Garden Talk Online

What makes a spade a spade? I’ve often wondered if this may be where that expression comes from, calling a spade a spade. Fact is, spades are called shovels and shovels are called spades all the time. The defining difference is that shovels are designed more to shovel out materials, generally having more of a scooped design to hold the material you are shoveling. Spades are more for cutting straight into the soil. When planting a tree I will often cut my circle in the sod with a spade, then use a long flat spade to get under and remove the sod. Then I will continue digging the hole with a nursery spade, only reaching for a shovel when it is needed to remove loose material from the bottom.