I was in the need of a shovel for my garden and yard, and purchased the Fiskars square garden spade. Here are my thoughts about this shovel.
The Fiskars 46-inch garden spade sells for about $35 on Amazon. It’s easy to find this shovel for sale online, at Home Depot (where it’s about $30), as well as Ace Hardware and other places.
Fiskars Square Garden Spade Info
- Length: 46 inches
- Body Material: Steel
- Blade Material: Steel
- Handle Material: Plastic
- Color: Black
- Handle: “D” shape
- Platform On Shovel Top: Yes
- Weight: 5 pounds
A square spade like this one is ideal for:
- Edging gardens
- Digging small holes
- Moving loose dirt in a garden
- Transferring plants from one spot to another
A square edge spade like this one is good for working with gardens and sod, but isn’t great at transferring loose materials — like gravel. For digging into mulch or doing a lot of transferring of things, you are better off with a shovel with a pointed end and a rounded shape. Flat spades are good for things like edging, where you need accuracy and the digging has a cutting component to it.
Flat spades have a downside which is the sharp corner at each of the the shovel’s blade, which means you need to be very careful with your feet and legs.
When you first use the shovel and notice it’s thick, heavy, 18-gauge steel design you will be impressed with its weight and rugged design. This shovel is downright stout and built to be professional-grade tough. The downside of this is that the shovel is quite heavy and it’ll wear you out after hauling it around and doing not very much digging. This is one of the reasons why people often opt for lighter weight wood and fiberglass handles instead of steel.
The blade is also steel, but it’s made of 14-gauge steel instead of 18-gauge. This means it’s even thicker and tougher than the handle. 14-gauge is heavy, especially with a large platform on both sides for pushing the blade with your foot, but the blade hold up well and won’t dent or ding, even if you live in a rocky area.
All the steel is powder-coated black, which picks up scratches but I haven’t had any rust on mine despite months of use and a full garden and yard spring opening.
As for the handle: I like the design a lot and I prefer shorter, D-handle shovels and spades for garden use. The handle is plastic instead of a wood and metal combination which I’m used to. I was skeptical of the all-plastic handle design at first, but it’s been problem-free.
So, in summary, I like the Fiskar’s garden spade a lot but it’s on the heavy side so using it can feel like garden work plus a work out. It’s good for shorter jobs or if you have good stamina, but it’ll be a bit heavy for many casual garden users who will not need the indestructible design. That said, if you need a pro-grade spade that you might loan out to a neighbor or brother-in-law, this is a great pick.