Professional gardeners often use digging trowels, one of the essential tools in their toolbox. A good trowel should be strong and have a sharp edge to dig into the soil easily, and it should also be comfortable to hold so that it can be used for extended periods. There are many types of trowels available on the market, so it is important to choose one that is best suited for your needs.
Generally, garden digging trowels are small handheld tools with pointed blades made of metal or plastic. They are shaped like scoops and just the right size for your hands. A digging trowel is used for smaller jobs like making seed furrows, digging holes for small plants, removing weeds with shallow roots, planting bulbs, or making short seed furrows.
If you are planning to buy a digging trowel or need to know if it’s the right tool for the job, I will show you the best tool for digging soil, how to use a trowel correctly, and how to maintain it. At the end of the article, I will explain the difference between a trowel and a spade.
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What Is A Digging Trowel?
In gardening, a hand trowel is used to dig small holes, transplant seedlings, plant bulbs, and perform similar tasks. It is quite common to find hand trowels in gardening sheds because many gardeners find them extremely useful. Almost all garden supply stores sell hand trowels and other useful tools, and hardware stores sometimes carry them too.
It is similar to a mini shovel except that it has a longer and narrower blade, comparable to a long, sturdy handle on a hand trowel. Hand trowels with this design are ideal for transplanting, handling seedlings, and placing bulbs in flower beds due to their close-quarter design. I think a hand trowel’s small, sharp blade can be useful for uprooting stubborn weeds.
Is A Trowel A Digging Tool?
Garden trowels are small handheld tools with pointed blades made of metal or plastic, which are shaped like scoops and just the right size for your hands. Wood, plastic, and even metal can be used to make the handle of a garden trowel.
Trowels are also used as masonry tools with flat blades to ease surface imperfections. With these trowels, a uniform texture can be achieved before the wet material dries completely. By carefully manipulating the blade, they can also produce textured plasters. It is also possible to make flat-bladed trowels with pointed ends for various applications, particularly in archeology, where it is necessary to move the earth gently without damaging the specimen.
What Is The Best Tool For Digging Soil?
There are many factors to consider when choosing the right tool for digging soil. Some tools work better in certain situations than others when it comes to digging soil. Among the best tools for digging are:
● Shovels and Spades
Despite what most people think, there is a difference between a shovel and a spade. It is primarily the leading edge that differs. You can certainly dig with a shovel in soft soil since it has a rounded edge and body. You can cut into the soil by pressing down on the back edge of a spade with your foot, pulling back the handle, and turning over the soil.
● Trowels
A trowel can be used for smaller digging jobs since it’s essentially a mini shovel. In addition to making seed furrows, digging holes for small plants, removing weeds with shallow roots, and planting bulbs, you can use it to make short seed furrows. You can even use them to measure how deeply you’ve dug, with some having a pointed end designed for cutting.
● Garden or Spading Forks
Tilling and aerating the soil are the primary uses of garden forks. Clay soil is especially difficult to break up with them. The tines of a spading fork are flat or square, as opposed to those of a pitchfork, which are thin and round. The best tool should have at least four tines, and the handle should be strong and D-shaped. Invest in a long-lasting one by buying one that is of the highest quality.
● Pick and Mattock
Digging in hard, packed soil is the intended use of this tool. Metal pickaxe heads have two sides perpendicular to the handle and are commonly called pickaxes. Picks use their pointed edges to break through the soil, while mattocks use their wide blades to chop into the ground. It can be used to lift soil up or pry rocks out by using the curved head as a lever.
● Hoes
Hoes are generally used for weeding, but their perpendicular metal blades make them ideal for digging trenches or digging out rows of soil. Different blade shapes are available for hoes. In order to dig long furrows, hoe blades with pointed tips are best. You should use a hoe with square blades to loosen soil and pull weeds out by their roots. Also, triangular hoes are good for breaking up heavy, compacted soil and for digging in tight spaces.
What Do You Use A Trowel For?
Using a trowel properly requires getting on your hands and knees. Those who use these trowels to complete their gardening work typically work on their knees, which may be difficult for individuals who cannot move very far. A hand spade may be more convenient for some people than a trowel. However, the trowel may be more convenient for some activities.
A trowel will come in handy when digging around other plants in the garden. It is possible to accomplish your task without harming other plants, and you can use it to maintain your garden and plant new plants. Typically, these trowels are made from wood and have steel blades.
Their most common uses are digging with garden trowels and other activities associated with digging, such as planting, transplanting, and weeding. You shouldn’t use your trowel to whack tall grass, but you can dig it up and pull it out with it! You should be fine if you keep that in mind.
It is also important to remember that while a trowel may look like a shovel, small holes should always be dug with it. Can you imagine how long and how hard it would be to dig a hole big enough to plant a shrub or a tree with a trowel? Get a shovel instead of a painkiller and save yourself some pain!
A certain type of trowel is required for certain jobs. You’ll need a trowel with a narrower blade if you’re working in a tight space. For different jobs, different blades are also better suited. For instance, the blade used for weeding needs to be flatter. You’ll need a wider, scoop-shaped blade when digging up a hole or plant.
Using A Trowel Correctly
It doesn’t matter what type of garden trowel you use; the way you use it is the same for all. As a basic guideline, follow these steps:
- Step 1. Use gloves: Get a pair of gardening gloves and put them on first. Even if your trowel is comfortable, you can’t eliminate hand strain if you’re planning on gardening for a while! It’s important to wear gloves when you garden or dig as it prevents blisters.
- Step 2. Blade toward the soil: Get ready to dig with the trowel. Lower the blade into the ground by lowering the tip of the blade toward the soil and applying pressure to the handle.
- Step 3. Push into the ground: To finish, push the blade into the ground until it touches the soil at the tang. Blades and handles are connected by the tang.
- Step 4. Pull the soil out: Pull the blade and soil out of the ground by pressing down on the handle.
- Step 5. Pull it out: Pull the garden trowel along with the soil out of the ground by applying pressure to the handle.
How to Maintain a Trowel
No matter what type of trowel you choose to use, it’s important to take good care of it. Any garden trowel will last longer if it is cleaned and stored properly. It is necessary to clean, sanitize, and wipe dry trowel blades after each use. Diseases can be spread from plant to plant by infected garden trowels, just as they are with pruners.
Winter is a good time to store garden trowels in a garage or shed since they should never be left outdoors. When not in use, garden trowels should be hung up when not in use. Garden trowels are usually equipped with holes at the end of their handles to enable them to be hung.
What Is The Difference Between A Spade And A Trowel?
Digging with a spade is similar to digging with a shovel. However, it has a slightly shorter handle than most shovels. Tools like this are used to dig trenches and deeper holes. This tool is useful for digging a small ditch, planting larger plants, or planting small shrubs in hard ground, clay soil, or heavy soil.
Grass can also be removed with spades. Whether you have a new plot or are tending to an older one, you must take care of your gardening areas. Compost can also be applied in large quantities simultaneously at growing locations.
Trowels are handheld tools. A pointed scoop is attached to a small handle. Plants are removed from the ground using this tool. As well as scooping dirt into a pot, it is commonly used for that purpose. Trowels are used when digging in soft soil, such as when planting in containers. Using a trowel in soft soil can be done with your hands when you dig into it.
Long-handled scoops are more efficient than hands because they move more soil. Long-handled scoops are more efficient than hands because they move more soil or tough root systems. There is a place for both tools in the garden. Depending on the tool that you choose, you will be able to do different types of gardening.
A spade would be very useful as an inground garden plot would be created when gardening traditionally. A garden trowel might be more useful for the soil type in raised beds and containers. Form an outline of your future garden before deciding which gardening tools you need.