Thanks for sharing. At $46 that's a pretty reasonable price, in my opinion. I'd like to try one of these out. It's added to my wishlist.

You are welcome Dave! It works very well for me I have done quite a bit of digging with it this spring and it slices right thru our heavy soil like butter makes it easy to plant.

My handiest is a perennial shovel. It's an odd-looking thing that I bought at Smith and Hawkin's going out of business sale. It looks like this
http://www.wilshiregardenmarke...

It can slice through even think old plants for division, and is great at removing close-growing plants from an over stuffed garden beds. I love that weird little shovel.

Karen

Two of the hardest working shovels in my yard! They are used to shovel mulch and have saved my back lots of heartache. The hard plastic, snow-shovelesque is short-handled and lightweight. It can load up mulch into the wheelbarrow or into the beds in one fell swoop. Seriously, about 6 scoops with this giant shovel and the wheelbarrow is full! The other is part of a Little Tykes set, leftover from my kid's. It grabs up about 3 large handfuls and helps me get mulch into the nooks and crannies.

Love the recommendations for some garden tools. I have an old spade (think it's a Craftsman) that I adore. It's the only implement in my yard that hasn't bent under the strain of digging through clay soils. And it's just the right size for me to dig with it. I may investigate some of these others as a backup.

Betty, have you done any digging in rocky areas with that shovel? I've got lots of rocks, and I'm pretty sure that they are held together with clay mixed with superglue. I can't get a regular shovel in there! I'd really love to clear out some areas to put a few plants in, but can't make a bit of progress. I don't have a tractor, which may be what it takes. Knowing my luck, the rocks are 10 feet deep, so even a tractor wouldn't work. But, if I can just get a few smaller holes dug in the area, that would be great!

I had to run to K-Mart one night to pick up some batteries, since they were the only store near me that was open. This was after Sears bought K-Mart, or K-mart bought Sears. They had Craftsman tools on sale, and I picked up a Craftsman shovel for less than half price! I think I paid $10 at the most for it. It's been going strong for at least 6 or 7 years now! It doesn't work in the rocky area, but has been great everywhere else. I was told at the time that there was a lifetime warranty on it. We've really abused it too, and it's as good as the day I got it. It was in the fall, so if any of you want a decent shovel with a fiberglass handle, I'd check K-Mart in the fall if you have one in your area.

Natalie, your ground sounds like ours! I got to use a shovel for about the first 8 inches of the holes I was digging for my new roses, and then I hit the rocks. None of them were very BIG rocks, but there were LOTS of them. I ended up using a combination of my hand trowel, hand cultivator, and a short handled shovel. Took forever!

woofie, I'd be thrilled if I could dig 8 inches down! I can't even dig more than 2 inches down in the area that I want to! I finally started picking the rocks out by hand to make a planting hole, and got so frustrated that I quit! It is a rather large area, so I'm giving up until I can come up with a solution. I may have to have truck loads of dirt brought in to dump on top of the area. I can't see that being affordable unless I win the lottery. I never buy a ticket, so I may be out of luck!

Have you tried using a narrow blade shovel? You know, one of those long skinny ones?

I tried one of those, and failed with it, too. It's more like a pile of rocks under the dirt than anything.

I have a guaranteed way to get rid of those giant buried rocks: I delegate the job to my husband.

Karen

Tried that Karen, and failed miserably! He's decided that he really likes rocks in areas that I want to put plants! Oh well, he's still cute after 30 plus years, so I'll keep him!

The rocks aren't really big, and can be dug out by hand, but I can't be bothered with that! I'm hoping to find a shovel that will work instead.

Hey, what about one of those garden forks? Thing that kind of looks like a pitchfork, but shorter and with heavier tines?

Tried that too woofie. I couldn't get enough leverage, but it may work if I can talk someone else into doing it! The problem is getting whatever I use into the ground. Oh! Maybe dynamite would work! Hadn't thought of that!!

You might try threatening your DH with hiring someone younger and stronger....... (tee hee, snicker!)
The sweet young thing we hired wielded that fork to very good effect.

woofie said:You might try threatening your DH with hiring someone younger and stronger....... (tee hee, snicker!)
The sweet young thing we hired wielded that fork to very good effect.

My DH would tell me to go ahead and do just that!

Have you considered renting a jackhammer?

It has been raining for about 8 hours now, a lot of rain! I just sent my husband out in the rain to chase a rabbit out of one of my flower beds. I guess he's a keeper, too.

Karen

woofie said:Have you considered renting a jackhammer?

Not yet, but only because I'd also need to hire someone to do all of that hammering!

Well, actually I was thinking you could use it to chisel that DH out of the hammock and into the garden......