deadheading, and saving your wrists
These are my ride-or-die pruners. Yes, they’re a little pricey, but I promise they’re worth every penny. The Felco 6 model is designed for small to medium hands (🙋♀️ hi, yes please), and they cut clean. No hacking, no bruising your plants.
In spring, I use them for pruning overwintered perennials and tidying up vines. In summer? They're harvesting machines.
Get This Tool: Felco 6 Pruners
2. Stirrup Hand Hoe
For: weeding in tight, rocky spaces
Weeding in a xeriscaped front yard or gravel path? This tool is your new best friend. The blade slides just under the soil surface, slicing weeds off cleanly - without disturbing your other plants or kicking up every rock in Denver.
It’s lightweight, effective, and frankly a little too satisfying to use.
Get This Tool: Stirrup Hand Hoe
3. Soil Cultivator Rake
For: spring prep and compost mixing
Denver’s spring soil can be dense, crusty, and about as welcoming as a brick. This is the tool I use every year to break up the top 2 inches of soil before adding compost or planting starts. It’s fast, it’s effective, and it saves me a ton of time (and sore muscles).
Use it early in the season and thank yourself later.
Get This Tool: Soil Cultivator Rake
4. Japanese Weeding Hoe
For: getting into every single crack
If you’ve got flagstone paths, patios, or raised beds with those annoying little gaps where weeds love to pop up, this tool is gold. It’s sharp, nimble, and slips right between cracks to pull out even stubborn roots.
This one’s especially handy after a good rain or watering session when the soil's a little loose.
Get This Tool: Japanese Weeding Hoe
5. TubTrug Buckets
For: carrying literally everything
Harvest baskets, compost haulers, tomato caddies… TubTrugs do it all. I’ve tried the knockoffs and let me tell you: don’t bother. These are sturdy, flexible, and easy to clean. I keep one in every garden zone and use them daily during peak season.
Get This Tool: TubTrug Buckets
Want the Full List of my favorite Denver kitchen garden tools?
This is just the tip of the trowel! I put together a full, beautifully designed checklist of all my favorite gardening tools—perfect for beginners or anyone wanting to simplify their setup.
It includes soil tools, weeding gadgets, harvest helpers, and even my favorite freezer containers.
Get the free garden tool checklist!
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Meet the Gardener
I’m Elisa Mack - a mom and Denverite who went from being a green-ish thumb to a kitchen garden fanatic simply by dedicating myself to the study of all things Colorado gardening.
Landscapers don’t design. And nurseries don’t make house calls.
We take a more full-service approach, from designing your dream garden to keeping it beautiful year-round.
And as your coach, I’ll help eliminate the guesswork through every season, no matter your level of knowledge.
