Once you’ve been bitten by the gardening bug, it’s easy to let that enthusiasm send you straight to the store for a big spending splurge; one that loads you up on tons of tools before you’ve even seen that first green shoot.

But before whipping out a wallet and going on an excited buying spree, you can save some short-term money (and some long-term headaches) by stepping back and getting a grasp on the basics: What are you trying to grow? What are the environmental challenges that your property poses? And, just as importantly, how up to the task are you physically?

Choosing the right yard care tools, says Cullman Master Gardener Brad Mitchell, “all depends on whether you’re doing container gardening or a big garden like grandma and grandpa used to do. You want to select the tools that are right for you and for the job you want to do. If you’re putting in trees, you want something sturdy — a big shovel and not a hand spade if you have a disability, you want to be able to compensate with your tools for things like that.”

Whether your tool requirements range ambitiously big or modestly small, though, a few things are constant. For one, says Mitchell, it’s worth the extra upfront cost to invest in quality gear; tools that won’t let you down after only a few uses. That means opting for solid-socket tools and their strong forged connections from socket to handle whenever you can, rather than cheaper equipment that’s typically constructed with tang-and-ferrule connections that tend to come loose after a short time.

Leverage is another factor that can make life easier in the garden. Mitchell advises looking for tools that make the physics of wielding them easier, with the general guideline that long handles allow for maximum effectiveness with minimum effort. For comfort (and safety’s) sake, it’s also worth it to get gear that comes with padded, non-slip handles.

Every gardening job has its own tool demands, but few gardeners will get far without a basic hand trowel (a miniature, hand-sized shovel to dig up small patches of soil) and a quality set of pruning shears, with Mitchell stressing that the size of the shears will depend on whether you’re snipping small shoots (go for a one-handed, short-handled set of pruning scissors or stronger bypass pruners) or lopping off limbs from trees (where a long-handled, two-handed set is often required).

If it’s small-scale crop cultivation you’re after, there’s a trove of useful and purpose-specific gear beyond just the basic hoe and shovel. The two-handled broadfork allows small-scale gardeners to turn the soil by muscle power alone, bypassing the need for a tiller or tractor; while a wheel hoe plow lets you accomplish a similar task with a slightly more assisted push, using its single wheel as a guide as the operator walks behind and burrows its plow head into the dirt.

Keeping weeds at bay brings its own set of tool requirements, and small-garden growers will find plenty of use for simple, single-handed weeding gear such as the Japanese sickle (“a wicked-looking blade that slides underneath the soil and lets you cut very easily through weeds,” says Mitchell) or the CobraHead — a similarly sickle-shaped device with a flattened steel blade that can be used for a variety of weeding and soil-scratching chores.

Once you’ve invested in gardening tools, it’s vital for their longevity that you treat them right. That means putting them up clean and making sure their working bits stay sharp and up to the task. A simple rinse with water from a garden hose (scrub from a wire brush, steel wool, or putty knife for anything stickier) should clean most tools after every use, though Mitchell advises briefly soaking any bits that have been exposed to plants to a solution of 2 cups of bleach for every 1 gallon of water, or else spraying them with isopropyl alcohol. After that, don’t store your tools wet: Give them a thorough drying with a towel or rag.

For longer-term care, a few periodic maintenance efforts can go a long way. Keep a bucket of sand mixed with oil on hand: By working the metal end of your tools through the mixture, the oil can help protect against rust as the sand abrades the blades down to their bare surface. Soaking metal blades in household vinegar for 24 hours can also help eliminate any lingering rust. And, if your tools have wooden handles, sand them as needed and then follow up with a treatment of boiled linseed oil to extend the longevity of the wood.

Whatever tools your gardening quest requires, just make sure to take good care of them, that they’re sized right for you — and that they’re items you can comfortably use until the job is done.

“The bottom line,” says Mitchell, “is that you need to choose the tool that suits your body and that suits the tasks that your job requires.”