Digging the soil with a shovel is a difficult job. You must kick the flange to insert the tip of the shovel into the soil, pry loose the soil block, then lift it and throw it down to destroy the soil block.

Think about it and lift it up. The long handle is a lever, one end is the weight of the soil and metal blade, and the other end is you, with your back as the fulcrum. After many shoveling, you betrayed poorly. If you use a shovel with its flat blade offset from the handle (it is designed to shovel things, not digging), then the job is more difficult.

Any businessman will tell you that the right tools will make any job easier, and the same is true for gardening, especially digging the soil. Have you heard of U-bar? It also has several other names, such as Broadfork, U-fork or-please forgive my French-grelinette. It has a horizontal metal crossbar, fixed with three to nine strong tines, depending on the model or manufacturer.

At both ends of the crossbar are two vertical handle brackets. You stand between the handles, holding one in each hand, put your feet on the barbell, and put your weight on the feet. The sharp tines can easily slip into the soil. When they are fully pushed in, you take a step back and pull down the handle. The rod is now a fulcrum, the handle is a lever, and the tines can destroy soil as wide as the rod. When the tines move up in the soil, they do not lift up a large piece of soil, but break up the soil under the surface as they rise, aerate the soil and eliminate the need for tillage or turning.

Of all the gardening tools I have used for decades, U-bar is my favorite. It is very easy to use, it can break down two to three times more soil than a shovel every time it is used, eliminates heavy lifting and saves my lower back pain the next day. Find them online by searching Broadforks.

Every gardener needs a hoe, but some are better than others.

My least favorite is the most common-a long handle with a flat blade on the business end to remove weeds. You can use a melee hoe (also called a swing hoe) to reduce the workload.

It is not a flat blade, but a piece of metal that looks like a stirrup attached to a handle, with a joint that allows the stirrup to swing back and forth. A simple push and pull action can cut off the weeds on the soil surface without digging deep into the soil, so it will not find buried weed seeds later in the season to bother you.

A very useful related item is the long-handled Japanese hoe. It is not a wide and flat blade, but a slender V-shaped blade fixed at right angles to the handle. It can quickly, accurately and easily remove weeds without disturbing nearby crops.

If you are kneeling in the garden, the blade also has a short handle so you can use it. Search online for melee hoe and Japanese weeding hoe to see which ones are available.

You can also use the Japanese Horibori Weeding Knife to weed.

This wide bladed knife has serrations on one side and a sharp blade on the other. Many models also have a depth scale engraved on one of the planes, so you can plant seeds at an appropriate depth.

You may not think it has many uses, but once you start using it in the garden, you will find it very helpful for a range of needs other than weeding. For example, you can slide the blade under a clump of perennials that needs to be divided, remove the clump and use a sharp edge to cut it into individual canopies. You can trim the roots with jagged edges and scrape the soil back into the holes after replanting.

How many times have you harvested tomatoes, apples or other gardening products and then lifted your T-shirt into a pocket to carry them? This practice quickly turned a T-shirt into a tattered rag.

Well, the Roo Garden apron (called The Joey by the manufacturer) fits your waist and has a large front pocket to bring all the produce back to the kitchen. It beats the juggling products bouncing around in your upturned T-shirt. You can greet the gardeners with the lively "G'Day Mate!" Find Roo garden aprons online.

Want to please your gardener? Purchased Home & Garden multifunctional knee cushions and seats for them.

Turn it in one direction, it is kneeling, and in the other direction, it is a seat. Either way, there is a canvas bag hanging on the side with gardening tools.

Gardeners have many other great tools: Felco’s garden shears (model with left-handed), Dramm 17005 Colorstorm rubber hose (the best hose ever), Fogg-It gentle spray hose nozzle so you can Will not blow up the seedlings. Take out the bamboo garden gloves from the soil and pine tools that try to water them.

The thing you may not have considered is a watering bag. You hang up the bag, let it touch the soil near the trunk of the newly planted sapling, fill it with water, and then slowly drop the water to the root zone. This way you can reduce the number of times you have to water during the summer drought.

Without the right tools, gardening is hard enough!

Jeff Cox writes weekly restaurant reviews for Sonoma Life. He can be reached at jeffcox@sonic.net. )

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