In addition to being an excellent accessory for your Halloween devil’s costume, a pitchfork is the perfect tool to turn compost or to toss a mulch of straw onto your edible garden. A pitchfork’s slender, curved tines are better suited to tossing than to most digging chores. (See Best Tools: 10 Favorite Garden Forks for diggers and grubbers.)
Here’s a roundup of our 10 favorite pitchforks:
Above: Also shown in the top photo of this post, a Clarington Forge Border Fork is handmade in England and has a compact 37-inch ash handle to make it easy to maneuver in tight spaces such as compost bins. It is $78 from Terrain.
Above: Hand-forged in Holland, a stainless steel Compost Fork By Sneeboer has a 45.5-inch ash hardwood handle (made from FSC-certified, sustainably harvested wood). “With four long, thin tines, this compost fork easily pierces into mulch, hay, compost and other loose materials when moving it from one place to another,” notes the retailer. It is $159 at Garden Tool Company.
Above: A four-prong Taifun Manure Fork is €26.99 from Agridirect.
Above: A Stainless Steel Spading Fork “can be used to move light, loosely packed material like compost, mulch or hay from one place to another.” Lightweight and with narrow tines to loosen earth, it is €40 from Manufactum.
Above: A four-tine Forged Manure Fork has a 48-inch handle and is $27.64 from Zoro.
Above: Made by Burgon & Ball in the UK, a compact Craftsbury Stainless Border Fork with an ash handle also can be used “for breaking up soil and aerating beds,” notes retailer Gardener’s Supply; $67.46.
Above: A 54-inch Wood-Handle Steel Manure Fork has a forged steel head and is $45.98 from Lowe’s.
Above: A Spear & Jackson Manure Fork with a 32-inch handle has a hardwood shaft and is £15.95 from Tooled Up.
Above: An all-steel Professional Mulching Fork with five tines is made in the US; $99.95 from Garrett Wade.
Above: From Germany, an SHW Compost Fork comes with either a 44- or 54-inch handle and ranges in price from $40 to $44 depending on handle length at Earth Tools.
See our newly updated 10 Easy Pieces archives for more last-a-lifetime tools, including Bulb Planters and Weeding Forks. Read more: