By Deirdre Mundorf | Published Jun 7, 2022 12:06 PM

Keeping your lawn or garden looking its best not only adds to the curb appeal of your home, it can also help you enjoy spending time in your yard or entertaining others. While taking care of the yard may seem like a daunting task, the right products can make all the difference.

Along with scouring the internet for the top-rated picks, our experts have tested some of the most popular lawn care equipment and products out there, from self-propelled lawn mowers to a smart sprinkler system to fertilizer. Below are the lawn care essentials to add to your cart today to keep your grass green and your plants thriving.

Selecting the right mower is one of the key steps to achieving a prize winning yard. This 3-in-1 variable speed lawn mower from Honda—one of the best lawn mower brands, according to our experts—adapts its mowing speed to match your pace. The mower also offers five adjustable positions, a twin blade system to ensure a clean cut with small clippings, and a powerful Honda engine.

This Turf Builder Weed and Feeder fertilizer from Scotts is specially formulated to help grass grow and thicken lawns while also eliminating dandelions and clover from your lawn. The smart Weedgrip technology, which helped earn this product a spot as one of our experts’ preferred lawn fertilizers, works to kill both visible and hidden weeds. Nearly 20,000 Amazon customers are impressed with the positive impact this fertilizer has had on the appearance and health of their lawn.

The Zero-G garden hose is constructed with special woven fabrics that make it durable and kink-free. Our experts selected this hose as the best overall pick in our guide to the best garden hoses due to its flexibility and refusal to kink, even when the weather is cold. The hose is also highly durable with its rugged aluminum attachment fittings and brass inserts.

The Greenworks Pro Cordless String Trimmer comes with a lot of high praise. Between the 3,000 Amazon reviews and its selection for the most versatile award when we tested the best cordless trimmers, this model is ready to tackle all your yard trimming needs. It offers a quiet and long-lasting brushless motor, variable speed options, a .080-inch dual-line feed head, and a 2Ah battery for up to 45 minutes of continuous use.

Without watering, your lawn won’t remain lush and green, especially during those hot and dry months. This Aqua Joe oscillating sprinkler comes highly recommended with over 18,000 Amazon reviews along with being a featured pick in our guide to the best garden sprinklers for every yard. With its 16 clog-resistant nozzles and customizable patterns, this sprinkler can water up to 3,600 square feet of lawn from one position. It also features a turbo-drive motor and a leak-resistant connection.

A Sunday Lawn Care subscription will provide you with custom lawn products based on the specific needs of your lawn. Sunday will analyze your soil, climate date for your region, and study satellite mapping information to deliver nontoxic fertilizers, nutrients books, and clear step-by-step instructions to help you give your lawn the care and attention it needs.

Clear leaves and other debris off your lawn to give it a manicured look with this backpack gas leaf blower from Ryobi. In our guide to the best backpack leaf blowers, our team gave this blower an honorable mention due to how well it breaks up clumped leaves and grass clippings. Its 760 cubic feet per minute and 175 miles per hour ratings also make it one of the most powerful residential blower models. Take advantage of the cruise control, variable speed trigger, anti-vibration mount, and contoured harness.

Use the Scotts Turf Builder mini broadcast spreader to seed your lawn, spread fertilizer, salt an icy walkway, and more. The hopper can hold enough lawn products to treat up to 5,000 square feet of space, making it the optimal size for smaller yards. Its hopper and agitator allow for smooth and consistent application of fertilizer, seed, or other lawn care treatments. This spreader, a customer favorite with nearly 23,000 reviews, was also our experts’ selection for the best bang for the buck when it comes to the best fertilizer spreaders.

The WORX electric lawn edger and trencher will allow you to achieve clean lines along sidewalks, driveways, and garden beds for a neat and pristine lawn. One of the best lawn edgers, this model offers a 7.5-inch blade with three different depth adjustments between 1 inch and 1.5 inches to match the needs of your lawn. Grip the D-ring handle and adjust the height of the shaft for customized comfort as you edge the lawn. Users will appreciate the cutting line guide for straight and clean lines.

Stop weeds from taking over your garden and ruining the appearance of your yard with the CobraHead weeder and cultivator tool. With its tempered steel blade and comfortable-to-grip curved head, this tool comes highly recommended by nearly 2,000 Amazon reviewers and our experts in our selection of the best weeding tools.

Eliminate the worries about watering your lawn with the smart sprinkler controller from Rachio. Selected as the upgrade pick in our reviews of the best sprinkler controllers, this model uses local rain and weather data to keep your grass lush and green. It will also use this data to skip unneeded watering sessions due to rain, freezing conditions, high winds, and other factors. With the smartphone app, you can keep track of watering schedules and view an estimate for your water usage.

One of the best things you can do for your lawn is to test the soil to ensure the pH is in the ideal range of 5.0 and 7.0. The Kensizer soil tester measures pH levels, along with moisture and sunlight levels, to help your grass and plants flourish. In the world of soil moisture meters, this “best for pH” pick uses a double-probe to provide quick and accurate data without the need for a battery.

A good pair of gardening gloves is essential when working in the garden or attending to other lawn care tasks. These gardening gloves from Pine Tree Tools, which boast over 13,000 reviews, are made using breathable bamboo to keep your hands comfortable in all seasons. The gloves are designed to provide a snug fit and to feel like a second skin. Thanks to their textured rubber coating, they can even be used to operate touchscreen devices.

This plant food from Miracle-Gro contains essential nutrients needed to help your flowers and other plants grow and thrive. Our experts touted this product’s ability to revive old, lifeless plants when we reviewed plant food. They also noted that it is easy to use with just a standard watering can or with the Miracle-Gro Garden Feeder (available for a separate purchase).

Autumn is such an enjoyable season. However, falling leaves can quickly cover and take over your lawn. This Jardineer rake features a 63-inch telescoping handle with an adjustable rake head to help you efficiently reclaim your yard from leaf cover. In reviewing the best leaf rakes, our experts noted that the adjustable head makes it possible to get into tighter spaces around plants and to quickly rake over large patches of lawn with the same tool.

Garden forks, such as this highly-rated D-handle model from Fiskars, can come in handy for a variety of gardening tasks, such as loosening and turning the soil, transplanting plants, and removing weeds or dead plants. Our experts like how the comfortable D-handle design of this fork reduces strain on your wrist and that it features durable powder-coated steel construction. Additionally, they gave it the “best bang for the buck” award due to its budget-friendly price.

With its over 2,000 positive reviews and status as one of our experts’ favorite wheelbarrows, the Best Choice Products utility wheelbarrow can make an excellent addition to your lawn care arsenal. The 2-wheel wheelbarrow offers inflatable 13-inch rubber wheels that help keep it stable and aid with steering on different terrains. The large capacity allows you to easily move up to 5 cubic feet of supplies and the padded handlebar, which also doubles as a stand, will keep your hands comfortable as you work.

Keep your flowers, herbs, and bushes perfectly manicured with these bypass pruning shears from Fiskars. Their rust-resistant steel blade, self-cleaning sap groove, and comfortable, non-slip handle helped land these shears a spot in our ranking of the best pruning shears. These shears also come very highly recommended by Amazon customers, with over 28,000 glowing reviews.

Pruning shears are necessary for lighter trimming jobs, but you’ll need a reliable pair of loppers to cut through thicker branches. The carbon steel upper blade combined with the powerful ratchet action of the Spear & Jackson anvil loppers will allow you to easily cut back long or dead tree branches. Beloved by our experts, these loppers offer telescoping handles to help you reach higher branches, comfortable soft-grip handles, and a locking catch for injury-free storage.

A hose reel, such as the Liberty Garden multi-directional garden hose reel, keeps a hose tidy and easy to use. This particular model—our top pick as one of the best hose reels—rotates 360 degrees, allowing you to effortlessly pull the hose exactly where you need it to go and wind it back once you’ve finished using it. The weather-resistant frame is made from powder-coated 18-gauge steel.

The prices listed here are accurate as of publication on 6/7/22.

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