Garden Accessories

I have killed plants in cheap pots. Not through bad watering habits. Well, some of that. But mostly because the pot itself was the problem. A $12 big-box ceramic planter that cracks in the first frost. A plastic pot with no drainage that drowned a rosemary plant in three weeks. A “resin” pot that faded from dark brown to sickly gray within one summer. A good planter should outlast the plant in it, handle the weather where you live, and not actively fight your efforts to keep the plant alive. I tested seven outdoor planters across different materials and price points to find the ones that deliver on that promise. ...

Garden gloves are the piece of gear most people get wrong. They buy the cheapest cotton gloves at the hardware store, wear through them in a weekend of weeding, and wonder why their hands hurt. A good pair of garden gloves should protect you from thorns, keep your hands dry, and last more than one season. But most of them won’t. We tested 8 pairs of garden gloves across four categories: thorn-proof gauntlets for rose work and bramble clearing, waterproof and nitrile-coated gloves for wet work, touchscreen-capable gloves for phone access without removing them, and durable everyday gloves that handle most garden tasks without falling apart. We planted, weeded, pruned, and hauled in them for two months. Here’s the pair you should buy for each situation. ...

Gardening is a sport where you spend hours kneeling on the ground. If you’ve ever tried to weed a flower bed on wet grass with nothing under your knees, you know how fast that becomes a problem. The right kneeler doesn’t just make you more comfortable. It keeps you gardening longer, with less pain the next day. But the market is full of kneelers that aren’t up to it. Too thin, soak up water and stay wet, flip over when you stand up, or fall apart after one season in the sun. We tested 7 of the most popular options — here’s what held up and what didn’t. ...