The essential garden tools no shed should be without

Garden Shed

When it comes to gardening, limited space doesn't have to limit ambition - and in the pursuit of perfect flowerbeds, few things are closer to the gardener's heart than a shed full of much-used tools. With thefts from gardens on the rise, garden shed cover is a useful way to protect those essential items. That's why we include up to £2,000 automatic protection for your garden trees and plants in our standard home contents insurance. Garden sheds and other outbuildings, such as greenhouses and garages, are also automatically covered by MORE TH>N buildings insurance.

But what are the most indispensible tools for a gardener? If you only had space for 10 tools in your shed, which ones would you pick? Looking beyond the usual spade, fork, hedge-trimmer and lawn-mower, we asked some veteran gardeners for their personal favourites, with a focus on the smaller hand-tools that are in such constant use they become central to the gardener's day-to-day life.

• 1. Weeder
  A surprising favourite, the weeder is a simple, straight prong-like piece of metal, sometimes with a slightly hooked end, used to help dig out weeds without wrecking the flowerbed. Long-handled versions are also widely available.
• 2. Kneeling pad or knee pads
  Particularly favoured among older gardeners is something to kneel on. Opinion is split between a single padded cushion and individual knee-pads, like those worn by cyclists.
• 3. Secateurs
  Secateurs are the scissors-like tools used for pruning with just one hand, designed to cut through thick hardwood stems. Some gardeners prefer the long-handled variety, often called 'loppers', which need two hands but can cut much thicker stems.
• 4. Notebook and pencil
  Many gardeners carry a notepad to keep records of planting dates, draw plans for their beds, record what has been planted where and remind themselves of jobs that need doing.
• 5. Hand-fork
  The hand-fork is the size and shape of a hand-trowel but with large fork-style prongs. It is more versatile than the simpler trowel, with greater flexibility for digging out and around plants.
• 6. Garden twine
  One of the forgotten tools of the shrubbery, garden twine is essential even in the smallest gardens, primarily for tying up trellis plants and attaching stakes to stems.
• 7. Colour-coded watering cans
  Several of the more experienced gardeners told us that they keep three or four watering cans labelled for use with different liquids, from plain water to fertilisers or plant-foods, and even the liquid compost produced in wormeries.
• 8. Gardening gloves
  Every gardener needs at least one pair of thick cloth gardening gloves, which will protect from thorns when pruning an unruly rose-bush or stop you cutting yourself on sharp stones and bits of glass when digging and weeding beds. But you're also advised to get a second, much thinner pair, for more delicate jobs.
• 9. Tool-basket
  Because you need to have at least three or four of the above-mentioned tools with you at any one time, it's worth having one basket or bag to carry them in.
• 10. A wheelbarrow or several large buckets
  Eventually every gardener has to transport a huge pile of earth, compost or prickly branches from one place to another. Many gardens are too small for a wheelbarrow, in which case a few large, lightweight plastic buckets are invaluable.