As with any undertaking in life whether a hobby or work, the right tool(s) make the task easier and more fun. I have made a checklist of garden tools that will make your new or existing hobby easy and fun.

This checklist is basically covers the four major gardening aspects; tilling, cultivating, planting, and water. This task is self-explanatory, no water, no garden only drought tolerant weeds. Agh!

Tools Needed for Tilling, the process of soil preparation and moving soil:

1. 
   A good shovel or spade, the work horse that almost touches all phases of gardening. It should be a top grade and made of metal one. If you go cheap with this tool, you'll end up buying new one every couple of years or so, especially if its made in China. The math speaks for itself. This is one tool you must have whether your garden is small or big. Remember, a spade with its flat front blade and curved sides is for moving stuff and a shovel is used for digging, tilling the soil, etc. However, if you have a fairly large area to till then you may want to use a rototiller. You need a helping hand roto-tilling your garden all year, buy worms. Worms move throughout the soil all year long, breaking up the soil and reconstituting it with their castings.
   
2. 
   There are various other tools used in a garden such as a mattock, spading fork, and not to forget, the gardening cart. A mattock breaks up soil and is particularly useful in heavy clay situations; also, working around large trees and their root system. The spading fork is an excellent tool for transplanting and aerating. The gardening cart is a matter of preference. There are the traditional ones with large wheels and wide wheelbase, the wheelbarrow, and/or a hybrid cart having the wheelbarrow body with a narrower wheelbase. It is known as the mulch monster.
   

Item(s) needed for cultivation, the maintenance aspect such as weeding and/or pruning:

1. 
   Cultivating is known as any task performed to maintain the garden, like weeding or pruning. The number one tool for this task is the hoe. There are choices on the market today such as the old draw hoe, hoes with number of different blade shapes, and, my favorite, I call the hula hoop. It is a double action hoe which consists of strap of metal bent in a twisted 'C' shape with the flat side resting on the soil, sides angling 45 degrees back and attached to a handle. Simple, but very effective, since weeds are cut on the forward and reverse stroke. Although the spade holds the title of number 1 garden tool, for cultivation, the pruners run a solid second best. There are a lot of different types on the market; however, if you are only going to buy 1 pair of shears make it a really good pair of by-pass shears. A large number of rose hobbyist's favorite are the anvil shears and the perennial gardener must have their ikebana shears. These will cut anything up to size of your pinky. From pinky to thumb size comes the loppers either a bypass cutter or anvil. My preference still is the by-pass type which makes a cleaner cut and we all know that a clean cut reduces the chances of disease or fungus. Above the thumb size, one calls out the big boys, the saw.
   
2. 
   Clean up is the last cultivation item to consider. For this you require a garden rake with steel teeth and perfect for smoothing the soil after weeding or hoeing. The other rake, bamboo, is for leaves.
   

Planting tool requirement:

1. 
   Once again, the spade tops the list. A spading fork will also work as well. Here is where a homemade tool is easy to make a dibber, tool for planting bulbs. All you need is an old handle from a spade or fork. Sharpen the point just below the D handle and you have a dibber.
   
2. 
   A trowel, that little hand spade, is the perfect tool for planting window boxes and/or containers, or moving those little volunteer seedlings or any of those other little jobs.
   

Lastly, the most important aspect of gardening, watering:

1. 
   You can buy the tools, use them as described above to your heart's content but nothing will happen unless you water properly. Watering is the lifeblood of your garden, so, pay attention to your plants. Eventually,through experience, you will come to recognize when your plants need watering or if they are drowning.
   
2. 
   For small watering jobs buy and use a good quality watering can made of metal. Have you ever seen a cheap plastic watering can last longer than 2 years? Well, that is the reason you want metal, it will last you a long time.
   
3. 
   A good quality garden hose with a spray head or want is a must. The dial a nozzle gives you numerous tools such as misting for wetting seed flats, shower for general watering, full for filling the watering can, spray for a water broom and jet for those stubborn bird droppings on your sidewalk.
   
4. 
   The sprinkler receives a honorary mention. There are so many variations on the market, dial in your spray pattern, self propelled, and the options go on and on. Selection really depends on the area you want to water.
   
5. 
   If you are concerned about the environment, soaker hoses are a fantastic method for delivering water with minimal waste, such as runoffs on the sidewalk into the storm drain.
   

Your garden tool selection is really a personal matter and based on your experience, your project's goal. What I am trying to say is that there is no right or wrong list of garden tools to use since it based on your preference and experience. It will change over the years as we grow older and wiser.