Tools for Digging – what are your favorites?

Here’s a new page on my Sustainable Gardening site – about tools for digging.  It includes all my favorites but I’d much rather it include some of yours, too.  Any suggestions?

Digging is our most basic gardening task, and
here are my favorite tools for getting the job done, and some others
you might try.

LONG TOOLS USED WHILE STANDING   

Basic Shovels and Spades

Technically, the bodies
and edges of shovels are rounded while those of spades are flat.  So
both are good for digging but the rounded shovels are best for carrying
the soil but when the digging job is a big one.  Whatever.  I use them
interchangeably, according to which has a short handle and which a long
one, the long one affording good leverage for those deep digging tasks.

The HGTV guru Paul James recommends that gardeners have both both.   

In the photo you see the spade I recently used to remove my entire
lawn.  A shovel wouldn’t have worked nearly as well for that task.

Perennial-planting shovels

By definition, these are narrower and what
I use for tight spots, to make sure I don’t damage nearby roots – or at
least try not to.  Photo right.

Bulb-Planting Shovels

These are even narrower, and work well  where the soil is easily dug (not so great for cutting roots or getting past rocks).

Hoes

Hoes are perfect for removing large quantities of tiny weeds or deep
tap-rooted weeds.  Elliot Coleman, popular guru of edible gardening,
recommends using a hoe regularly to prevent weeds.  Photo left.

Scuffle hoes are great for large areas because of their push/pull
action.   The weeds can just left on the ground to compost in place.
But there are SO many types, try your neighbors hoes out to see which
ones feel best for you.

Garden Forks   

Got
rocks or clay? Then the old-fashioned garden fork will help you
navigate through and around them.  They’re also good for aerating the
soil, breaking up clay, and digging up bulbs.  Photo right.   

The best
have 4 tines, not 3, which should be quite rigid (steel is a good
material), also a fiberglass shaft and a strong D-handle.

Pickax   
   

This
tool, above all, makes me feel like the Wonder Woman of Digging.  I
always use it in a sitting position, though, for maximum impact on the
clay I’m breaking up and minimal impact on my back.  Photo left shows a
well worn pickax. 
      

SHORT TOOLS USED WHILE KNEELING

Trowels   

This is the digging tool I use the most – for planting, weeding, moving small
amounts of dirt, and more – so I’m pretty picky about which one I use.
This one is my favorite because it’s strong enough not to bend under
pressure, it’s big enough to hold some soil, has a pointy end that’s
great for cutting, and even measures how deeply you’ve dug!  No wonder
it’s such a bummer when I misplace it and have to use one of my many
others.  Photo right.   

Steak knives for dividing and slicing

Every year or I stock
up on steak knifes at the local dollar store because it’s my favorite
best tool for slicing through small perennials like liriope. It’s also
the tool of choice for cutting through the roots of pot-bound plants.

Cobrahead for weeding

I
once won a Cobrahead and I was hoping to later write that I
love-love-love it, but I don’t.  I do know gardeners who can’t get
enough of it, so do give it a try.  Photo left.   

Hori hori knife or Japanese gardening knife, the knife that never needs sharpening.  It works well, and here are some photos of them.

Mattocks

I call this tool the "Slayer of Invasives" and indeed it is, at least the ones I tackle while kneeling.  Photo right.   

FOR MAJOR OVERHAULS
Rototilling is a
controversial practice, with many experts warning that it destroys soil
structure.  In creating new gardens it’s still practiced by many, who
find it the best way to get amendments (additives) mixed several inches
into the soil, so will disturb the soil structure once, but not again.

MORE GREAT INFORMATION ON LINE   
   

• Great article about shovels by HGTV’s Paul James
• Tool care tips by Felco.
• Caring for tool handles, and how to sharpen a shovel, from  Lowes.
• Good advice on cleaning and sharpening from Fine Gardening Magazine.   

AND IN PRINT   

• The Tool Book by Logan is the latest favorite.
• Garden Tools and Equipment by the editors of Fine Gardening.
• Year-Round Guide to Garden Maintenance by Gordon and Mary Hayward.
• Garden Tools by a bunch of authors.
• Tools, Techniques and Tips for a Successful Garden by Dobbs and Knowles.