The Garden Fork
Another great gardening tool is the garden fork or more commonly referred to as a spading fork, graip or digging fork is a very popular gardening implement that has a small handle and usually four short tines. The spading fork is mainly used for loosening and turning over soil in a garden or on a farm. It will not cut through the roots of weeds or root crops. It is easier to use than the spade because the tines can be inserted more esily into the soil. It can also rake out rocks and weeds, break up dirt clots and is not easily stopped by stones. Digging forks were normally made of wood but now are mainly made of stainless steel or carbon materials.
A garden fork is not a pitch fork. It differs slightly as the pitch fork is used for moving piles of hay, manure or compost. It is usually smaller with a wooden handle the ends in a “D” or “T” and the tines are normally thicker, shorter and flatter and spaced closer together.
Smaller versions of the garden fork, known as ladies forks or border forks has shorter, thinner, closer-spaced tines and are used for lighter work such as weeding in a garden amongst other plants. Garden forks with thicker, flatter tines can be used for lifting up potatoes and similar root crops. When dense clumps of roots are encountered, you can use a pair of forks back-to-back tolever them apart.