Selfsufficientish.com

For anyone who uses a spade, as a shovel - as I did for years - I've got some advice:-

Get a shovel!

I've just got one and it's like winning the lottery!!!! (Well.. maybe not quite...). It's soooooooo much better than a spade at lifting piles of soil or manure and the like. Makes me feel proper daft for not having had one sooner.

From now on, when I need a spade I use a spade. But when I need a shovel I use a shovel.

Get one on your Christmas lists if you aint got one! And you too can feel like a millionaire.

I can see the reasoning i have shovels of the 'coal' short handled type, however I do have one of those plastic orange snow shovels and it's so useful for shifting compost (and recently leaves) and filling raised beds after I've loosened and turned over the soil with a fork (which I found totally useless for shifting soil and compost )

Yes, I 've always used a spade as a shovel and I must agree that for shovel type jobs you should use a shovel as a spade is very inefficient.

My problem is now solved and I can recommend the solution, though it may not fit everyone's budget: buy a house in the country next door and make sure it is of an age that it was originally heated with coal. Then check that the original coal shovels are still in the shed and that they come with the purchase. Hey presto: several 'free' shovels added to the gardening tool collection.

Jandra

having managed without the right tools for most things.. can vouch tht once you have decided you will continue at something, it really is worth getting the right tools.

we have a really great hoe.. makes the job so much easier.

If you can get a shovel with a long handle about 4.5-5ft.....so much easier less bending.

that's exactly it, paddy.

i've bought a shovel and it's robust and yet ultra-light with a handle of 5ft.

it's a bloomin' wonder to use. i can now shift loads (and loads!) more stuff without either getting worn out or a backache afterwards!

You'd be amazed at how many gardeners on other forums seem to think that a spade is a spade is also a shovel. Can't say that I understand the logic either. But there you go. I've joined the shovel and spade brigade.