Independent comparisons. We may earn from shop links. More info

Best bulb planter UK for a named job

Updated: 22 October 2026

Best bulb planter UK on a search page often means Gardeners’ World’s 2024 Best Buys, or a 4.7 line from a dozen reviews. This page is neither. It names one hand pick, one standing pick and one cheap pick from the eleven amazon.co.uk listings in our [flower bulb planter comparison](/hub/plant-accessories/flower-bulb-planter), and it says who should skip each. There is no lab here. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are those listings on 19 October 2026. If you still need the type split before a pick, start with the [bulb planter buying guide](/hub/plant-accessories/flower-bulb-planter/sub/flower-bulb-planter-buying-guide). A purchase through our links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Best bulb planter UK on a search page often means Gardeners’ World’s 2024 Best Buys, or a 4.7 line from a dozen reviews. This page is neither.

Our top picks

Gardena Gardena 3412-20

Best overall

Gardena Gardena 3412-20
9.1/10about £15.49
View offer
Fiskars Fiskars Ergo

Alternative

Fiskars Fiskars Ergo
7.9/10about £36.99
View offer
Draper Draper 21861

Best value

Draper Draper 21861
8.3/10about £8.49
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What best means here
  2. 2.Best hand tool for a border
  3. 3.Best standing tool if you cannot kneel
  4. 4.Best value, and who should skip a hard lawn

What best means here

Scores here combine the amazon.co.uk star line, the review sample, how well the tool fits planting bulbs, and value against the table. Gardena 3412-20 scores 91 and is the top pick. Draper 21861 scores 83 and is the best value. Fiskars Ergo 1057078 scores 79, the strongest standing line. Those numbers rank this table. They are not a UK championship. Gardeners’ World’s October 2024 test named Kent & Stowe as the long-handle Best Buy, Gardena as the hand Best Buy, and Fiskars Xact for people who struggle to bend. Kent & Stowe and Xact are not in this eleven-ASIN set. The Fiskars here is the Ergo, not the Xact. Do not treat 4.7 from 12 reviews as stronger than 4.5 from 2,400.

Best hand tool for a border

The hand pick is the Gardena 3412-20 at about £15.49: a 490 g steel cone, a trigger, a depth scale, and 4.5 from 2,400 reviews. UK texts like that trigger on sticky border soil. The same file says clay is tough, grass can be trickier than a trowel, and damp earth can stick. A numeric maximum is not listed, so measure the bulb against the scale. Buy it if you are kneeling in a prepared bed or a large pot. Skip it if you cannot kneel. Spear & Jackson 3060EL is the stainless alternative at about £9.99, 4.3 from 833 reviews. UK texts include a 165-bulb job, and also stones, damp plugs, and users who could not twist it for daffodils.
Gardena Gardena 3412-20

Testsieger

Gardena Gardena 3412-20
9.1/10about £15.49
View offer

Best standing tool if you cannot kneel

The standing pick is the Fiskars Ergo 1057078 at about £36.99: 1 m, about 1.95 kg, a lever, a non-slip tread, a listed depth up to 15 cm, and 4.5 from 306 reviews. UK texts plant daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses without kneeling and like the one-piece build. The same file includes a handle that broke after three bulbs, and a cut-star review over a two-year guarantee. It sits below Gardena on score, and it is still the deepest listed standing hole here. Buy it if you cannot kneel or you want a printed 15 cm line rather than a 9.4 cm head. Skip it for a few dozen border bulbs. The Jardineer two-piece set at about £29.99, 4.3 from 175 reviews, pairs a long transplanter with a small cone. UK texts plant 150 tulips after a short assembly. The long piece is the weak half, because soil will not come out. It is not a substitute for the Fiskars lever.

Best value, and who should skip a hard lawn

The best value pick is the Draper 21861 at about £8.49: a 60 mm chrome cone, spring handles, 50–100 mm, and 4.2 from 2,363 reviews. UK texts call it quick in pots and prepared borders. The same file shows the cone buckling in compacted lawn or hard clay. One hundred millimetres is shallow for a large daffodil. Do not treat the word turf as a licence to lean on it in dry grass. Skip the thin samples. DUFVCX at about £11.99 is 4.7 from 12 reviews, and hard dry lawn is the repeated miss. Orientools at about £28.99 is 4.0 from two reviews, including a return because 9.4 cm felt inadequate. The Jardineer long handle sold alone is 3.7 from 24 reviews, with bolts that did not fit and a bend after about 20 lawn holes. If the plug motion matters more than the pick, go to how to use a bulb planter. The shaft and the shallow-head trap are on the long handled bulb planter page.

Common questions

What is the best hand planter in this comparison?
Gardena 3412-20, at about £15.49 with 4.5 from 2,400 reviews, a trigger and a depth scale. That is the top pick in this amazon.co.uk set for a prepared border, not a UK lab win. Spear & Jackson 3060EL at about £9.99 is the stainless spring alternative if you want metal that shrugs off wet storage and you accept a smaller sample. Neither is a standing lawn tool.
What is the best standing planter here?
Fiskars Ergo 1057078, at about £36.99 with 4.5 from 306 reviews and a listed depth up to 15 cm. UK texts plant without kneeling and like the one-piece build. A handle-break review and a two-year guarantee complaint sit in the same file, so it is the standing pick with a limit, not a flawless shaft. It is not the Fiskars Xact Best Buy from the 2024 magazine test.
Is Draper good enough?
For pots, troughs and prepared borders, yes: about £8.49, 60 mm, 50–100 mm, 2,363 reviews. For compacted lawn or hard clay, no. UK texts say the cone can buckle if you lean on it, and 100 mm can leave a large daffodil too shallow. That is why it is best value as a border tool, not as a turf plugger.
Why is Kent & Stowe missing?
It is not in this eleven-ASIN amazon.co.uk table. Gardeners’ World’s 2024 long-handle Best Buy was Kent & Stowe. The hand Best Buy was Gardena, which is here. Shop Kent & Stowe on its own listing if you want that magazine pick. Do not treat our standing pick as a silent stand-in for it.
Should I buy the Jardineer two-piece set?
Buy it if you want a long handle and a small depth-marked cone in one order at about £29.99, and you will assemble it and poke stuck plugs. Skip it if you need a reliable dump on the long tube or a numbered 15 cm standing hole. Fiskars Ergo remains the standing pick in this set. The Jardineer pair is the cheaper mixed job.
Is 4.7 from 12 reviews the winner?
No. DUFVCX’s 4.7 line sits on 12 reviews. Gardena’s 4.5 sits on 2,400. The scoring here weights sample size, so a tiny five-star file does not beat a large 4.5 file. Hard, dry lawn is also the repeated DUFVCX limit in UK texts. Do not buy on the decimal alone.

Related pages

Flower bulb planter

Bulb planter buying guide for UK borders and lawns

How to use a bulb planter: nose up, then plug back

Plant bulbs in a lawn: scatter, plug and mow later

Long handled bulb planter for depth, tread and joint

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured for these eleven listings. Last checked 19 October 2026.

  1. RHS, Bulbs: planting tips (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. RHS, How to plant bulbs in grass (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. RHS, How to grow daffodils (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, Best bulb planters (Oct 2024) (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, How to plant bulbs in lawns (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. GARDENA UK, Bulb Planter 3412-20 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. GOV.UK, General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. Business Companion, GPSR producers (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  9. amazon.co.uk, Draper 21861 (retrieved 19 October 2026)