The 10 Best Garden Forks (Review) 2021

Best for Tall People​

Gardena ErgoLine Digging Fork​

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Best All Rounder

Fiskars Ergonomic Garden Fork​

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Best Value Fork

Kent and Stowe VBPHUKA1091

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The Best Garden Forks

If there’s any kind of staple garden tool out there, it’s the garden fork. These heavy duty gardening tools are perfect for all kinds of jobs. You’d normally need to grab yourself a garden fork if you want to loosen up soil for sowing seed, or if you need to furrow your ground before tending. However, there’s actually more to garden forks than you might imagine. There are reasons why there are so many different types of garden fork out there! For example, you’ll find some with soft grip handle fittings, and others with fibreglass handles. Some will be classed as ‘digging forks’ for obvious reasons, while others will simply be good for turning over the soil. In this buying guide and introduction to garden forks in general, we will be taking a look at some of the best garden fork purchases you can make online right now. We’ve lined up ten garden fork standards and makes we think will be appealing to most gardeners in need, whether you are just getting started, or if you are a dab hand at digging and seeding.

Best Garden Forks Online - Our Picks

Below, you’ll find links to the best high quality garden fork options we’ve found online, tested to make sure they offer you the support you demand for all kinds of digging tasks. At the end of our guide, we’ll show you what we considered when it came to picking the best forks available, and what you should look for when it comes to making a good quality choice.

In This Review

Best Fork for Tall People

Gardena ErgoLine Digging Fork

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This versatile, hardened fork is ideal for digging deep into areas which are thick with plants, and as the category we’ve selected suggests, it’s super tall! You’ll also benefit from a superb ergonomic handle, with steel tines which will not only get down deep, but which will also resist years of use.

Features

Dimensions: 116.84 x 22.86 x 7.62 cm
Weight: 2.2kg
Fork Type: Digging Fork
Head Type: Hardened Steel

Pros

  • Very comfortable to wield and use
  • Ideal for use in thick planted areas
  • Resistant steel tines
  • You can grip the shaft at any point
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Cons

  • May be a little expensive for some budgets

Best All Rounder Fork

Fiskars Ergonomic Garden Fork

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Boasting four tines, this boron steel garden fork is very comfortable to use thanks to its amazing ergonomics. It’s a great all-rounder simply because it serves purposes across the whole of your garden – meaning you may be able to roll several of your garden tools into one! It’s fantastic value and will last many years of careful gardening to come. It boasts an extra long handle, too, meaning that this tool is one you’re unlikely to lose your grip on over time.

Features

Dimensions: 123cm x 20cm x 9.5cm
Weight: 2.1kg
Fork Type: Digging Fork
Head Type: Boron Steel

Pros

  • Four tines - sharp tines - for various jobs
  • End is made from strong boron steel
  • Very comfortable to use
  • Long handle for ease of use
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Cons

  • May not be specialised enough for some gardeners

Best Value Fork

Kent and Stowe VBPHUKA1091

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If you want to invest in a great garden fork with a carbon steel head and four sharp tines – without having to mortgage anything – then this tool is going to appeal to you. As a border fork, it’s great for soil adhesion and breaking up, with a long enough handle to help you comfortably dig down into soft soil. You may wish to invest in this superb soil tool if you are simply aerating the ground, or getting ready to seed. Its cunningly shaped handle will also give you plenty of comfort and purchase, as well as power! The price is, of course, great, too!

Features

Dimensions: 8cm x 12cm x 105cm
Weight: 1.8kg
Fork Type: Border Fork
Head Type: Carbon Steel

Pros

  • Fantastic price
  • Superb for soft soil digging
  • Carbon steel tool
  • A brilliantly balanced garden fork
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Cons

  • Not really suitable for big or tough jobs

Traditional Stainless Steel Digging Fork

Spear & Jackson 4550DF

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This great stainless steel digging fork really does do what you expect it to – it’s got a mirror polished stainless steel head, a comfortable hardwood shaft and handle, and four tines which are sharp enough to get you down deep when you really need to start lifting up the soil. It’s a great all-rounder in one piece.

Features

Dimensions: 90.5cm x 18.5cm x 12.5cm
Weight: 1.95kg
Fork Type: Digging Fork
Head Type: Polished Stainless Steel

Pros

  • Resistant against rust
  • Extremely durable
  • Weatherproof
  • Award-winning!
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Cons

  • One of the more expensive garden forks

Carbon Steel Border Fork

Draper 88791

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Not all bordering fork options are built the same, and this wonderful carbon steel one piece offers up some serious value. Boasting great reviews and a comfortable handle, this is a high quality garden tool which is built to stand the test of time. The shaft is made with steel at its core, and the low price more than makes this tool worth the price of admission.

Features

Dimensions: 7.49cm x 92cm x 15.01cm
Weight: 1.88kg
Fork Type: Border Fork
Head Type: Carbon Steel

Pros

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Cons

  • May not be the best all-round choice

Neverbend Professional Digging Fork

Spear & Jackson 1570AL

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Funnily enough, this leading digging fork is built to never bend or break! This reliable garden tool is the fork you turn to when you need heavy duty and sharp tines to break through some seriously tough things in your garden. It’s got a carbon steel head, it’s resistant to humidity and rest, and offers a hard shaft that’s always a joy to use.

Features

Dimensions: 101.6cm x 20.32cm x 30.48cm
Weight: 2.45kg
Fork Type: Digging Fork
Head Type: Forged Steel

Pros

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Cons

  • Can be quite expensive

Premier Border Fork

Bulldog 5715042820

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This reliable tool offers a forged steel tip, an ash handle and a simple size which works well in the borders and beds of your garden. It is one of the best garden fork picks if you really want to look for something that’s less about frills and more about performance. It’s a great brand, and not only that, it stands apart as one of the best garden tools for constant work, not just occasional bordering.

Features

Dimensions: 101.6cm x 20.32cm x 30.48cm
Weight: 2.45kg
Fork Type: Digging Fork
Head Type: Forged Steel

Pros

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Cons

  • Can be quite pricey

RHS Stainless Steel Border Fork

Burgon & Ball GTB/SFBRHS

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This simple, straightforward stainless steel garden fork is perfect for gardeners who need to start digging deep into smaller or tightened spaces. The fact is, even smaller beds and borders need their ground aerating sometimes! This is a great quality fork at a reasonable price, stronger than most to the core, too.

Features

Dimensions: 98cm x 14cm x 23cm
Weight: 500g
Fork Type: Border Fork
Head Type: Stainless Steel

Pros

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Cons

  • Your average gardener may be looking for a softer grip handle

Select Stainless Steel Border Fork

Spear & Jackson

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Is there anything that Spear Jackson can’t do? This brilliant Spear Jackson fork may well be the best garden fork for carefully getting into borders. It’s surprisingly resilient, its head is made from stainless steel and it boasts a shaped handle to help make things easy on the tired gardener! It’s got a reliable polypropylene shaft, too.

Features

Dimensions: 97cm x 18cm x 7cm
Weight: 1.76kg
Fork Type: Border Fork
Head Type: Stainless Steel

Pros

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Cons

  • There may be better all-rounders out there

Stainless Steel Border Fork

Green Blade BB-GF201

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Finally, this amazingly priced garden fork could be just the thing you’re looking for if you want to make a real impact on your borders. This fork has a steel shaft coated in plastic, with stainless steel tines to really dig down into those softer beds to aerate the earth. It’s a great planting support.

Features

Dimensions: 97cm x 9cm x 2.8cm
Weight: 1.94kg
Fork Type: Border Fork
Head Type: Stainless Steel

Pros

  • Great for seeding and planting
  • One of the best garden fork choices for the price
  • Resistant against rust
  • Very soft grip
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Cons

  • Not the most versatile

Why Should I Buy a Garden Fork?

Garden forks are great for getting down deep into the soil. The best forks are impervious to bend or break, and offer an amazing amount of strength and durability. No gardener worth their salt should be without a fork of any kind, particularly as the three-prong approach is often preferable to using the same old spade head again and again.

Tines are the names for the prongs on your fork, and you’ve likely seen this word come up a lot so far! These can be made from stainless steel, for example, and are built to offer you fantastic digging resistance as well as great piercing.

You should buy yourself a garden fork that’s comfortable to use if you are looking to start digging, composting, weeding, or getting into tough ground

What are the Different Types of Garden Fork?

The type of fork you choose will revolve around what you intend to use it for! There are actually more than a few tools which you could consider garden forks, so let’s take a quick look at some of the bigger varieties.

  • Digging forks tend to be very common. They are great for soft soils and can be good for planting flowers and tending to beds.
  • Compost forks, as you can imagine, are ideal for digging in and twisting into compost and soil that’s decaying.
  • Ballast forks tend to be a little tougher than most tools, and are a little more resistant than your average compost fork.
  • Border forks are nice and light and are great for the soft soil type you will likely find in borders, funnily enough!
  • Pitch forks tend to have fewer tines, but they are long and spaced out. They tend to be great when you’re mucking out a stable!
  • Ballast forks tend to do the donkey work with tines which are extraordinarily well made. At least, the best ones are at any rate!

This is just a brief overview of the type of fork varieties available on the market right now. It’s always a good idea to look through different reviews from verified buyers to see what’s likely to work best for you in practice! You’ll need to consider everything from the prongs right down to the handle.

By all means look for different forums and reviews for additional advice. You’re going to need to invest in a tool or two which are available at more than just an affordable price – consider your long-term needs, too.

What We Looked for in the Best Garden Forks Online

As you can see, the type of garden fork you buy will likely dictate how best you are going to put it to use. However, there are a few questions we asked of the best garden forks and tools we reviewed before writing up our guide. Your own list and questions may well vary from ours. However, it is well worth looking through our queries as an introduction to fork shopping!

  • What type of shaft is a garden fork built with? Is it a hardwood shaft for extra resilience, or something softer?
  • How reliable is the head? Do you get a stainless steel head or forged steel head? Which head is going to work best for various types of garden work?
  • Is a garden fork comfortable to use? By comfortable to use, we mean – can you use it over long periods without getting tired?
  • How many tines do you need? As shown above, different types of steel fork may arrive with four tines or more – or even fewer, if you want to start picking up and handling hay or straw.
  • What brand has manufactured the garden fork? We don’t always consider branding too much, but we do gravitate towards one or more big names when it comes to finding a solid build.
  • Does the fork come with a non slip handle, or can it be used as one of your hand tools? Does it have a long handle for taller gardeners to get comfortable with? Does it have a hardwood handle or something softer?
  • Which type of soil is the garden fork good for digging into? Is it good for hard ground or lighter flower beds?
  • Is the fork good value? Does it come with a 10 year guarantee, or are there any indications how long the tool will last with heavy use?

Of course, these are just a few points you may wish to consider when shopping around. Your own needs for garden forks may well vary! That’s why we’ve gone to the effort of looking up plenty of different fork brands and types for different needs, purposes and uses.

Conclusion

Finding the best garden tools in the shape of reliable forks can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Might a faithful all steel fork help out? What about one built-in carbon-manganese steel? You might even be looking at fibreglass handles for that easier handle grip and resistance.

However, whether you choose a wishbone handle or a handle with a steel core, or a garden fork with steel tines in three or more, there are plenty of great guides out there to help you make the best choice. Look for a fork – regardless of wishbone handle or any other type of handle for that matter – that speaks to your gardening needs, not just your budget.

We hope this garden fork guide has been useful – and don’t forget to look for heads and handle options with 10 year guarantee and warranty options attached!

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