7 Bigger Garden Purchases – which garden items were worth the money

Which garden purchases are worth the money? Some tools you know you need, but others fall under the category of “nice to have.” But before you purchase a higher-ticket item, you may ask whether it’s worth the splurge.

Also, during the holiday season, it might seem like an odd time to buy gear for your garden, but it’s actually a wonderful time to purchase higher-ticket items you might come across, especially those garden deals that you didn’t purchase during the regular growing season. 

Today I’ll show you 7 garden splurges that I’ve purchased over the years and whether or not I’d recommend them for you as well. Some of the splurges I’ve made are wonderful, and some I’m not as impressed with. That way you’ll have all the information you need to make a unique garden splurge for yourself or as a gift for someone special.

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7 Garden Splurges

These are 7 garden splurges that I’ve purchased over the years and want to share with you. Click the links below to skip ahead.

• Cobrahead Weeder
• Garden Hoops
• Aerogarden 
• T5 Grow Light
• Earthway Garden Seeder
• Worx Leaf Shredder
• Hoselink

Don’t forget to snag your 2024 Garden Planner now before the new year!

*Although I purchased most of these splurges myself, some of these links are affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission at no extra cost to you. If I have an additional discount code, I’ll list it below as well. I am a participating member of the Amazon Associates affiliate program.*

Cobrahead Weeder

✅Worth the Splurge – $27.95

Starting with the least expensive garden splurge on the list is the Cobrahead Weeder at $27.95. This is a garden tool that I’ve heard gardeners rave about for years. I resisted purchasing it because I wasn’t sure I’d use it all that much, until this Spring when I bought it from Epic Gardening Shop. 

Right away, I was impressed with my purchase. The Cobrahead Weeder is a high quality garden tool that I’ve found helpful not only when I’m weeding and needing to scrape away early weeds but also when prying out deeper seated weeds. 

I find this garden tool to be helpful also with my Greenstalk planter (another splurge I’d recommend) when I need to aerate the soil and prepare for planting. It cuts through dried out potting soil easily, which makes this tool more useful than I expected when I purchased it.

I would recommend the Cobrahead Weeder as worth the splurge. You can get it here and use my code JOURNEYWITHJILL to get an extra 5% off your purchase.

Garden Super Hoops

❌Probably Not Worth the Splurge – $29.99 and up

Next are the Garden Hoops I use for insect netting, floating row covers, and as a shade cloth. I purchased these from Gardener’s Supply because I didn’t like how my homemade PVC hoops looked. I prefer the look of these hoops and I especially enjoy the ease of situating them in my garden.

Although they look nice aesthetically, they are not exactly what I had hoped. Let me explain the options for these Garden Hoops and why I’ve been a bit disappointed. 

First there are the Super Hoops and they work well for low-growing plants (see the front raised bed in the photo above). The Super Hoops work well, but in a 4 x 8 garden bed they are fairly low to the ground, limiting the height of plant they will cover. Even the Gardener’s Supply website states they are best for a 3’ wide garden bed and I’d agree. When used on my 3’ wide beds, they do offer more height. These also are sturdy and stay in place well.

The High Rise Super Hoops have been more of a disappointment. They are simply two Super Hoops connected together with a small metal piece.

When I put two together for the High Rise Super Hoops option, I find that they don’t always stay upright. They can be a pain to work with when it falls over after I place a cover on it. 

Not only that, but you can easily lose the metal connectors and I have not been able to find a place to order replacements. For the price, I’d prefer if the base were more secure and that it would include extra connectors or a way to connect them more easily without the connection piece being lost. 

While I do like how these Super Hoops look in my garden, and I enjoy their relative ease of hoops, because the Super Hoops are only tall enough for the lowest-growing plants, their use is limited. The High-Rise hoops have been a disappointment, and those I don’t think are worth the splurge.

Aerogarden Indoor Growing System

🤔 Maybe Worth the Splurge – $100 range, depending on the model

Third is the garden item you’ll see a lot this time of year – the Areogarden hydroponic indoor growing system. I splurged on this item a few years ago when I purchased a 6-unit Areogarden (Amazon affiliate link) thinking I would grow lettuce and cilantro in the summer and summer herbs like basil indoors during the winter.

My first winter growing with my Aerogarden was very exciting! The plants grew so much faster than I expected, but my first harvest of lettuce was a disappointment when I realized that one pod of lettuce barely made enough for one serving of salad. I started to realize that there is a quantity limitation for relying on just this six-unit system. 

The basil seeds grew amazingly well, but I quickly realized our family didn’t use that much basil in the winter months. If we did, then the Areogarden would have been worth it eventually. 

Growing cilantro in the summer didn’t pan out either because I couldn’t get the seeds to sprout. Possibly my seeds may have been old, but Aerogarden doesn’t offer very many choices of premade pods for their herbs – and cilantro is not one of them, so I gave up. 

My biggest frustration with Aerogarden is that their pre-made seed pod selection is small. If you want to grow a plant they don’t offer, you have to purchase their empty pods and add your own seeds. Living in a climate where I can grow plants 10 months of the year outside, I’m not sure the Aerogarden is worth the splurge from a strict utility standpoint.

If you live in an area where your winter indoor growing season is longer, it might be worth it. Also, it’s a nice addition to the indoor growing area to have light and green growth when it’s cold outside.

T5 Fluorescent Grow Light

✅ Worth the Splurge – Less than $100 to $200

Our next garden splurge is the Agrobrite T5 Fluorescent Grow Light. This was my first “big girl” grow light and it did not disappoint. In the past I had always used inexpensive LED lights and had received decent results, but as I continued expanding my indoor seed starting, I found myself running out of room.

When I noticed a deal for a T5 Grow Light during Black Friday, I jumped on it and have never looked back. My plants grew faster and stronger – so well that I had to delay my indoor seed starting by a week or two because of how much faster my seedlings grew in comparison to when I used my inexpensive LED lights. 

Since splurging on this T5 Grow Light, I have also purchased two smaller lights to expand my indoor growing space even more. For those reasons, I would highly recommend this T5 Grow Light and would say that this splurge was 100% worth it.

Earthway Garden Seeder

🤔 Maybe Worth the Splurge – $170

The next garden splurge I purchased was an Earthway Garden Seeder. A garden seeder allows you to roll the seeder across your in-ground bed, where it deposits seeds at the correct plant spacing automatically. 

For the past few years, I had been watching larger in-ground gardeners use it, and because I have a history of back problems, I thought I would give a garden seeder a try. It turns out, I grabbed this at just the right time because not long after, I suffered from a herniated disc in my back, making bending and stooping impossible. 

With the Earthway Garden Seeder I couldn’t believe just how fast I could plant a row of beans or corn. While the speed was great, the one drawback I found was that I still had to create the furrow with a hoe because my garden soil was not light enough for the seeder to do it.

Overall, for me, the Earthway Garden Seeder was worth it as a garden splurge because I do have a lot of in-ground space and I am trying to take better care of my back. I had hoped to use it on some of my long raised beds as well, but I didn’t find that to be worth the effort.

This seeder is worth the splurge only if you have considerable in-ground garden space AND you plant a lot of crops from seed. 

Worx Leaf Shredder

✅ Worth the Splurge – $189

Next is another garden splurge that I have loved – the Worx Leaf Shredder. This leaf mulcher works to shred fallen autumn leaves into a fine-tilth mulch and soil amendment. Before purchasing this garden splurge, I had been reading about all the benefits of using leaf mulch in my garden. Still, this was a hard-to-justify purchase because it’s a tool that only gets used once a year. 

I only purchased the Worx brand of leaf shredder after watching several YouTube video reviews, and couldn’t be happier I did. This is another garden purchase that I have zero regrets about. I have seen the benefit of leach mulching in my own garden, especially over time. 

The tilth and structure is light and healthy, and having shredded leaves on-site saves me money on purchasing other types of mulch like wood chips and straw. If you have deciduous trees or a good source of fallen leaves, I’d say the Worx Leaf Shredder is 100% worth the splurge. 

Hoselink Retractable Hose Reel

✅ Worth the Splurge – staring at $200

Let’s look at the second-biggest garden splurge on my list – the Hoselink retractable hose reel. This was definitely a splurge for me, I mean, does anyone really need this garden item? No, but it will make hand watering so much easier for you!

I liked the Hoselink so much that I now have two of them, one in my kitchen garden and one in my main garden. After having used it for a couple seasons, I’m so glad I made this purchase. Not only does the retractable hose reel make it easier and more tidy to hand-water, but the hose itself is strong, sturdy, and resistant to stubborn kinking and twisting. 

Even though this item has never been a garden need, it’s one purchase that I’d recommend again and again. The Hoselink is totally worth the splurge if your budget allows.

Greenhouse

✅ Worth the Splurge – price varies

My largest garden splurge — by far — was my greenhouse. I bought it from Yoderbilt in the fall of 2020, and over three years later, I’m still learning how the greenhouse benefits me and my garden.

Not only can I get a head start on my spring garden, but I can also grow further into the fall and winter. Click here to learn 7 surprising things I learned about growing in my greenhouse.

While my greenhouse is on the larger end for a home gardener — it’s a 12×16 — I’ve been able to see the benefits of a greenhouse structure no matter the size. From frost protection to faster growth on sunny days, when you have the budget for it, a greenhouse is definitely worth the splurge in my opinion.

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I hope I’ve helped you learn some of my favorite garden splurges and misses. One thing to note: all of these splurges were ones I purchased myself. But there are other garden items I highly recommend as well, but because I was sent these items to try first, I didn’t include them on this list. You can find them, along with discount codes when applicable, at my Recommended Brands and Products Page.

If you have any garden splurges you’d recommend (or recommend we skip), please share them in the comments below.