• Garden tools help you prepare and maintain vegetable gardens.garden tools image by MichMac from Fotolia.com
  
  Vegetable gardening tools have improved over the years, allowing you to choose traditional tools or, thanks to technology, tools that make gardening easier and faster. They give you the freedom to raise vegetables at your own pace, whether you have a lot of time or a little. Choose the right gardening tools for the job, and with the proper care, they'll help you grow vegetables for years to come.
  
  

Cultivator

• Hand cultivators have three or four heavy, steel, curved tines to loosen and break up soil. Their compact design lets you work around growing vegetables without damaging them. Another style of cultivator, a high-wheel cultivator, can be useful in a larger vegetable garden with long rows. The most commonly used attachment, according to LSU AgCenter Research and Extension, is an attachment with five pointed tines, used to remove weeds and loosen soil before planting.
  
  

Vegetable Seeders

• A vegetable seeder can save time in the garden when it comes to planting the seeds. This handy vegetable gardening tool can drop small or large seeds, depending on the size of the hole in the seeder plate. One-row hand seeders can be used for small vegetable gardens, while the three-row and six-row seeders help you plant medium to large gardens.
  
  

Spade

• Before planting vegetables, the soil may need amendments such as compost or fertilizer to raise soil fertility and improve drainage. A spade has a pointed tip with sharp edges to cut into the soil, while the slightly indented middle lets you scoop up the soil. It's also used for digging holes to plant vegetable seedlings. The short handle allows you to work in small gardens without disturbing vegetables that are already growing.
  
  

Hoe

• The choice of hoe to use in your vegetable garden has gone beyond the traditional straight blade, long-handled garden tool. A hoe comes in different shapes, such as a diamond, loop, rectangle, circle, triangle or the stirrup on a horse saddle. A scuffle hoe lets you push and pull this garden tool through the soil to get to the roots of pesky weeds, instead of just pulling in one direction.