The Wrong Tool
May 19th, 2006 
by Susan Harris
Newbie gardeners these days have it easy. Thanks to gardening blogdom, they get to read what real gardeners say about the down-and-dirty of real gardening. Like this little piece of advice I’m happy to pass on. You don’t have to spend 20 years digging with the wrong damn tool like I did because I’m telling ya right now, the pickaxe is the clear winner in the Takoma Digging Trials. The shovel, the tool that’s singlehandedly upped the annual income of my physical therapist, is for lifting and moving the dirt, not digging it. Ya dig? Oh, the shovel could handle digging in store-bought potting soil or pure compost, but the rock-imbedded clay on my property? No fricking way.
[Photo - an improvement over the standard pickaxe shot I first included here. And the umbrella's my temporary solution to the full-sun here resulting from the removal of a Bradford pear. A better umbrella is coming soon.]
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May 20th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
wow, who knew? You’ve got me reconsidering my shovel….
May 20th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I too can attest to the joys of the pickaxe. My soil is mostly hard clay that, in general, hasn’t been disturbed in over 20 yrs. So when I have the urge to plant something big I have to dig through what feels like concrete. Once I went looking for a shovel and found the pickaxe instead. “This will do,” said I. Not only did it “do,” it was fun. I could have dug my way to China.
May 20th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I did the same thing! Used a garden spade for years on my heavy clay and then one day had an epiphany: why not use something that’s meant for digging through tough areas? Doh!
May 20th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Absolutely agree and thank God it’s my husband swinging it!
May 21st, 2006 at 12:50 am
mississippi clay and physical therapy. i can relate. my husband just this week handed me the pickaxe and you’ve convinced me to start using it.
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:21 am
I had the thought that I really needed a pick axe last weekend, when I was attempting to use my shovel like a pick, lifting it up and jamming it into the ground, instead of scooping like you’d normally use a shovel. The clay here is brutal.
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:41 am
I can’t tell from your photo if you’ve got a pickaxe or a mattock. A mattock has a broader blade and we prefer it for garden work–we have several.