Potato Harvesting Spade by Burgon & Ball - RHS Range

As its name suggests, theBurgon & Ball polished stainless steel potato harvest shovel is used to harvest potatoes in raised beds and containers. If you use it in the ground, we recommend loosening the soil around the base of the plants beforehand. Push the blade into the soil and lift the shovel while shaking it slightly from left to right so the soil falls back; the grid will hold the potatoes. Then, let them dry in the shade on the ground or a crate before storing them in a dark, dry, and well-ventilated place where they can be kept for several months. Like the other tools in the traditional range, this shovel has a lightweight FSC-certified hardwood handle that is resistant to weather conditions, with a polished stainless steel head that is rust-resistant and non-stick to substrates. The bar at the end of the tines prevents buried potatoes from being damaged, allowing you to lift the crops without harm.

* FSC is an international ecolabel guaranteeing that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests

Some tips for harvesting your potatoes in early summer:

Potatoes only grow significantly after flowering, but you can also look at the state of the stems; at the end of the growing season, they naturally fall over due to their weight, and the leaves turn yellow and dry. To see their size, you can dig up a few potatoes closest to the surface. To harvest, wait until the soil is completely dry; your potatoes will be cleaner.

Once you have harvested your potatoes with the Burgon & Ball shovel, sort them, and before storing them, let them dry for a whole day in the shade on the ground or a crate. Finally, please keep them in a dry, dark, and well-ventilated place. The potatoes will keep well there for several months. You just need to remove any sprouts regularly.

Dimensions: head: 15 cm (6in) - total length: 50 cm (20in)

The English have the privilege of being experts in gardening (but not cooking). Promesse de Fleurs has chosen the British company Burgon & Ball for the quality of its materials and its nearly three-century-old steel manufacturing methods. The company has been working with steel in Sheffield since 1730, initially with a solid steel sheep shears patent. The production of garden shears and equipment quickly surpassed that of sheep shears, and the Royal Horticultural Society officially approved Burgon & Ball's stainless steel tools - probably the ultimate award in the gardening industry.

The tines of this fork are hot-forged, a process that aligns the metal's grain structure to provide exceptional bending strength. Hot-forged tines are very unusual in producing stainless steel tools - the standard practice is to cut the tines to length, weld them together, and grind the ends to a point. The choice of this more expensive manufacturing process is an additional quality criterion.

The heat treatment allows for precisely the correct steel hardness for each tool. If it is too hard, the metal can break or chip; if it is not hard enough, it will bend or lose its sharpness. The thickness of the steel used also depends on the tool. This rose fork requires a thicker steel than a knife, which can be made of much thinner steel. The thickness of the steel also affects the weight, so it is a balance that Burgon & Ball, with nearly 300 years of experience, has validated to ensure that its tools are both practical and enjoyable to use.