Having the right tools is important when beginning a landscaping project. You might already have most of them lying around the garage or shed, and if you don't, they are relatively inexpensive and easily found at any home improvement store or garden center.
First off you need to have shovels. Plants must go
in the ground and, therefore, holes must be dug.
Shovels come in a variety of sizes and each has its own use. For digging
large beds or deeper holes a 
full
length model works well. It gives the best leverage for removing and
flinging dirt. The shorter spade is great when installing plants into
an already defined bed. If you are planting annuals or perennials in
6 to 12 inch containers it is ideal and also works well when digging
holes for small shrubs or young trees. The shorter shovel also comes
in handy when edging an existing bed as it makes a sharp line and is
easy to control. The tiniest of the diggers, or garden trowel, is a
must have when planting flats of annuals in the spring. It is great
for making small holes without disturbing the rest of the flower bed.
When picking out shovel, especially the trowel, make sure that the blade
is strong and that it feels comfortable in your hands. A weak blade
can be easily bent in a heavy soil and causes frustrations.
Once you have defined beds, they must be cultivated,
especially before any planting is done. There are special tools made
for this job called, well, cultivators. Just as the shovel they come
in
different sizes and shapes. One of the best is a spading fork, the top
tool in the picture to the right. It has strong tines and is used in
the same manner as a shovel to turn and break up the dirt in a bed.
Do not try and use a pitch fork as a spading fork. The tines on a pitch
fork are much too weak to work soil. The bottom tool pictured is actually
a combination of rake and a garden hoe. Great for vegetable gardens,
one side breaks up the soil and the other digs rows. A with the garden
trowel, cultivators also come in a hand sized model. The hand cultivator
is also great for working up annual beds and is useful for breaking
up the soil around weeds so as to loosen their roots and make sure the
whole weed is removed.
After a new bed is dug, an old bed is worked up, or
a raised bed has been filled with dirt, you may 
want
to level off the soil. Garden rakes are great for this job and can also
be used to work up the top few inches of soil or spread mulch over a
finished bed. Yard rakes are also important for those interested in
their home's landscape. As you probably know they are priceless in the
fall when trees lose their leaves, but can also be used for many clean
up projects around the yard. Use a yard rake to collect the trash after
pruning a shrub or small tree and also when cutting back perennials.
Speaking of pruning and cutting back, there are a wide
range of tools used for these tasks. The main 
difference
in pruners is how big and strong they are and what size and type of
plants they can be used on. If you are only going to trim back some
dead blooms on a perennial, you can use scissors or a small one-handed
pruner. Woody shrubs and trees require something a little larger and
with more muscle such as a two-handed pruner. Large limbs should be
pruned off with a saw. Very large limbs might need a chain saw to be
removed. Just be sure to stock your garage with a few different sizes
of pruners so that any situation is covered. You don't need to worry
about having a saw or chain saw on hand until the need arises for you
to purchase one.
Tools definitely have many uses in the landscape and it is good to have the needed equipment. However, don't rush out and buy everything all at once. Save money and garage space by starting out with just the basics, maybe a couple of shovels, a cultivator, and a pruner. Don't buy much more than that unless you discover that you need more tools to do the work you want to do. Don't over equip yourself, just buy what you need as you find out you need it.