Quality items properly cared for, can last a lifetime, so purchase the best tools you can afford. Spades, shovels forks made of forged steel are stronger and more durable than pressed tools. These can be expensive, so if your budget is limited settle for lower priced tools of well known brands, where quality has not been compromised. Choose tools which are comfortable to use, that are the right length and the handle feels right. Looking at garden tools in depth the traditional shovel for digging and shifting soils, has a rounded pointed scooped face, making it the workhorse for most cultivating jobs. These are usually long handled, but the short handled, square point shovels are ideal for other jobs like squaring edges, doing bottom of ditches and shoveling manure and clearing snow, etc. Spades generally have a shorter handle, square edged and a more comfortable weight, ideal for women and specialized jobs such as breaking up earth clods and tiding up. Handles can be wood or steel with the `D` shaped grip. Other garden tools are the Fork, a four pronged/tines implement with a `D` shaped grip, similar to a spade, but the tines penetrate easily making it ideal for loosing or aerating and turning the ground. The rake or bow rake has about fifteen toothed like prongs from a `T` shaped bar, which is used for leveling off after digging leaving a neat tidy finish ready for planting.
Gardening Tools
