Please recommend super-great digging fork for short woman

I've got a digging fork with bent tines that was left with this property. I want to splurge and get a really, really good digging fork that is not going to get all bent up. If it's expensive, I'll eat beans and rice.

Me: 4'11" 68 years old and tubby enough to jump/throw weight into it, but not a lot of upper body strength

Property: Red Georgia clay, some smaller rocks and gravel (typical topsoil-scraped suburban lot) plus muscadine and some tree roots

I've got my rough forest garden designed out and have been dumping lots of organic matter on everything. I need to start poking holes into things and also lifting out perennials and spreading them around.

Good tools are worth the investment.

But so is reusing what you have. Are you sure your digging fork can't be straightened? I've done it with the cheaper square tine varieties. Jam it in somewhere so it can't move and take a length of scrap pipe to the offending tine. Either it will bend or break (be careful) but it's worth a try.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Good tools are worth the investment.

But so is reusing what you have. Are you sure your digging fork can't be straightened? I've done it with the cheaper square tine varieties. Jam it in somewhere so it can't move and take a length of scrap pipe to the offending tine. Either it will bend or break (be careful) but it's worth a try.

That's a good tip. Thanks!

BTW my two spading forks are made by Garant. Grizzly series I think. I have beat up the handles but never bent the tines. They are built like tanks, suitable for heavy clay soil.