No garden is complete without a spade, the gardener’s favourite tool and one that he or she relies on year round to perform a multitude of tasks. The basic design of a digging spade has not changed significantly for many decades although ergonomic versions are now more common, made from composite modern materials, they ease the stresses inflicted on joints such as wrists and enhance the feel of the tool. Aside from digging, a spade can be used for breaking up clumps of earth, clearing up small piles of debris and transplanting shrubs and saplings. Shovels, often mistaken for their similar cousins, have much broader, flatter blades and are generally used to move large quantities of materials, such as gravel, from one area to another.