Digging it

I can't seem to bend in the middle these days. So, I've been looking at ways that I can still achieve what I want without hurting myself.

Normal spades and forks are just too short. So the first thing I tried was a long-handled shovel. I've seen these advertised as Irish or Cornish shovels, but I always think of them as American, the sort you see in the movies with a long handle. This is OK, but it's very heavy, and really isn't much use for proper digging, because the pointed, curved blade is the wrong shape. It is still great for shifting compost and, unsurprisingly, shovelling. The label on it said 'good for shovelling material.' clearly the person in charge of labelling had run out of ideas that day.

Second I considered the no-dig technique. This is more complicated than it sounds - it's described all over the web, so I won't repeat it here, if you're interested there are several good articles on Charles Dowding's website. I've discounted using the full version of this technique, mainly because of the huge volume of compost that seems to be needed for it to be really effective, but also because I'm not convinced that it's the best answer for my soil. I think, on reflection, I just haven't been adding enough compost, manure etc to my plot. The amounts described in the no-dig technique are massively higher than I've been using.

Finally, we come to my new friend, pictured above, the Azada, a tool imported from Spain by Get Digging.  The Get Digging website is well worth a look, there are literally hundreds of customer testimonials on there as well as descriptions of the tool itself, as well as lots of other backsaver tools. Intrigued, I ordered a heavy-medium azada a couple of weeks ago and waited anxiously for the snow to melt so I could see if it was all it was cracked up to be. Well. I don't like to speak too soon, but I think this could be what I've been waiting for. It's really easy to use, you chop into the ground with the heavy blade, and lever the soil up with the long handle, no bending required. You have to be quite energetic, but it doesn't put the stress directly on your spine like a spade. Brilliant! I've used it twice now, and so far, quite a lot of digging done and no bad back. I reserve my final judgement until I get the chance to do a bit more with it, but so far, I'm very impressed.