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leafwatcher

Never see it mentioned..Let me get my pitchfork !

leafwatcher
9 years ago

Right? wrong? no difference? ....

I can't say I have seen much talk on it. I do like to dig them with the pitch fork when I have to.. I figure I won't cut as many roots.. and I try to stay back from them anyhow..

Where does your foot fall on the digging issues? shovel or fork?

Comments (8)

  • maggiepie_gw
    9 years ago

    Fork for me, at least to start with.

    Too many times I have angled a shovel and sheared crowns from roots and not only with hosta.
    I find if I use a fork first and then use the shovel once I can see what I am doing.
    Hope that makes sense.

  • old_dirt 6a
    9 years ago

    Yep, I almost always use a four tine garden fork. Work all the way around the plant and then under and up. If I want to clean the roots, it is easy to get a lot of the dirt off by just bouncing it off the fork.

    I had an old wooden handle one for years and cracked the handle last year digging and moving several mature large plants. Bought me a new fiberglass handle one. Just doesn't have the same character but gets the job done

    Jerry

  • coll_123
    9 years ago

    Yes, always a pitchfork to minimize root breaking...I try to pry it out with the fork and then use my gloved hands to release any roots that are really grabbing on.

  • ctopher_mi
    9 years ago

    I almost always use a pitchfork too - a garden fork/digging fork really, but I always mistakenly call it a pitchfork.

    To use one you need soil that is fairly loose and has been worked a lot or the roots hold on too firmly and the crowns can tear apart. In cases of really hard pan soil I still resort to a good transplanting shovel.

  • funnthsun z7A - Southern VA
    9 years ago

    Chris, you beat me to it, mentioned that it would need to be loose soil! I was just snickering at the idea that our soil wouldn't laugh out loud at a pitchfork! It sounds like a fabulous idea, but I'd love to see it in practice here in our native clay, no matter now much it's amended. You'd be jumping up and down like a maniac trying to get anything to release with a pitchfork here. It's shovel or nothing. My hubby prefers the pickax when we have to plant a tree :) No, seriously not kidding. Of course, the time of year plays into that, as well. The pickax is usually only needed getting closer to summertime.

    Hey, maybe I'll be able to use a pitchfork in the new area that we've trucked in 40 yards of new dirt in to? That would be cool. As for the rest of the garden, though, the shovel is the only conquerer here.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    a garden fork is a gift from God... i have broken at least 3 over the years ...

    but its not technically a pitchfork ... one has light weight tines for tossing
    hay around ...

    the other is much stouter.. for ripping plants form mother earth ...

    words mean things.. and it bugs me.. but i fully understand that in this circumstance .... the industry has bastardized the term in its entirely ... so dont mind me.. i will step off my soapbox now ....

    ken

  • bragu_DSM 5
    9 years ago

    my potato spade works pretty good ⦠it's older than I am ⦠so i gotta remember to be 'gentle'

    dave

  • User
    9 years ago

    I don't do much digging in Mother Earth for hosta. However, I have recently used a garden rake with 4 long curved tines, to help level some areas of my hosta garden. It is a plan to control runoff because of torrential rains. It takes the mulch with it, and there are spots where water stands. I get out when it is raining and sometimes take pictures, sometimes watch the water. In most areas of our yard, it is hard to get a shovel into the soil without jumping up and down on the shovel. But in my Back40 hosta garden area, I'm able to fling it around easily with that dirt rake.LOtS of compost, bags of cow manure, grass clippings, mulch gone old, leaves, pine bark. I'm very pleased with that special little area.

    I have one of those short handled forks with the square tines, but darn it all, I haven't seen it lately. My DH has a way of taking unto himself all these fine tools that I collected over the years, us both being gardeners creates some challenges at times. I'll look for it tomorrow.

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