Yes. That is the same one we have. Only had it about three years but saves the back when digging trenches more than a traditional spade.Hello @blenor 2 , it is lovely to have you on board. we bought this View attachment 2178shovel for turfing. It's a Fiskars one (not too expensive) Zigs seems to like it, he's used it on lots of different jobs.
It is the hoes I get confused about. I like the sound of @olly-buckle's antique one - mind you old is usually best, even with people.....look at me
blenor 2, if you fill in a bit more of your profile, we'll have some idea of where you are ( please...)
Basic tools for new gardeners
- Thread starter Tetters
- Start date
Well that makes two coincidences then
We are between Dover and Canterbury - how about you?
Ostrodamus
Member
Is this with a broadfork?
Ostrodamus
Member
I tore up or "tilled" the entire back yard using a pickaxe. It was a TON of heavy swinging in the summer heat, but it just felt right. I was also using it as conditioning/strength training for my back. It's my go-to tool for bulk work now.
Pickaxe like this (below).
I want a broadfork (below), but I can't afford it yet.
Pickaxe like this (below).
I want a broadfork (below), but I can't afford it yet.
As I'm here now, although you need an answer from @olly-buckle , I thought I'd send a link to what we would use for a tough vegetable plot - https://www.amazon.co.uk/JCB-Professional-Contractors-Gardening-Improvement/dp/B08W9G2L3Y?th=1
We cerainly would never even contemplate using the tools you pictured. A pick axe is far too hefty for the job, and I rather think the other kind of fork is well over the top and the super strong digging fork, like in the link, would do the same job as the broadfork, for rather less money. You can shove the digging fork in and wiggle it to aerate the soil, without actually turning it over and demolishing the structure totally.
We cerainly would never even contemplate using the tools you pictured. A pick axe is far too hefty for the job, and I rather think the other kind of fork is well over the top and the super strong digging fork, like in the link, would do the same job as the broadfork, for rather less money. You can shove the digging fork in and wiggle it to aerate the soil, without actually turning it over and demolishing the structure totally.
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- Location
- Kent, England
- Hardiness zone
- 9a
While a pickaxe might be a bit much for our clay with flints soil, it might have come in handy where I used to live in Wales. The Welsh have a word for the soil up there "Carreg" or as we say "Rock" 
The more I look at this thread the more I think that I might get an American shovel
The more I look at this thread the more I think that I might get an American shovel
Anniekay
Well-known member
- Location
- Quitman, Ga.
- Hardiness zone
- 9a
The best thing about my shovel is the long handle. Not much bending over and I use it also to remove turf. I jab it a few inches into the ground, walk backwards a step and kick it and it slides right up under the grass.While a pickaxe might be a bit much for our clay with flints soil, it might have come in handy where I used to live in Wales. The Welsh have a word for the soil up there "Carreg" or as we say "Rock"
The more I look at this thread the more I think that I might get an American shovel
- Location
- Kent, England
- Hardiness zone
- 9a
The best thing about my shovel is the long handle. Not much bending over and I use it also to remove turf. I jab it a few inches into the ground, walk backwards a step and kick it and it slides right up under the grass.
That's what I liked about the one I had
Don't know what happened to it, must have sold it 
Ostrodamus
Member
For whatever reason, I never even thought about a lesser version of the broadfork. In the beginning I had to redo the ENTIRE back yard, and I had to dig deep to replace contaminated soils. I had no money at all and found this pickaxe in the garage. This was all "inherited" when I moved in with my girlfriend.
I will look into the garden fork. It does seem more manageable, especially now that the garden is an actual garden now and I don't need to do major jobs.
olly-buckle
Active member
- Location
- E. Sussex
It is amazing what you can do with a sickle. Carry a sickle stone in the other hand instead of a stick and give it a quick rub to keep it sharp every so often
olly-buckle
Active member
- Location
- E. Sussex
The fork in Tetter's link is the sort I was referring to, I have never seen anything like that broadfork before. Where I have dealt with completely uncultivated land in this garden I cut it short then used an English style spade to cut out squares the spade width and most of a spit deep and turn them over. The first one is worst, you have to cut all four sides, then three sides for the rest of the row, after that it is only two sides apart from the ones at the end of the row. Then I left it over winter, let the weather do the job of breaking up the deeper soil I had turned up. come Spring, summer I turned it with a border fork and mixed in the surface growth, which had rotted by then.
I have converted a piece of very weed ridden virgin ground by putting down old carpet, cutting slits in it, and planting potatoes in them. The trouble is it has to be wool carpet, then you can simply dig it in when harvesting the potatoes, I had one bit with an artificial fibre thread running through it and it tangled in the fork when I dug over. The potatoes spread out under the carpet and form new tubers half buried in the soil, so you don't have to dig deep. It didn't give much of a crop, but the soil was quite friable after it. I am against deep digging on the whole, a lot of work for very little point, most things grow in the top six inches. Once the top few inches are workable a hoe is a much more useful tool, I even take out trenches for planting leeks and potatoes with a draw hoe. My excuse to customers who wanted me to do hard work digging was that it would destroy the structure of the soil, and it is not just an excuse. I clean the surface, but try and leave roots in when clearing crops. They retain moisture there and gradually rot leaving channels down into the ground and I just have light work scuffling up the surface.
I have never been one for doing lots of heavy exercise if I can avoid it, continuous light work doesn't give me big, rippling muscles, but it keeps me fit and gets things done without having to tear the heart out of the land.
@olly-buckle what a fantastic and valuable post that is!! You are an expert at writing short stories, maybe you should gather together a few of these types of posts - from wherever, and put them in a book. I can think of a few appropriate titles for this. Fantastic legacy? 
I found the sickle was quite difficult to get the knack of. My last husband, who died just after the turn of the century used one of those with great skill. We still have it here, but now it is blunt and unused. He always kept the stone handy, but used his specially cut Hazel stick to lift the vegetation he was cutting.
olly-buckle
Active member
- Location
- E. Sussex
A stick is better for most things, you hold the plant with it so it cuts and doesn't just bend when the sickle hits it, but the shape of a sickle stone means you can use it like a stick and keep it really sharp as well when dealing with a large area of tough stuff. The 'bushing hook' is the heavier version of the sickle, a full semicircle going straight into the handle. The sickle can be quite light with an almost straight blade attached to a separate rod holding it away from the handle. I used to use them all the time, cleaning up under fences and such, even cutting back large ill kept hedges, but as I have got older my wrist can't take it for long and it has to be a little at a time.
