7 Makita Gardening Tools You Probably Didn't Realize Existed

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Most major tool brands offer outdoor equipment alongside cordless drills, circular saws, and power tools. For years now, batteries have been strong enough to power larger equipment such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Tool companies are continuously innovating, refining, and adding more outdoor gear to their catalogs. In 2026, there are multiple new Makita tools for your yard and garage, such as the 40V Max XGT Brushless Cordless Edger.

While the terms gardening and landscaping may be used interchangeably, there are differences between them. Gardening typically deals with smaller tracts of land and requires more precision and delicacy so as not to disturb flowers, vegetables, and other plants. Still, certain power tools are useful for both gardening and landscaping, such as pruners, water sprayers, and some you may not have heard of.

These Makita devices may be more niche or not typically offered by other tool brands. There are also products associated with other applications that you may not have realized can also be very useful in the garden. Once you know about these lesser-known items, you may end up wanting to add them to your own gardening toolkit. 

A dethatching machine, or dethatcher, uses a motor to rotate its tines or blades to rake up layers of dead vegetation — grass, roots, etc. — that build up between healthy soil and live grass. This thatch can block sunlight, air, and water from reaching the ground, strangling your lawn and garden, which is why it's important to rake it up before it gets too thick. 

A dethatcher takes much of the backbreaking labor out of raking, but many tool brands don't offer one. For example, Milwaukee doesn't make a dedicated dethatcher, but Makita does — the cordless 40V max XGT Cordless 15-inch Dethatcher/Scarifier. Using a brushless motor and spring steel tines, it can clear thatch in no time. 

It also doubles as a scarifier, using 16 steel blades to chop up thicker thatch, making it easier to rake and to dig into the soil to make it more accessible to nutrients. Its working height can be adjusted and has a max depth of ½-inch, and it includes a catcher bag that can hold up to 1.4 bushels of grass. The machine can automatically switch between two batteries for more runtime, and its handle can fold when you're done for easier storage. There is one big drawback to using the tool, however — it's much more expensive than a standard garden rake. The Makita 40V max XGT Cordless 15-inch Dethatcher/Scarifier Kit (model GVU01SM), which comes with a 4 Ah battery, is available for $1,349.

Motorized wheelbarrows are uncommon, but Makita sells three different variants of its battery-powered wheelbarrow/dolly, including one with a dump bucket that makes it much easier to haul dirt, compost, mulch, and other material around your yard. There are certainly uses for the pipe-frame dolly and flat-bucket models, but gardeners will especially appreciate the dump bucket for depositing material and not having to shovel it out manually.

The Makita 36V LXT Powered Wheelbarrow (model XUC04Z) functions just like the ones made 2,000 years ago (though it has four wheels). However, it's a lot easier to push thanks to its brushless motor. It has a 200-lb heaped capacity and a maximum load of over 660 pounds. It has three speed settings and a reverse mode controlled with a variable-speed trigger. You can stop it with a hand lever-operated mechanical axle disc brake and an electromagnetic motor brake.

The motorized wheelbarrow is a vehicle in its own right, equipped with headlights, a taillight, and a warning beeper. It also includes a level gauge, and its soft grip handles can adjust to three different heights. It's also built to better keep dust and water out of its internal components. Makita doesn't have a dedicated 36V line of tools — instead, it utilizes two 18V batteries at once and can hold another two simultaneously, allowing for up to 100 minutes of run time (or 4.5 miles) under load.

One problem with the Makita 36V LXT Powered Wheelbarrow is that it can be hard to find in stock. Depending on where you get it, you can expect to pay thousands of dollars for one.

Many major tool brands sell protective gear in addition to their core products, because there is some must-have safety equipment any home DIY-er should use alongside their other equipment. Some of this PPE can also be very useful when gardening, such as knee pads. If you're getting on in years or have bad knees in general, you'll appreciate the extra comfort as you toil away in your yard, whether it's for hours or just a few minutes. If you're young and healthy (congrats, by the way), you'll still want to use knee pads so that you don't end up like the rest of us.

Makita makes a couple of different types of knee pad sets, including its Ultimate Knee Pads. The pads use high-density foam padding and heavy-duty knee caps to not only protect your joints from the ground but make it more comfortable to put your weight on them, whether you're on dirt, grass, or hard ground. They use cushioned straps that are flexible, yet tight enough to stay securely in place where you need them, rather than sliding up and down while you work and change position.

Makita says the rigid covers of the knee guards won't mark or damage surfaces, so you should also be able to use them on your patio, deck, or other areas you want to keep scratch- and scuff-free. The brand also says the material will last long despite prolonged outdoor use. The set is one-size-fits-all and is 9 ½ x 6 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches and weighs about 1.14 pounds all told.

Many gardening tool sets allow users to grab most of what they need in one convenient package, but they often won't include earth augers — manual or otherwise. If these pre-packaged starter sets are all you've ever used, you may not even know earth augers are available to make gardening an easier hobby. Rather than use a trowel or shovel to dig into your garden, an earth auger allows you to drill holes more easily for planting bulbs or seeds. It can also make holes perfect for garden stakes or to take soil samples.

Among the Makita tools that make your yard look great are two types of motorized earth augers — one for its 40V power system and one for its 18V line. If you already own Makita tools in either of these systems, you'll be able to use the same batteries and chargers to run its earth auger.

The Makita 36V LXT Earth Auger actually uses two 18V batteries simultaneously, and both it and the 40V max XGT Earth Auger use a brushless motor to generate enough power to match a 36-cc gas equivalent. It drills holes up to 41 inches deep and 8 inches wide when paired with an extension bar. It has two speeds, as well as a reverse mode, and will automatically adjust its torque and speed as it drills.

While you may not have heard of some of these Makita gardening tools, you may know about its modular Couple Shaft Power Head system. Makita offers three motorized power heads — 18V, 36V, and 40V — which can pair with at least 18 different attachments, each of which makes for its own power tool. So, rather than have a string trimmer, hedge trimmer, and pole saw all taking up space in your garden shed, you can have one power head and swap between the three attachments.

You've likely seen some of these attachments in the wild before, especially since the system caters toward outdoor equipment, especially. But there are some accessories that are perfect for gardening that you may have missed. The Makita Cultivator Couple Shaft Attachment sports a 9-inch steel blade with six tines that allow it to effectively turn and aerate soil.

When ranking Makita's Couple Shaft attachments by price, its Cultivator Hoe/Weeding Couple Shaft Attachment is one of the more expensive options, but anyone who's had to weed between planting rows before will know why a motorized tool might be worth the cost. The Makita Water Pump Couple Shaft Attachment isn't necessarily a dedicated gardening tool, as the versatile accessory can be used for many applications. But gardeners may find it very useful when creating a drip system for their plants by using the pump to draw from a rain barrel or other reservoir.