• It takes only a few essential tools to keep your yard in good shape.landscaping tools image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
  
  Yard work can be either a pain in the various parts of the body or a way to relax, and your attitude toward the job may depend in great part upon the tools at your disposal. Although a number of highly specialized tools are now available to help make yard work easier than ever, most homeowners can maintain a more-than-adequate lawn and yard with just a few basic tools.
  
  

Shovel

• A shovel has a long handle and a metal blade that's rounded or slightly tapered at the end. The shovel is used for digging and moving loose dirt from one area to another. You can also use a shovel for moving around gravel, sand or cement.
  
  

Spade

• The spade looks like a shovel except that the metal blade is squared off. This design makes the spade more appropriate than the shovel for digging that requires slicing into the ground. While the shovel is better for digging soft soil material, the spade is preferable for cutting through harder soil or dirt that's occupied by roots.
  
  

Lawn Rake

• Lawn rakes feature long, flexible tines that can be made of metal, plastic or bamboo. The lawn rake is designed for raking up leaves and pine needles. This yard tool is essential for gathering light debris that covers the lawn, sidewalk or driveway.
  
  

Garden Rake

• The garden rake, sometimes called a steel rake, has a shorter fan of tines, and the tines are thicker. This allows the garden rake to be more useful in raking up thicker, heavier items on the lawn, such as stones, twigs, small limbs and dirt clods.
  
  

Water Hose

• The water hose allows those without a sprinkler system to keep their lawn and yard plants properly irrigated. Hoses are made of rubber or vinyl and come in a variety of lengths. You can also connect smaller hoses to each other to allow you to water the entire yard from just one water faucet.
  
  

Lawn Mower

• When it comes to power tools, most homeowners really need only one yard tool: lawn mowers, which are essential for keeping lawns in shape. If you’ve got a small yard, you could save money and get some good exercise by going without the power and using an old-fashioned push mower. Average-size yards are more suitable to a power push mower. Very large yards are best kept in good shape with a riding mower.