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Getting In Some Spade Work
I’ve done a bit of digging in my time. It started with archaeology in my teens, every year I would go off and do two weeks digging on the South Downs. If you were an experienced volunteer you did the nice bits, trowelling off exposed areas but if you weren’t then it was days of digging down and shovelling out. ‘Topsoil is character forming’ was engraved in Latin on our site hut and indeed it was.
Over the years I have got to use, abuse and often break a wide variety of digging implements. The problem with most of them is that while generally well designed they nearly all tend to have an Achilles heel, tines that snap rather than bend, handles that fail due to the use of cheap hollow rivets, etc, etc. So when I discovered the Joseph Bentley range of traditional tools, I immediately asked them if I could trial some of their range on my allotment.
Most of their tools are available in both stainless and carbon steel versions but having had some bad experiences with stainless in the past I chose to try the more traditional carbon steel ones. All their tools are beautifully designed, they are light, well balanced and have well constructed solid ash handles. They are so confident of their tools that they come with a 25 year guarantee.
My son Julian and I have been using the Digging Spade and Fork to work my very neglected allotment. This is heavy clay soil and not the easiest digging by any means. However we have now dug over a sizable area and removed some shrubs, all with no blisters, no back ache and no damage. We also lent them to our allotment neighbours, who have an award winning patch. They gave them a quick try for double digging and agreed they were fine quality tools, though they would have gone for the stainless steel version as they think clay doesn’t stick to it as much.
Meanwhile Maddy Harland has been digging holes for trees with a Joseph Bentley Planting Spade. This has a specially shaped blade designed to make digging deep holes and trenches as easy as possible. “This is a beautifully balanced spade and robustly made so it won’t snap half way down the blade when under pressure, an important point as my garden has thin soil on chalk. It is just the right width, cuts the hole cleanly and is a pleasure to use.”
I am also trying their Long Handled Weeding range which I hope will reduce back ache and improve reach across the beds. These are all really high quality tools and I look forward to using them for many years.
John Adams
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Joseph Bentley Digging Spade & Fork
Joseph Bentley Planting Spade
Joseph Bentley Long Handled Tools (heads)
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