A pair of garden forks is also the best way to divide large perennials, like hostas. You can insert the forks back to back in the root ball and lever them apart, separating the roots rather than cutting them. Some will get broken using this method, but far fewer than if you take a spade to the clump.

I too am a fan of garden forks for aerating soil and even substituting for a pitchfork in some cases (you wouldn't want to pitch hay with it).

However, for aerating my compost I've found nothing better than a compost aerator, which is a simple pole with hinged "wings" on the bottom: you plunge the base deep into the pile, and when you pull up, the wings extend and loosen the compost around them. The advantage of this tool over the fork is that it goes a lot deeper than the fork and is less likely to strain your back since you're pushing straight down and pulling straight up.

I've become a lot more scrupulous about keeping my compost pile well aerated since I learned that backyard composters may be a significant source of methane emissions. Industrial composting operations usually ensure proper aeration, but people with backyard composters frequently neglect them or fail to aerate on a regular schedule, causing the piles to go anaerobic. I have my compost in two bins, which I aerate every 7-10 days.

I have owned a garden fork for decades, though not the same brand as above. It’s an excellent tool for any gardener. My favorite use for it is to harvest root vegetables, especially potatoes. It easily goes in to the soil along the side of the row, then tilt it back to lift & break up the soil. The vegetables are then easily gathered by hand with no damage.

I'm confused - is there anything unique between this tool and any other short handled pitchfork? If someone wrote up a specific shovel, I would expect to see differentiators between the recommended version and the standard "buy it at Orscheln" version, and I don't see that here.

And a must if your soil has any rock content.

@John - short handled pitchfork? For one, the tines have to be thicker, of a triangular cross section, and of quality tempered steel so they don't bend or break.

John, pitchforks and garden forks differ in the shape/size of the tines. Pitchforks, manure forks etc. have thin round tines of various spacings...closer for manure forks, wide-spaced for pitchforks. Garden forks have wide(r) flat tines and generally work poorly when substituted for a pitchfork.

Elon and Brad, why do you turn compost? If you're short of work in your gardens and looking around for something to do, go inside and have a cup of tea or something rather than turning compost. Sheesh. Or are you just in a hurry?

@Edward:
Thanks for clarifying the pitchfork-garden fork differences. Why do I turn my compost? I'm not in any hurry, just fascinated to see what's going on in there.-es

i got one of the new radius garden forks this past spring

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QUXOM0

its been out in the garden all summer (never took it in each day) and it looks nearly as good as the day i got it last spring. the colors have faded a little but its still just as smooth and the steel shaft will never break and the fork will never rust since its stainless steel.

if i left any wood handled tools out in the garden for a few weeks they would need a serious refinishing (from rust) and the handles would probably be crack. I live at 8500' so the sun is pretty strong up here.

the entire line of radius tools should really be considered if you are in the market for some replacements. I think all of the tools have seamless tool heads that attach to the steel shaft.

they are incredibly well made, i have abused mine this season and its held up 100%.

What is cool about a garden fork. They've been around for millenia. Maybe I'm missing something. . .

Actually good garden forks are not easy to find, so I appreciate the recommendation. Judging by availability, the tool seems to have fallen out of favor for some reason -- perhaps by those who think a powered tiller is more "efficient"?

In any case, I learned from unpleasant experience that this is a case where you get what you pay for. The cheap forks at the big-box hardware store tend not to be tempered steel and therefore bend out of shape as soon as you try to pry out a plant or a rock. Look for good hefty tempered steel tines, preferably in triangular cross-section, and a convincingly strong connection between the head and the handle.

@Edward:

Turning compost definitely speeds the process along, and for an urban composter like me that's important. I generate quite a lot of kitchen scraps and yard waste during the spring, summer, and fall, and most of that stuff goes into my two compost bins. If I don't turn the compost, it'll take so long to decompose that my bins will be full long before the season's over. One the first bin is full I start putting stuff in the other bin, aerating the first bin until the composting process is complete. In the height of summer with proper aeration I can have finished compost in less than two weeks.

If you don't turn your compost, it is unlikely to run hot enough to kill weed seeds and plant pathogens. So, instead of turning waste into a valuable resource (compost) you just end up spreading weeds and diseases throughout your garden.

You can toss infected plants and weeds that have gone to seed (and, some weeds will set seed weeks after being pulled) into a well-aerated compost pile and the heat and biological activity will completely decompose them. In a cool pile or an anaerobic pile, you can only dispose of disease-free foliage safely.

A great book on the subject, the bible of composting, is "Let it Rot".

@Charlie: I'd like to hear more about "Let it Rot." If you're interested in recommending it as a cool tool, please e-mail me: elon {at} schoenholz dot com-es

Oh, please with the $44 garden fork. $44? Seriously, you can pick one up in almost any yard sale for <$5 and if you have to have new, you can buy S/S ones at Ocean State for $20.

Compost or mulch is not heavy, so the chance of bending the forks is almost nil, so even if you have one made in China, it will work for years.

In the NE, there is no use for one most of the year.