A good garden spade does most of the work for you. Sneeboer forges every blade by hand from a single piece of stainless steel in the Netherlands, so the edge stays sharp and wet soil slides off instead of sticking to it.
Which spade suits you depends on the job. For turning over beds and cutting clean edges along a border, most of our customers choose a Border Spade with Steps; the steps give your boot a flat place to push down on. On stony or compacted ground the Rock Spade and the Pointed Spade go in where a flat blade stops. For pots, raised beds and moving small perennials, the Planting Boy is easier to handle.