It does not want to be too big, just wide enough to do the job but narrow enough to get between rows. For general preparation of a seedbed a round-tined flathead rake is best. That, too, lives permanently outside, stuck into the current compost heap. The only other fork that I use a lot and would recommend is a long-handled manure fork, which is ideal for turning compost and transferring it from heap to barrow and again from barrow to soil. We have a small border fork but, unlike its spade counterpart, it seems fiddly rather than compact. I confess that it spends at least half its time outside in the vegetable garden, stuck in the ground, where it does most of its work, lifting vegetables and breaking up the ground. I prefer square tines (as opposed to round or flat), not too long, not too curved, and of stainless steel. I have various others, too, of various curvature and shape of tine. I have one that is a companion to my spade and similarly admired, although it is hard to love a fork. We have established that a spade is necessary. It is simply a matter of discrimination.įor all that I love the hundreds of gardening tools I own, you actually need very few to garden well. There are wonderful toolmakers still at work. That is not to say that I think we should be using antique tools or faux 'Tools of Yesteryear' (I kid you not). Most modern attempts at improving or redesigning garden tools look as though they have fallen out of a cracker. It goes without saying that I like hand tools best, and simple, refined combinations of steel and wood best of all. Good soil plus good spade equals good time. Digging a rich loam becomes one of life's great sensual pleasures. It introduces a pure aesthetic element to a task above and beyond its success. Every single time I use my spade I enjoy the experience, be it lifting an errant hazel seedling to move to a better spot, or double-digging. Good tools don't make a good gardener, but they do add enormously to the pleasure of gardening. This is spade as fetish, spade taken very seriously.īut every gardener should take their tools seriously, just as a chef will take knives seriously or a musician their instrument. There is no negotiation on this - there are spades enough for that and good ones, too. It is now on its third handle and I would not exchange it for any other spade in the world. It cost about £90 in 1988 and I regard it as one of the best buys I ever made. It is a miracle of sophisticated design, as perfectly evolved for its function as a shark is for swimming or a wheel for revolving. That edge is sharp enough to cut string and chop through tree roots like a chisel. The blade, set on a swan neck of forged steel drawn from the same ingot as the blade is pressed from, is gently curved in cross section, the curve diminishing as it opens towards the edge. It weighs exactly 5lb and it balances perfectly cradled on my index finger. This is stainless steel and was made at the Wigan foundry of Bulldog Tools in 1988. The point of contact has to be right.Īll these spades are sufficiently different to get an outing every now and then, but only one spade has my heart. Would you buy a kitchen knife with a superb blade and a cheap plastic handle? No. How many people, when buying a spade from a garden centre, ask what wood the handle is from? But you should. I would not dream of using a spade with a plastic handle, partly because wood, worn shiny smooth with use, feels so much nicer, but also because plastic will give you blisters much faster. Most have YD handles, where the ash is split and steamed to hold the shape of an open fork, which is then closed by a tubular ash bar. All have ash handles, although American hickory is good. I have spades practically unused because they look fine but just feel wrong, and spades worn by many generations of gardeners to a lopsided shaving of its original self. I have digging spades with wide treads and long straps extending halfway up the handle, trenching or Irish spades with extra-long handles and a tapering blade, spades with YD grips, T-handles or straight handles beautifully shaped to bulb out slightly at the end so that the handle instinctively seeks and finds the most comfortable, ergonomic position. There is a stainless- steel border spade, small and precise and useful for moving plants in a busy border. I am seduced by them, use them with curiosity and some pleasure until the novelty wears off and then put them to one side, clean, oiled and ready for use, in comfortable retirement. I have accrued spades across the years with the compulsion of a debauched pasha collecting concubines. It begins - and I guess will eventually end - with a spade.
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