Tools

Tools, like plants, don't have to be expensive or time consuming.  A few simple items are needed for basic care; long handled digging shovel, spade, pruning shears, pruning saw, rake, and, perhaps, sod lifter (for edging, and in Maine, breaking up driveway ice and lifting it out of the way).    Oftentimes the best tools can be found at a yard sale where the family is downsizing into some type of condo/town house and no longer need to maintain their landscape.  

Some things aren't, in my opinion, a good investment.  Items like a large watering can (a hose gives a much better soaking and deep watering is best, also empty milk jugs are free and easier to cart again), or fancy plastic buckets (I use empty cat litter containers, the plastic kind with a handle),or store-bought trellises (I have two clematis that need to climb, I use a broken side of a lobster trap found at the beach for one, and the old grill from the storm door for the other.  Other good trellises would be the side of a baby crib or an old wooden ladder (good for recycling and good for your wallet).  Also, don't waste your money on gardening design magazines unless you enjoy feeling poor and untalented.  You may get one or two practical ideas, but generally the designs are too large scale and can be intimidating to the everyday gardener (unless you indeed have deep pockets and an estate groundskeeper).

If you like practical advice and doable ideas, I've always enjoyed "People, Places, and Plants".  I don't usually subscribe to magazines, but on occasion have purchased a subscription and though it's not completely dedicated to plants (there are people and places as well, title doesn't lie) I haven't been able to recycle my old copies as I like to re-read them on occasion.