"There are things that have to be done, ma'am." Gary Cooper: The Plainsman (1936)
Old gardeners, it is said, never die. They just spade away. Those who have never used one may call it an instrument for the inversion of soil. Here, however, a spade will be called a spade.
It didn't start out that way. In old English it was a 'spadu.' Later a spade's depth became known, rather revoltingly to modern ears, as a 'spit.' Possibly this derived 16th century Middle Dutch. Certainly by the 1680s it found use in the writings of John Evelyn as a measurement of soil depth judged by length of the blade of a spade.
Whether the famed garden writer ever actually indulged himself is unknown, but gardeners continue to use the term. Thus, there is 'single spit' and 'double spit' digging. Soil is turned to such depth while incorporating composted organic matter. On heavy clay soils lime may also be added. The result is the deep, rich gardens so often a feature of the Old World. Elsewhere it becomes a gardener's dream.
A spade may also occasionally be referred to as a 'spud.' P. G. Wodehouse's Lord Emsworth is recorded, for example, as, "Doesn't do a thing nowadays but dig in the garden with a spud." Technically this should feature a narrower blade than a digging spade. Rarely seen today, it was used for removing deep-rooted weeds. It derived its name from medieval English 'spudde.' It is probably better known in more modern times as a colloquial for a potato, often used for comic effect.
A digging spade has a heavy, almost flat blade. The shaft was formerly made of ash. This wood absorbs strain and shock, while not freezing in the cold weather that so often accompanies serious digging projects. Nowadays, cheap spades – and other tools – are likely to have equally cheap wood handles. Expensive versions substitute steel or graphite for wood. These are long-lasting but whether they are more comfortable than ash wood remains contested – especially in cooler weather.
"He who would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools," wisely observed Chinese sage Confucius (551-479 BC). Of all garden implements, few could this better apply to but rarely observed than for a spade. A blunt spade, stamped into unyielding ground with a forceful boot, is an instrument of torture. Properly sharpened, the work becomes almost pleasurable.
Despite manufacturers' ads, rototillers are no substitute for a spade. Nor, perhaps surprisingly, are tractor-drawn ploughs. Neither really get to the depth of single spit cultivation, let alone double spit. Gardens should be so prepared when first established but rarely are. Single spit preparation is simple. Dig a trench to a spade's depth at one end of the garden, spread compost, and turn the soil over into the trench, working backwards. Double spit involved twice that depth, forking in compost to the exposed bottom, some two feet down, turning over the next two spits with yet more compost. The work-out involved is likely to exceed anything offered at the local exercise salon.
Given the work involved, double digging is largely a thing of the past. Little wonder that some gardeners throw in the trowel.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
