Broad fork defined – a U shaped garden fork with two tall handles attached to a crossbar from which extends a row of long tines designed
to deep cultivate the soil while enabling you to dig faster and more
efficiently without back breaking stress and fatigue.
One of the major obstacles to fully enjoying the art and
science of gardening is the grueling, exhausting work of digging and preparing
the soil properly for your plants. Especially if you happen to live in an area
with heavy clay, stones, or roots in the soil, or if you don’t happen to be a
very strong and athletic person.
The truth is, it’s probably not you, but your
tools that are lacking in ability!
Digging using a traditional garden spade or fork involves
quite a bit of energy and force, mostly coming from the shoulders and back
while bending over and lifting and turning the soil. This can get tiring
quickly and you will be feeling it the next day! The broadfork allows you to
use your body with a rocking motion to push the fork into the ground while
standing up straight. Once the tines are in the soil you simply pull back on
the handles a little to aerate the soil, or more to lift the soil up, remove
stones and till without disturbing soil structure. You have become the human
powered engine to this mighty effective garden tiller! All without ear numbing
noise, smelly exhaust or expensive fossil fuels.
While using a broad fork in your garden you will discover
that the synonym for broad fork might well be "speed fork". Because
of its width, you will cover more ground in less time and with less effort with
a broad fork than with a conventional garden fork or spade.
Along with the inherent ease of use and speed a broadfork
offers is the fact that the structure of your garden soil remains intact as you
are not turning the soil like you would with a shovel or mechanical tiller.
(happy earthworms and soil microbes!)
How is this broad fork better than other broad forks?
Our broad fork is made in America
with all U.S.
sourced steel, hand crafted and specially heat treated for added strength and
durability. Heat treating provides for a tool that is remarkably strong and
lighter weight. The shape and strength of the digging tines enable you to
penetrate even heavier clay soils without concern over bending or breaking the
tines.
The wedge shape tines coupled with the light weight design (significantly lighter than comparable broadforks)
enable you to use this broad fork to chop up large clods of clay more easily
and quickly than other broadforks, or even a shovel.
The light weight aircraft quality tubular steel handles will
not crack or break and there is no chance of getting a splinter. These strong
unbreakable handles aid in the ability to dig up even large stones out of the
soil with out the worry over bending or breaking your broad fork.
A broad fork is a very useful tool for lawn aeration and
loosening the soil around fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs.
(Now you
can free-cycle those spiky shoes.)
They are also great for starting new garden beds, working in
soil amendments and freshening up beds in between crops.
The original 7 tine 27” wide unbreakable broad fork weighing
16.5 lbs. featuring 10” long tines with 4.5” tine spacing and 24" spacing
between the handles was introduced in 2012. It is capable of preparing a 30”
wide garden bed in one pass. 30” wide vegetable beds have become the standard
in many organic gardens and small local produce farms thanks to popular authors
like
John Jeavons (How to Grow More Vegetables) and
Eliot Coleman (Four Season Harvest); both are gardening and farming innovators
and are advocates of the use of a broad fork.
Our original large broad fork design was intended for small
market farmers and large scale gardeners to use instead of a traditional garden
fork, shovel or roto-tiller to prepare their garden soil. We were hearing from
some who had broken other broadforks and needed a much sturdier tool that will
stand up to hard service in heavy clay soil.
As we talked with more home gardeners we heard requests for
smaller sized forks with the same strength and capabilities as the original
design while being a little lighter and easier to maneuver.
In response, for spring 2013 we are introducing two new
broad fork sizes.
Now available are a 6 tine 22.5” wide broad fork weighing
14.5 lbs. capable of producing 26” wide planting bed and a 5 tine 18” broad
fork weighing 14 lbs. capable of producing a 22” wide planting bed.
Both of the smaller broad forks feature a 23” cross bar with
19.5” spacing between the handles. Like the larger original sized broad fork
the strong 10” steel tines are spaced 4.5” apart and do a beautiful job of
loosening the soil and breaking up larger clumps of soil into smaller easier to
work with particles.
Each of the three broad forks is 60” tall.
These new smaller broad forks appeal to gardeners who prefer
a smaller sized, lighter weight broad fork for more mobility and ease of use with the same strength and durability of our original unbreakable broad fork.
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