The fall harvest is loaded with beautiful, nutrient-rich, delicious fruits, vegetables, herbs, and blooms ready to warm up chilly days and nights with their delights. After weeks of prepping, sowing, cultivating, and patient observation, the harvest arrives seemingly all at once.
To pick the bounty before winter seeps in, prepare your arsenal with select, high-performing tools. A few simple workhorses become staples, while others promote streamlined ways to protect plants and make the process quick and easy.
Gardening is an accessible endeavor. There’s no need to blow the budget on anything other than growing rewarding harvests this season, from butternut squash to calendula. The best garden tools make good investments for years of lasting, high-quality functionality for harvests, pruning, and beyond. Consider a few favorite “old reliables” and practical accessories for this fall and beyond to make the harvest a snap.
Bonsai Scissors
Traditional Bonsai Scissors
Traditional Bonsai Scissors 7″
- Perfect for harvesting fresh herbs, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and shaping bonsai specimens
- Hand-forged by metal crafting artisans
- Made of black carbon steel
- Butterfly wing handles
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The city of Sanjo in the Niigata prefecture of Japan has a high reputation for blacksmithing and metal artistry in toolmaking. These Wazakura traditional bonsai shears reflect that reputation and share that craftsmanship with the garden world.
These tools are hand-forged and made of solid steel for long-lasting craftsmanship. Use them as snips to cut any plant material up to half an inch in diameter. They’re a beautiful tool in the art of bonsai for precise clipping.
Small pruning shears also serve many other uses, from light pruning to taking cuttings to deadheading. The scissors are ideal for cutting fruits and vegetables from the stem to harvesting fresh herbs and flowers.
Hand Pruners
Hand Pruners
Felco 2 Classic
- Forged aluminum and hardened steel construction for durability
- Ergonomic, nonslip, cushioned handles
- Ultra-sharp for precise cuts for proper plant care
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Felco Holster
- Can carry your two sets of Felco pruners
- Made with heavy duty stitching and rivets
- Made from genuine leather
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A reliable pair of hand pruners is an essential workhorse. These classic handhelds are the gold standard in the horticulture industry, effortlessly cutting stems up to one inch in diameter.
Swiss-made with a durable design, Felco makes pruning easier. With varying sizes and ergonomic options, the bypass pruners ease the stress on the hand.
Felco uses renewable energy sources in production, and every part of these pruners is replaceable for long-lasting functionality. Holster them on your belt or pocket for easy access on garden strolls and workdays.
Kneeling Pad
Kneeling Pad
Garden Kneeler Knee Pad
- Made from high-density, water-resistant foam
- Easy to transport, store, and clean
Buy at Epic Gardening
An underrated garden tool, kneeling pads come in handy for a variety of low-down situations, including harvests. Whether seeding, weeding, tending, or picking, a kneeling pad helps support our working bodies. It cushions the knees during in-ground maintenance and provides stability while working around a raised bed without bending over.
This kneeling pad is lightweight and portable, with a built-in handle. It is also water—and oil-resistant for easy cleaning. If you get in the habit of throwing down a kneeler and putting it to work, your knees will thank you for many harvests.
Raised Beds
Raised Beds
15″ Short Birdies Small Modular Raised Garden Bed
- Built to last 20+ years
- Easy to install and configure
- Food-safe materials for healthy soils and crops
- Corrosion and rust-resistant
- Available in a wide range of shapes and sizes
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Raised beds are a valuable tool for producing an abundant harvest. Easy to use, they allow control over site conditions like sun exposure, soil quality, and moisture. Food-safe, galvanized metal or cedar beds are ideal foundations to house an array of vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals.
Raised beds also create more manageable weed control. They’re accessible garden options for kids and adults, making harvesting and tending plants easier. Growing new selections and seasonal changeouts are easy in raised planters.
Raised beds offer solutions to challenging garden situations in areas with poor soils, drainage issues, small spaces, or no soil at all. They provide a functional space to grow with lasting materials.
Harvest Basket
Harvest Basket
- Crafted with pine, birch, and oak
- Weather-resistant with hand-rubbed oil finish
- Food-safe vinyl coating to the gridded wire
- Available in small and large
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Pick up a basket modeled after Maine’s clamming baskets to make harvesting, cleaning, and carrying easy. Not only can you pick and load fruits and vegetables without losing them, but you can also rinse the picks in place.
Protecting the tender yield immediately after picking is an essential part of harvesting. This sturdy, long-lasting, pass-down-worthy basket lasts for years. Use it for the bounty and any carry needs. For your grower’s market trips, employ an eco-conscious, reusable, and handy tote.
Grow Bags
Fabric Grow Bags
Epic Grow Bags – Lined
- BPA-free liner retains moisture while allowing air flow for roots
- Irrigation-retaining strip for drip setup
- UV-resistant
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Using grow bags to produce seasonal harvests is easy and versatile. Available in various sizes, they hold crops from small (like lettuce) to large (like shrubs and trees) and everything in between. The portable bags make growing possible in spaces with poor drainage, weed issues, or challenging soils.
Simply place the bags in the proper sun exposure for your crops and fill them with high-quality potting soil. Lined fabric bags retain moisture and insulation to promote healthy roots. They don’t dry out as quickly as unlined or thin bags, lessening watering frequency. Grow bags are easy to store when not in action, folding until ready for next season’s planting.
Harvest Snips
Harvesting Snips
Felco 322 Long Reach Harvesting Snips
- 7.5″ carbon steel blades with corrosion-proof chromium coating
- Straight blades with rounded ends to prevent piercing fruits and vegetables
- Suitable for right and left-handed use
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These little snips pack a punch. Economical and reliable, they streamline deadheading, cutting fresh stems, and harvesting vegetables with clean cuts.
Among the Felco pruners, the harvesting snips are ideal for detail work like trimming and picking. They feature rounded scissor blades that become a must-have for clipping herbs, blooms, tomatoes, tender greens, and so much more for the fall harvest.
Garden Stakes and Markers
Garden Stakes and Markers
Garden Stake
- Biodegradable with sustainably sourced wood
- Identify variety and date planted
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Garden Art Marker
- Permanent, fade-resistant, water-resistant, UV-resistant ink
- Nontoxic
- Aluminum body
- Pack of 5
- Writes on multiple surfaces
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I love using labeled stakes to designate (i.e., remember) specific varieties when growing multiples of a species. Not only does it make for easy identification when harvesting, but it also helps determine performance and what to grow again.
Save the labels from your favorite producers to know what to plant next fall. Or, the sustainably sourced wooden stakes can go right in the compost bin when the growing season ends. At 12 inches tall, they won’t get covered up or drift in the bed.
For writing on plant tags, opt for markers that won’t fade or wash as the season wears on. Quick-drying garden art markers work on various surfaces, from stakes to pots to soil bags (metal, porcelain, glass, plastic, and wood).
Loppers
Loppers
Felco 211-60 Lopper
- Cuts through larger stems with ease
- Sharp, curved blade makes clean, healthy cuts
- Lightweight aluminum handles have shock-absorbing grips
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A good pair of garden loppers is the best tool for quality harvests and pruning sessions. They also promote plant health with precise cuts free of shredding and reduced stem damage. They’re particularly useful post-harvest in the fall when pruning for health or shaping or cutting back plants before winter.
The long handles on the Felco loppers make overhead and far-reach cuts more accessible. The curved and hooked blades are easy to sharpen and adjust. Felco carries replacement parts for all components, keeping sustainability and long-lasting craftsmanship in mind.
Sharpening Tool
Felco 905 Sharpening Tool
- Three functions in a single tool
- Keeps a perfect blade at optimal sharpness
- Durable for professionals and home gardeners
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Whether you’re picking cucumbers, squash, or greens, garden harvests are a lot more difficult with dull tools. A sharpener can make your life much easier and ensure that your cuts are clean. It’s best to clean and sharpen snips, pruners, and lopper blades regularly to keep them in top shape.
While it’s easy (very easy) to put off sterilizing tools, it prevents the spread of disease. A quick rub with alcohol prevents fungal spores and viral pathogens from spreading on tools between plants. It also removes sap and sticky residue that affect the blades for future cuts.
For sharpening, a few quick sweeps over the carbide surface keep the blades sharp. The Felco sharpener is a multitool for sharpening and adjusting right-handed pruners and loppers. The tool has two carbide surface textures and two wrenches. It keeps blades optimally sharp for crisp cuts, ease of use, and longevity.
Plant Protector
Cage Plant Protector
Critter Cage – Plant Protectors (10 pack)
- Galvanized mesh that won’t flake off
- Multi-pack with easy stacking for storage
- Reusable across multiple seasons
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If you often have trouble finding nibble-free greens to harvest, this unique garden tool can revolutionize the quality of your crops.
A fresh crop is tempting for many of us, including garden visitors of the critter kind. As nets protect fruits on trees and shrubs, cage protectors shield in-ground plants from nibbling invaders.
Protect young plants with wire cages that won’t interfere with natural processes. Set atop the individual plant, the cages don’t block sunlight or moisture (just pests).
Birds and mammals can’t access fresh leafy greens or developing fruits and vegetables. In the fall, use them to protect kale, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, squashes, and herbs.
