The best garden spade is an essential part of any gardener's tool kit and works brilliantly alongside your favourite garden fork. Garden spades are necessary for all kinds of cultivation, whether that's digging over flower beds, preparing and maintaining vegetable patches, or moving materials around your outside space.
Garden spades all follow the same basic design; a blade attached to a handle, but different spade designs are better suited to different garden jobs. You can get digging spades, spades to create and maintain borders, pointed or arrowhead spades for a sharper cut, and even spades with serrated edges for multitasking magic.
Best garden spades at a glance:
While for the average gardener a standard digging spade will suffice for most everyday jobs, you may want to consider investing in a more specialist spade solution to make more complex jobs easier to complete. Here's our pick of the best…
Best garden spades
Best all-rounder
Spear & Jackson/AmazonThis classic spade from tool Wunderbrand Spear & Jackson is a great everyday option. It boasts a solid forged carbon steel blade that's attached to the handle with an extra long socket to make it stronger.
The blade has a powder-coated finish which means it's rust-resistant, while the shaft has also been weatherproofed. The D-shaped handle offers "Suregrip" security. The top of this spade's blade has handy footplate treads to give you a better purchase.
Pros
- Treaded blade to give you a better purchase
- Weatherproofed hardwood handle
Cons
- Not as lightweight as some
Best budget garden spade
Bargains-Galore/AmazonYou might not want to splash out on a high-end spade if you only use one on occasion. If that's the case, this pocket-friendly option from Bargains-Galore should suit.
The square blade is made of rust-resistant, lightweight carbon steel and the shaft is made of PVC. This combination of materials means this spade is lightweight and easily manoeuvred. This spade's D-shaped grip has a non-slip, solid grip finish which also aids its usability.
Pros
- Carbon steel blade that's rust-resistant
- Lightweight, with a PVC shaft
Cons
- Only suited to lighter tasks
Best shovel
Draper/AmazonWhereas standard spades are great for digging, a shovel is a useful tool for moving loose material, often featuring a gently curved blade so you can handle more in every shovel load.
This Draper shovel can help you move even the heaviest of materials thanks to its solid forged construction. This means the spade is crafted from solid steel with no sections or joins to be exposed to strain. This shovel's metallic build is complimented with a smooth wooden grip.
Pros
- Wide blade for moving more materials
- Solid forged metal construction for durability
Cons
- Not a soft grip handle
Best pointed garden spade
Roughneck/AmazonPopular with metal detectorists for unearthing finds, this compact spade measures in at 85cm long. This means it's great if you're working in tight or restricted spaces. Despite its dimensions, it boasts a full-size, soft grip handle.
This spade's shaft is made from tubular fibreglass while the heat-treated, pointed blade can help you make short work of difficult digging - through clay or rocky soil, for example.
Pros
- Fibreglass handle that makes it more lightweight
- Strong, heat-treated carbon steel blade
Cons
- Shorter than a standard spade
Best garden spade for borders
Speak & Jackson/AmazonA border spade is generally smaller and lighter than a standard spade, designed for working in confined spaces, such as in your borders between plants. This traditional option from Spear & Jackson is a handsome choice with a classic, weatherproofed hardwood handle and a shiny blade.
The blade gets its shine from its mirror-polished finish which also has the bonus of being rust-resistant and, with minimal soil adhesion to the smooth surface, easy to wipe clean.
Pros
- Traditional design with classic good looks
- Mirror-polished blade for less soil adhesion
Cons
- Wooden handle will require treating
Best arrowhead garden spade
Roamwild/AmazonThis rugged little tool is a tenacious choice for tough digging jobs. Its arrowhead blade can easily break hard ground. When it comes to moving earth, the dual grip handle, so if you're holding the spade by the grip and the textured area halfway down the shaft, means you can shift some soil.
This also boasts treads, or footplates, at the top of the blade to really get stuck in. Roots and other debris can be cleared with the serrated root-cutting edge.
Pros
- Serrated edge that can help tackle roots
- Dual grip handle for a sure and steady grip
Cons
- Narrow blade
Best garden spade for planting
Bulldog/eBaywww.ebay.co.uk
This specialist spade is a worthwhile investment if you have a lot of planting to do. In fact, one happy reviewer states they dug 260 holes for trees in three days with this tool, saying, "The ground was basically stone, and this spade just ate it up."
Durable Draper-quality, this is crafted from solid forged steel for strength. The grip is made of ash wood, manufactured from sustainable timber sources as approved by the FSC.
Pros
- Full-length handle for good manoeuvrability
- Precision blade to get the right cuts in the ground
Cons
- Not for everyday use
How we chose the best garden spades
All of these garden spades have been hand-selected by our team of Modern Gardens shopping experts. We carefully considered the design, functionality, and usability in our selection of the best. Our team has spent hours investigating and researching garden spades to make it easier for you to find the very best, and we'd never recommend a product we don't believe in.
Where possible, we also test and share the latest and best products you should know about. And with help from Modern Gardens Magazine, Garden News and Garden Answers, we share expert gardening knowledge to help you get the most from your product.
FAQs
What to look for in a garden spade
To amateur gardeners, garden spades can all look pretty similar. We asked Modern Gardens contributor Geoff Hodge what we should be looking at when considering buying a new digging tool. Here is his ever-sage advice...
Length - Make sure it's the right length for your height. Smaller border spades often suit shorter gardeners.
Foot tread - Also known as a boot saver, provides a wider area for your feet, so you can exert more force. It also means the top of the blade won't "bite" into the sole of your footwear.
Handle - Make sure it's big enough for your hands in an ergonomic D, Y-dee, or O-shaped configuration. A plastic grip can reduce friction, blisters, and slipping.
Shaft - Often made of lightweight alloy steel or shock-proof ash wood.
Blade - Carbon steel is light; stainless steel is easy to clean, strong, and rust-resistant.
How to look after your garden spade
As with all garden tools, you should take good care of your garden spade. A solid maintenance routine will see your spade last longer, meaning you won't need to replace it too often.
Cleanliness is the key to spade care. After each use, brush off debris with a stiff brush as this can cause even carbon steel to rust. If there is still residue after a good brush, you can give your spade a quick blast under the garden hose or a brief wash with soapy water.
Spades with wooden handles will benefit from occasional treatment - a swift coat of varnish, for example, after you've rubbed it down with some fine sandpaper. You can also oil the metal blade to keep it pristine.
If you use your spade as an edging tool or for border work, you may want to sharpen the blade's edge with a sharpening stone, although do be aware of the safety implications of having a recently sharpened spade around the place.
The final point to note is where to store your spade. A dry tool shed, garage, or greenhouse is ideal. If you can suspend your spade from a hook, keeping it off cold and damp ground, it's advised.
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Amy-Mae Turner is a Commerce Content Writer for Modern Gardens, Yours, Take A Break Pets, and A Modern Kitchen. When she's not pottering in the garden or mucking around in the kitchen, she can be found having doggy cuddles with her two beloved cockapoochis.