With the onset of summer vacations, most parents come up with do-it-yourself gardening activities for their children. Many want their children to be engaged in gardening for at least a few hours daily during vacations. Some parents even expect the plants to fruit, flower or do both before the vacations end.

But not all parents are that demanding, particularly those who are already engaged in gardening. They understand that gardening requires immense patience and consistent dedication — whether nurturing a plant to fruition or developing gardening as a long-term hobby.

The resource requirement to take up gardening, on the other hand, is quite limited: nursery soil, a small bag of compost, a variety of herbs and flower seeds, and some basic gardening tools. Kitchen gardening also requires a dedicated daily time slot so that the gardener can witness the various stages of a plant’s life cycle.

Basic gardening tools include good quality gloves, small plastic pots of at least four inches, plant hangers, seedling trays or paper cups, clay pots or grow bags, a watering can with a capacity of three to five litres and a kit of kitchen-gardening tools.

Kitchen gardening requires surprisingly few resources — just a little space, daily care and the right set of beginner-friendly tools

A variety of gardening tools are available at different nurseries, seed stores and online. It is better to personally visit the seller to check the gardening gear firsthand, especially the comfort of the grip and quality of the gear — which is not possible when the purchase is made online.

For women, elderly people and young gardeners, it is important that the gardening gear is lightweight and easy to grip. For children, gardening tools with plastic handles are preferable as they are colourful and easy to clean. Tools with a metal handle can rust, while those with a wooden grip may chip or swell in damp conditions, causing unwanted hand injuries.

The price of any gardening toolkit can vary due to the number of tools, their quality and any additional accompaniments; a small-sized gardening toolkit for bonsai or kitchen gardening may range from a few hundred rupees to several thousand rupees in Pakistan.

New kitchen gardeners are better off starting with handy, small-sized equipment, such as small packs of one, two or three tools. Such packs usually include a spade or shovel, a raking tool and sometimes even secateurs or pruning shears.

A multi-purpose toolkit contains gear that helps perform a multitude of gardening functions. For instance, in the toolkit pictured with this piece, the right-hand side has gardening gloves and pruning shears. The green plant markers are for labelling and are inserted into the soil surface with the name of seeds sown below. The kit includes towels to clean tools, and a coil of gardening twine used for marking plants and supporting vines. In the centre of the kit are two leaf cutters, which are also useful in root trimming.

A pair of scissors are to the left of the leaf cutters, with one being a long-handle scissor and the other a bonsai scissor. Apart from bonsai, these scissors are also useful for cutting leaves, smaller plants and stems. The tweezers help remove tiny yellow and brown leaves from the bonsai pot.

Finally, the most common gardening tools to be used include the small shovel and the mini harrow. Both help in tilling, digging and mixing of the soil and also play a role in specialised functions such as transplantation of seedlings and small plants.

Farmers and commercial growers opt for gardening-related machineries and full-length gardening tools as they try to grow on vast land areas. Heavier, stronger tools and strenuous workloads ensure a better livelihood for them.

Unlike them, kitchen gardeners have the luxury of adopting gardening as a hobby or to fulfil their need for organic food. Finally, toddlers and younger children can also be provided with the widely available gardening tools toy-sets and plastic pots to encourage an interest in gardening from an early age.

Please send your queries and emails to doctree101@hotmail.com. The writer is a physician and a host for the YouTube channel ‘DocTree Gardening’ promoting organic kitchen gardening

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 24th, 2026