There are many different kinds of hand tools designed to dig holes, move soil, plant seedlings, aerate soil, or dig out weeds. Here we try to give you some idea of the variety of choices.

Colorful Hand Tool Tip From Fancy Nancy

Nancy Szerlag Head Gardener

As I was putting my tools away for the winter, I realized half my trowels were missing. But I knew where to find them, so off I trotted to scour my flowerbeds. Sure enough, I found my missing trowels along with a badly-rusted hand pruner. It's a nice pruner, but the dark-green handles made it disappear in the foliage when I set it down to tie up a plant or pick up some cuttings. Well, I've now solved the problem of the lost trowels and pruner.

I now tie colorful ribbons to the handles of my tools, which makes them standout in the garden. Most trowels have holes in their handles, so attaching the colorful streamers is easy. Duct tape carefully wrapped around the handle of an item that doesn't have a hole makes attaching a ribbon a snap. I've found that ribbons cut 12-24 inches don't get in my way while I'm working.