I lived with my aunt who owned a very beautiful garden. Whenever it’s time for her to inspect the garden, she’ll always ask me to join her. Gradually, I started learning and loving everything about gardening.
I learned from my aunty that as a gardener, you’ll need to acquire some skills, knowledge, and abilities in order for you to successfully grow and cultivate plants.
In horticulture, you don’t only learn how to grow and cultivate plants, you also learn how to use gardening tools, and you get to know their differences and uses.
Tools like a trowel, shovel, spade, garden gloves, pruning shares, rake, garden hoe, loppers, wheelbarrow, etc are made for different purposes.
This brings us to our topic of trowel vs spade. If you want to know their differences and uses then just keep reading.
GARDEN TROWEL
Garden trowels are very essential tools every gardener should own because a true and trusted trowel is a helpful tool in a gardener’s arsenal.
Garden trowels are usually small, fits into your hand meaning that it’s handheld, and looks like a spade or shovel. They usually have plastic, wooden, or rubber-coated metal handles.
The blade or shovel part of a trowel can be made of plastic or metal and it’s ok if the metal is painted or coated. This gardening tool is used for breaking up earth, digging small holes for plants, and transplanting seedlings.
That’s not all. It can also be used for extracting unwanted weeds from the area. If you own a garden, this tool is a must-have.
(2 PACK) FISKARS FIBERCOMP 11″ TROWEL
- This garden trowel is remarkably light, incredibly strong and remarkably affordable.
- It’s made of Nyglass nylon/fiber glass composite.
- Though lighter than comparable metal models, it won’t bend or crack during the most enthusiastic gardening sessions.
- This trowel won’t rust and the one-piece construction means the handle will always state securely attached to the head.
READ ALSO: BEST SHOVEL FOR DIGGING IN CLAY
HAND TROWEL
A hand trowel just like a garden trowel is a tool specifically and specially designed for digging small holes, planting bulbs, applying, smoothing, and transplanting seedlings.
The handle of this tool is very sturdy, has a scooped-shaped blade, and looks like a mini shovel. The fact that the hand trowel is handheld makes it the perfect tool for tasks like digging, placing bulbs, weeding unwanted plants (weed), handling seedlings, and transplanting.
This tool can also be used to smooth surfaces. For example, it can be used with concrete and mortar to create a uniform texture. A hand trowel will serve as a useful gift for someone who is just learning to garden.
TROWEL VS SPADE
A trowel is used to apply and spare mortar or plaster in masonry. But this type of trowel is different from a garden trowel.
Trowel and spade are both important tools needed in a garden. They don’t look alike and they are different in size, length, width, and perform different tasks.
Do you want to know the differences between a trowel and a spade? If yes, let’s talk about trowel vs spade.
| TROWEL | SPADE |
| A garden trowel is a small hand tool or small handheld shovel or spade. | A spade is a sturdy hand shovel |
| A garden trowel has a short handle. | A spade has a long handle. |
| It is used for digging up weeds, digging small holes such as planting bulbs, perennials, or annuals. | It is used for digging, lifting, and removing dirt, slicing and lifting sod, removing grass and cutting garden edges, etc. |
| A garden trowel has a flat, curved, or scooped metal blade used for scooping. | A spade has an iron blade that can be pushed into the earth with the foot. |
SPADE TOOL
Spade tool is another important garden tool that every gardener should have because it is the workhorse of many digging jobs and is used for doing lots of garden tasks. Before we talk about the uses, let’s know what a spade is.
A spade is a garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. It’s a tool with a sharp edge, typically rectangular, long handle and metal blade used for digging or cutting earth, turf, sand, etc.
Apart from digging and cutting the earth, a spade can be used to do many other garden tasks such as creating and maintaining edges, transplanting, diving plants, turning the soil, and removing sod.
As part of safety tips, always put on sturdy footwear whenever you’re working with a spade. What will sturdy footwear with a thick sole do? It will prevent your foot from sustaining injury especially when you place it on top of the spade to help in pushing the blade into the soil.
A trowel is a small hand tool with a handle and flat metal blade used for scooping while a spade is a sturdy hand shovel that can be pushed into the earth with the foot.
Below is the perfect spade tool you need in your garden.
BERRY&BIRD GARDEN DIGGING SPADE
- Berry&Bird Garden Digging Spade is made by traditional manual process and can be used for more than 10 years.
- This spade can be used for digging holes, cutting ditches, grinding edges, cutting through thick turf and furrow.
- The long handle provides better control near the work area.
- The weather proofed hardwood shaft with an easy to grasp y-design is lightweight and provides reliable leverage.
- D-grip for added comfort and control, reduce strain and provides a secure grip.
SHOVEL VS SPADE
Sometimes it can be difficult to identify a shovel and a spade because they kind of look alike and perform similar tasks.
They may look like and perform similar tasks, but they’re still not the same. Let’s talk about shovel vs spade and get to know their differences.
| SHOVEL | SPADE |
| A shovel is longer, angled and the blade can be or squared or curved with a rounded or pointed tip. | A spade is shorter and has a flat rectangular blade with a straight edge. |
| The handle and shaft of a shovel are long and straight. | The handle and shaft of the spade are shorter and may have a “D” or “T” handle. |
| The blade size of a shovel is larger than a spade. | The blade size of a spade is smaller than a shovel. |
| A shovel is used for breaking up and turning soil, digging, scooping, and moving loose materials, etc. | A spade is used for digging garden beds, removing grass and cutting garden edges, breaking ground and cutting through tree roots and other materials, etc. |
Below is a good example of a shovel that can be used in your garden.
SQUARE SHOVEL, SHOVELS FOR DIGGING
- This can be used as camp shovel, trenching shovel, plow shovel, green edging shovel, ND snow shovel for driveway.
- The metal shovel head is protected by a strong coating to avoid rust and prolong the service life of the product.
- The D-shape design increases hand grip and the overall size of the shovel is n4e1 inches. You can pace it in your car trunk.
- It can be used to dig pits and transplant trees, repair lawn edges and move gravel and dirt.
HAND SPADE
A hand spade looks like a trowel and it’s smaller than a spade. The head of a spade is typically 6-8 inches wide and 9-11 inches long.
The spade is great for double digging, digging garden beds, spading up the ground, removing grass, etc.
On the other hand, the total dimension of a hand spade is typically 13 3/8 inch total length by 3 ¼ inches width. The hand spade is ideal for digging, scooping, shoveling, and turning.
SPADE VS SHOVEL VS HOE
There are some very important garden tools that shouldn’t be missing in a gardener’s arsenal because they make gardening fun and easy.
Tools such as glove, hand trowel, shovel, hand fork, digging fork, rake, shears, garden hoe, etc are all very important
What is the difference between a spade, shovel, and hoe? Are they the same? Do they perform the same task? Let’s talk about spade vs shovel vs hoe.
| SPADE | SHOVEL | HOE |
| The blade of a spade is flat, rectangular in shape with a straight edge. | The blade of a shovel is angled and curved with a rounded or pointed tip. | The blade of a garden hoe is strong, broad, bent, and is usually square or rectangular in shape. |
| The handle of a spade is shorter than a shovel. | The handle of a shovel is long and straight. | The handle of a garden hoe is long. |
| It’s used for removing grass, cutting garden edges, digging garden beds, breaking ground and cutting through tree roots, etc. | It is used for digging, breaking up, and turning soil, scooping large piles of soil at once, and moving loose materials. | It is used to shape the soil, remove weeds, clear soils, split up tough areas of soil, and harvest root crops. |
DO FARMERS USE TROWELS?
Since gardening and farming involves growing and cultivating plants, a farmer can use a hand trowel to perform some farm task, especially in small areas.
A hand trowel can be used for light weeding, to dig small holes; can be used to apply manure or fertilizer, used for transplanting seedlings from the nursery bed to the main site in planting operation, etc.
CAN TROWEL BE USED FOR WEEDING?
Yes, a hand trowel can be used to dig up weeds in the garden. Apart from digging up weeds, it can also be used to plant bulbs, dig small holes, applying, smoothing, and transplanting seedlings.
Whether you’re an urban or rural gardener, a hand trowel should be one of the first tools you should purchase when you want to start your garden.