14 Walmart Gardening Tools For Fall Under $20

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As the weather cools and pumpkin spice flavors proliferate, you've probably started winding down your garden, tackling end-of-season cleanup, and preparing your beds for winter. Of course, between school supply shopping and holiday-related expenses, it's probably in your best interest to be thrifty wherever possible. Luckily, with a bit of searching, you can find all kinds of affordable supplies to help you tie up those loose gardening ends. At Walmart, for example, you can get many of these helpful implements — from rakes and cultivators to weeding tools and bulb planters — for less than $15.

Before you start shopping for garden tools, you may want to make a list of the jobs you want to accomplish. By ticking certain tasks off your checklist before winter, you're giving your garden every chance of a successful harvest or floral display next year (and potentially saving yourself some work later on). Pre-winter weeding is one big item for the list, as is taking steps to protect plants from the winter foraging activities of hungry critters. Fall is also a great time to clean and sharpen your gardening tools before putting them away for next year, so this is a good opportunity to take inventory of what you have, what you need to complete remaining tasks, and what should be replaced sooner rather than later.

If your spring- and summer-blooming perennials like peonies or irises need to be divided, fall is the best time to do so. A sharp knife like the Fiskars Steel Garden Knife is a useful tool to have on hand when separating tough roots. This knife, just under $10 at $9.63, is designed to serve multiple functions, including digging, cutting, and sawing, with a sharpened edge and a serrated edge. Happy reviewers point to its versatility, noting that it is also useful for weeding. Some negative reviews question its durability, with some sharing that the blade and handle separated with use.

Spring-blooming bulbs need to be planted in the fall just before the first frost, and the Miracle-Gro Adjustable Steel Bulb Planter, which can help with that task, is available at Walmart for $9.99. Just push and twist it into the soil to plant your bulbs, using the integrated depth markers as a guide. Then use the automatic soil-release mechanism to bury them. The planter also adjusts to accommodate different-sized bulbs. 36 reviews give it a 4.6 out of five average rating, with reviewers noting its ease of use, even in clay-heavy soils.

Fall is a great time to till garden soil and amend it with compost in preparation for spring planting, and a hand-tiller like the Fiskars Ergo Cultivator Tiller Scratch Tool with SoftGrip Handle can be a helpful addition to your gardening toolbox. Available from Walmart for only $8.94, this product features angled cast aluminum tines that the company touts as rust-resistant and strong enough to penetrate tough soils without snapping off the handle. Positive reviews note that the tiller is heavier and tougher than it looks and that the handle is comfortable to grip, even for small hands.

There are some good reasons not to rake all of the fallen leaves in your yard this fall: some creatures overwinter in leaf piles, and decomposing leaves can give your soil a nutrient boost. That said, a too-thick blanket of leaves can squash and smother your lawn, so you may want to rake up at least some of them. You can pick up the Expert Gardener 24-inch Poly Leaf Rake for only $9.97 from Walmart to help you with this task. The rake features a lightweight polypropylene head that measures 24 inches across, paired with a wood handle.

In addition to spring bulbs, fall is a great time to plant perennials, shrubs, and cool-season vegetables. On sale for $15.99, the WORKPRO 2-Piece Auger Drill Bit can help you dig uniform holes for seedlings without having to use a trowel. Designed to fit any chucked drill ⅜ inches or larger, the bits come in two sizes: one that makes holes 1.6 inches wide and 9 inches deep, and one that drills holes 3 inches wide and 12 inches deep. Positive reviewers say these bits saved them time and effort when planting; some caution that they don't work well in rocky soil.

Unless they provide visual interest in the colder months or food for wildlife, some perennials are best cut back in the fall. Running discarded plant material by the handful from one end of the yard to the compost pile on the other will probably get tedious quickly, so you may want to look into a convenient carrying solution like this two-pack of collapsible leaf bags from Samhe. Priced at $15.99, the leaf bags have a 72-gallon capacity when fully expanded. An elastic hoop keeps the bag open while you fill it, and the handles make transport easier.

It may be tempting to slack off on weeding when the weather turns cooler, but resist that impulse: make one last big weeding push in the fall before those dying weeds go to seed and create more work for you next year! You can pick up the NAISHIER Weed Puller Tool for $12.99 to help you with this task. With a sharp shovel and six sharp teeth, this weeding tool is made from high-manganese steel and features a rubberized, slip-resistant handle. Just make sure to wear gloves and keep sharp edges away from little hands!

Make sure to take care of your knees while you're weeding! The $12.98 Hyper Tough Kneeling Pad is lightweight and easy to move as you work around the yard, and it's waterproof, so you won't have to worry about ruining it on wet grass. And when you're done, you can just give it a quick rinse with the garden hose to get rid of the dirt. Gardeners leave positive reviews of this product, praising its thickness and durability and noting that its built-in handle makes it easy to carry.

If you have issues with invasive broadleaf weeds in your garden, fall is the time to tackle the task of spraying them, and doing so after the first frost is particularly effective. With a 1-gallon capacity and a 23-foot horizontal spray range, the Chapin HomeGardener's lawn and garden sprayer ($10.67) is a straightforward, budget-friendly tool ideal for smaller jobs, according to some users. However, negative reviewers note that this handheld sprayer tends to leak at the seal and lose pressure as a result.

When you bring warm-weather houseplants indoors from a summer spent soaking up sunshine, you may bring hitchhikers in with them. Diatomaceous earth can be a powerful weapon in your arsenal if you need to dispatch unwanted bugs like fleas, beetles, and roaches in your potted plants. Walmart offers a Harris powder duster for $14.90 — all you have to do is fill it with powder, turn it upside down, and press the bellows to expel diatomaceous earth from the nozzle. Reviewers note that the fine nozzle makes precision application easier, but some are displeased with the amount of powder dispersed.

The crops you're planning to grow next year may benefit from another late-season crop this fall. To help replenish your soil and create "green manure" for next year's plants, you might try planting a cover crop of easy-to-sow oats, mustard, or some other crop appropriate for your area. You can use a tool like the Expert Gardener Wood Bow Rake, available for $12.97, to rake the seeds through the soil, then use the back of it to tamp the soil down. It will also come in handy when raking winter-killed plants back into the soil for fertilizer!

Winter is a hungry time for herbivores like deer and rabbits, and your garden plants can suffer the consequences. Hungry rodents can girdle trees, and bucks may cause extensive bark damage when rubbing velvet off their antlers in fall. Protecting the trunks of young, vulnerable trees can help curb some of the damage. According to reviewers of the Master Mark TreeMaster spiral tree protector, for $7.99 this product is one potentially helpful barrier. Made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), the wrap works best on trees about 1-inch in diameter, though it may also fit slightly larger trees.

Though fall generally isn't a good time for pruning, you still may need shearing tools to help you cut back certain perennial plants before winter, especially those with pest or disease damage. To help with this task, you can pick up the WORKPRO Professional 8" Bypass Hand Pruner & Straight Blade Pruner set from Walmart for $16.99. Both tools are made of carbon steel and have non-slip handles for ergonomic comfort, plus locking systems for safety. Positive reviews note the set's quality for the price.

As you're tackling your fall gardening tasks, it's possible that you'll be working around plants with thorns, irritating sap, or other qualities that can harm your hands. You'll probably need a tough pair of gloves to get through your checklist unscathed, and these long cowhide gloves from Anbaboys ($14.79) might be just what you need. According to the company, these gloves provide water- and thorn-proof protection up to the elbow. Some reviewers also note that they protect against mosquitoes and chiggers. Interestingly, negative reviewers seem divided on whether they're too thick or too thin to be useful.

Every product on this list was advertised at a price less than $20.00 at the time of the article's writing. The selections were made based on both popularity and customer satisfaction on Walmart's website: each had to have at least 50 customer ratings with an average score of at least 3.5 out of five stars. While efforts were made to diversify manufacturers as much as possible, there are some that appear multiple times on this list due to their high ratings.