The Groundbreaker Spade

The Groundbreaker Spade: Those busy bees at Barnsdale Gardens just never stop working in the 38 individually designed gardens, so any nifty tool that can help them get the job done has a big thumbs up from them every time. This month the team have been testing the Burgon & Ball Small Groundbreaker Spade which is RHS Endorsed. Jon Brocklebank, the head gardener at Barnsdale Gardens, offers his review below…

Burgon & Ball Small Groundbreaker Spade

This spade is designed for digging over and breaking up heavy ground so it sounds perfect for the heavy clay at Barnsdale.

This is the small version (100cm long). Burgon and Ball also offer a large version (111cm long). It has a Y-shaped ash handle and a pointed stainless steel blade with wide comfort treads across the top which makes for easier ground penetration.

My first thoughts are that the spade looks very strong and of good quality. I always prefer stainless steel over cheaper, lower quality metals as they cut through the ground with less resistance, they’re easier to clean and rust resistant. The handle is very smooth with double rivets at the base for extra strength, this fits into the double riveted strapped socket of the blade giving it a whopping breaking strain of 90kg; more than enough for our heavy ground.

I used this spade to dig over an area of heavy dry clay and it performed really well. Its shorter length meant minimal flex and therefore less risk of it snapping under strain. The wide comfort treads and pointed blade definitely made getting the spade into the ground easier than with a standard-shaped spade.

Conclusion: This is a small but mighty spade which will last for many years if treated well If I could change one thing it would be how the shaft and blade are joined – the rivets and blade protrude out from the wooden shaft – this isn’t really a problem and wouldn’t deter me from recommending but I’d suggest wearing gloves to avoid chafing.

RRP £48.99

You can read all of the team’s Tools On Test here: https://shop.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/blogs/tools-on-test

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