Proudly owned and cherished by garden lovers, appreciated by those who seek quality and craftsmanship, revered by the most discerning gardeners all over the world, it’s little wonder then that Sneeboer have become synonymous with the best quality tools for gardeners. These good-looking and exceptionally hardworking tools have been designed to make light work of digging and cultivating, and are manufactured to last for years. Burgon & Ball garden spades and forks are endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society, one of the world’s foremost horticultural organisations and the UK's leading gardening charity. We are confident of the quality of our tools: each RHS-endorsed tool comes with a lifetime guarantee against manufacturing defects.

It may be hard to clean between the various joints and grips, and the handle grip may be too large for smaller hands. The long, steel shaft is designed for optimal balance and digging leverage. The metal D-shape handle is resistant to chipping and rusting and features a red rubber-coated non-slip grip which is easy to spot when set down on a lawn.A footplate or step is an appealing feature at the top of the blade. Here users can step with their foot to use body weight to push the blade down into the ground. “Spades with a foot pad on the top of the blade make it easier to dig in hard, compacted soil,” Hughes says. The most underrated plants or flowers are the primrose, cow parsley and the hawthorn. The common hawthorn is beautiful in flower, in leaf and in berry. These are all native, very modest plants that I absolutely could not live without. It’s all about emotional engagement: you can’t have a garden without a gardener, and gardens are human beings, therefore you can’t have a garden without humanity. You can have a very dull garden full of extraordinary plants and you can have a wonderful garden full of very ordinary plants – it’s about people and their relationships with them. That’s where gardens become interesting. Riveted securely in place, the strap strengthens stress points on the shaft to extend the life of the spade, but the rivets can catch on hands or garden gloves. The steel strap may also make this spade too heavy for some users, however, so keep that in mind.

Avid gardeners moving shrubs and digging trenches daily may want to invest in a more expensive tool that will withstand years of daily use. Those who use a spade for occasional or light work can be confident selecting a lower-priced tool fashioned from durable materials.

Customer Reviews

Its long, pointed shape and curved tip allow this tool to dig deeper than most, but the shape does limit the blade’s surface area for moving soil. Sharp serrated edges on both sides of the blade give this spade great sawing capabilities, though the atypical, pointed blade limits scooping potential. Overall, it’s designed to cut, dig, and pull roots out all at once so gardening tasks are completed faster. You and the garden will simply love these Sneeboer tools, classic ‘Buy Less – Buy Better products’. Applying age-old traditions in hand forging whilst also using state-of-the-art techniques, Sneeboer make quality stainless steel tools which are built to last. Sustainable tools which also prove to be cost effective considering garden tools frequently need to take a bit of a beating. Most important when choosing a garden spade, it must be well-made,” Hughes says. “I rely on my spade to do a lot of the tough work around my garden, so it must be well-made, preferably with a white oak handle and a forged, heavy metal blade.” Hand tools are part of our history having been in use by humans for some 3.3 million years. Starting with the stone age when their function was basically for hammering and cutting. Over time there was the Bronze Age when tools were made by casting alloys like tin and copper making them much sharper and harder than stone tools. Following this the Iron Age which meant that tools became even stronger and more durable, the Romans then developed tools which are quite simular to the ones we use today. Since the Industrial Revolution the manufacture of tools has largely changed from being made by craftsmen to being produced (mainly as cheaply as possible) often in huge volumes in factories right across the world.