The basic tool for digging, at least in the UK, is the spade with its wide cutting blade, parallel sides and long handle. It’s essential to have a good one, made of quality steel with a straight-grained ash handle and either a “T” or a “D” handle. We have three, but my favourite is this top-quality stainless steel one. It has a slightly longer shaft than usual, which suits my height and gives more leverage, and has the D-handle, which I prefer on a spade (I like a T on a shovel). There are specialist spades for specific jobs, but for all-round flexibility and precision it’s hard to beat a good, general-purpose spade.
The garden fork is another very useful tool—and should be used a lot more by gardeners, many of whom tend to overdig with spades. The fork is much faster, breaks up hard clods more effectively, is much easier to push into the ground than a spade and is less disruptive to good soil structure. It’s often faster to break new ground with a fork, than a spade (especially with a broad fork but that’s a tool for another occasion). Again, we have three forks but this is my preferred one. It has carbon steel tines, is on it’s third handle and it’s 12 years old so is just starting to get worked in. From time to time I have to heat the tines and hammer them back into line, usually after I hit a large stone while working fast. In fact, as can be seen, it needs that sort of TLC now.
A much under-rated tool in Britain is the heavy digging hoe or azada. We have three—a pointed or ridging hoe for working in stony ground, trenching or ridging up; a heavy duty one for clearing rough ground, opening up new beds, clearing pig pens and digging out roots; and a light one for general gardening (and for the Other Half to use as it’s much, much lighter than the big one). The azada or hoe is swung into action, so it’s much easier to use for long periods than a spade or fork. There’s also much less bending. Digging hoes are much more common in Australia, parts of Europe, Africa and Asia than they are in the UK—where gardeners are firmly wedded to the spade and fork. For me, each has its uses but the digging hoe is the hand tool for cultivating on a field scale. (Get Digging is the place to buy them in the UK—and they like my digging style, to boot.)
Finally, the ground breaker and root chopper par excellence—the mattock. This is a 10lb one with a short handle and it takes serious effort to use it effectively, especially over a long period. It has a sharp axehead on one side to cut through thick roots and a thick, slightly less sharp hoe-type blade on the other for breaking through compacted ground. Using this and a crowbar to break up a quarter acre of compacted ground is the sort of challenge that I positively enjoy. You don’t have to be quite as mad as that, but good tools will certainly make digging jobs quicker, easier and more fun. Just remember to clean them, oil them and store them properly after every outing in the garden.
We must be rather alike Stoney; I too like good gardening tools. Give me a quality implement at any time. Keeping them sharp and oiled is essential and the handle must be kept smooth and splinter free.
A light sandpaper occasionally does the trick.
A bit of good digging I find is relaxing, yes relaxing, while giving exercise and time for thinking.
The digging tools here in France are a little different to what I was used to in the UK. The spades tend to be curved rather than straight across the end and have a long straight handle, as do the forks. I’m beginning to get the hang of working with the spade but I don’t find it very good for digging although it’s excellent for shifting stuff. A real navvy’s spade.
I had to return to the UK and buy myself a border spade and fork though for proper digging. I can’t use the full sized ones as it stresses my back too much.
The azada and ground breaker are common here too along with something that looks a bit like the groundbreaker but has 2 tines on the back rather than the pick. I find that the took a bit of time to learn to use effectively but I think I’m getting the hang of them now, and they are the only tool to break up the rain compaction on my clay loam.
An excellent spade for digging in stony ground is the Celtic spade (aka the Irish spade, the Cornish spade etc). It has a long handle and a round point, which is much easier to get around stones. The Celtic spade is also very good for digging deep holes, especially with a small diameter.
I should also have mentioned by two preferred manufacturers of garden tools (in the UK): Bulldog and Sneeboer. And if you have children who garden, look for Joseph Bentley children’s tools, which include a spade, fork, dutch hoe, soil rake and spring tine rake. Harrod Horticultural have Sneeboer and Joseph Bentley (note, there are other sources, some cheaper but Harrod have most of ranges).
I bloody hate digging with a passion. I’m 25 with back problems, and digging is a killer. But I like the look of the azada, might be worth investing in one me thinks. Thanks for the tips.
This onviously took some time to put together. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
i’m bringing an azada home from spain with me this year, last year we returned with scythes, this year it’ll be azada’s. we didn’t have room in the car last year.
my dad uses an azada and it means he’s still able to grow all their veg in spite of being 76 and in poor health.
I use a scythe, too. I’ll have to do a post of tools for grass maintenance and include it.
Divorcefire, thanks. Most people think the posts just materialise and fail to realise how much time it takes to research, photograph and write them. It’s sometimes difficult maintaining the quality and quantity that readers expect, especially when I’ve done 12 hours work on the croft and then spend a further couple of hours doing this once everyone else is in bed.
Thanks for the post, Stoney. I haven’t seen azadas here in Aus. Must keep an eye out.
Regards, Gary
Gary, in Australia they’re mainly known as agricultural or digging hoes, or just hoes. My dad and both my grandfathers had them. They have big, heavy forged heads with ring sockets that the shaft passes through.
Of course, it may be that they’ve been largely forgotten in the last 30 years or so. That’s certainly been the case in Scotland. Most people under 50 who see our big hoes are surprised by them, but we do get the occasional older person who remembers them being used in the neep and tattie fields in the 1950s or earlier. A book I have on my shelves has a man earthing up tatties with an agricultural hoe in the 1950s or early 1960s.
I suspect standardisation of tools, the disappearance of the blacksmiths and the decline in home-grown vegetables (especially on a large scale) have all contributed to the decline of tools like the large hoe.