Radius Garden 205 PRO Stainless Steel Weeder, Original Green

Bought Radius Garden Fork to replace a popular "claw" type tool for working the soil in my raised beds. I needed something a little more substantial that would break up & work the soil deeper than the top 6". I saw a YouTube video with a couple tilling their raised beds using the Radius Garden Fork with what seemed like very little effort. Oh, I was green with envy and decided I really needed something like this!I read all the reviews of similar tools and made trips to big box garden/home stores as well as a few smaller speciality stores to see if I could find a good fork that would stand up to the work I do around here. The main issue I have experienced with garden tools is they either have a plastic handle that eventually breaks or the wood or fiberglass handle is low quality and eventually cracks. All the garden forks I found in the stores had flimsy plastic handles or cheaply made handles or the tines were just too flimsy.The Radius Garden Digging Fork had good reviews but I was unable to find one in any of the garden stores I visited so I held my breath and ordered from Amazon.The Fork arrived 2 days later in a huge box with minimal packaging. Just a little plastic sleeve to keep it from being scratched. It's lightweight but not flimsy at all, the right height for me (5'3") or my 6' tall husband to use comfortably, and is very well made. Square tines and a nice feeling handle. It has the overall feeling of a good, solid piece of equipment.The first test was breaking up the compacted, clay loam full of dead cover crop we added to a 10'x10' bed last year. We'd already used the claw type tool to break up and amend 2 other beds the same size and it took roughly 3 hours for each. We did the next bed with the Radius Fork in half that time with less effort than the claw type tool and was able to loosen the soil up a foot down! That was breaking the soil up, adding compost, working the soil to mix compost & break up clumps then turning dead leaves into the soil. We even went back over the previous two beds with the fork to loosen the soil up a little deeper.The Radius Fork worked like a dream! I think this will be great for breaking up soil for new in ground beds too. A little more effort than using a motorized tiller but it will be more precise and with less mess spread around.

Since I'm converting part of my fruit "orchard" to a winter squash patch, I decided to replace my 20 year old garden fork with bent outer tines. Went to the Lee Valley gardening site to get a stainless steel fork. Saw that they had tools from Radius Garden (never heard of them). After researching Radius Garden, I decided to buy their 203 PRO Ergonomic Stainless Steel Digging Fork from Amazon (have Prime, sorry Lee Valley). The fork must have been ready to work for one of the tines broke through the box about inch and a half (bad packing job, Amazon). Before digging, I killed the grass/weed and mowed it down to the ground. The soil is OK but a bit on the clayey side. It hasn't been tilled or dug for over 30 years.My first impression of the fork was: This thing is heavy! The fork is longer than my old one and the tines are about inch and a half longer, also. I was worried about the longer tines, thought they would bend because of their length. When I started digging, I knew I had bought one tough SOB. I usually dig by pushing the fork all the way down and then pushing the handle forward...not backward. After doing this in a line of about 3-4 feet, I then start about 2-3 inches behind this first line and dig in the other direction. When I push on the handle, the 203 PRO doesn't flex at all. Both the handle and the tines are tough. My older, shorter fork has some flex in both the handle and the tines. BTW: the longer length of the 203 PRO makes it easier to push forward (greater mechanical advantage for you engineering types);the longer tines make me dig deeper; and, once I got to use the 203 PRO, I didn't notice its weight anymore. Also, I NEVER thought about the round handle. My hands just went where they needed to go on the handle. I have about a 20 x 20 ft plot to dig. The 203 PRO is going to make this much easier than using my older fork.I'm also going to use the 203 PRO in my 30 year old raised bed garden plots. Should be a piece of cake!

Several reviews later, I opted for this Radius stainless steel edger. Durability, strength, and to a greater degree corrosion resistance in that I live in a humid environment. Well made, durable, ergonomic, and unless misused as a prying tools, Radius garden tools can be willed to next of kin. My picture depicts the edger on the left in the packaging received, and to the right, a Radius Root slayer purchased at the same time. The edger came in a flimsy unmarked box with zero packing and not so much as a layer of bubble wrap. The box was collapsed, handle was damaged, and the blade bent out of whack. The Rootslayer was received in perfect condition due to original and excellent packaging. I sent the damaged edger back, and was promptly forwarded another. Again, received in a box, this time with one very thin layer of bubble wrap, thankfully undamaged. Excellent product, horrible packaging. Save $20, get the red one.

After breaking another trenching shovel, I started shopping for a new shovel to use for planting and general digging in my 5+ acre yard. I have a hand shovel that I like that was made by this company (Radius), so I was interested in their other offerings. This shovel caught my eye- the round topped handle looked like it would offer many ways to hold and operate the shovel. I was very happy when the shovel was delivered! The shovel is shiny chrome, the bright green round handle is easy to see if I lay it down while working, and that round handle is so handy and easy to both carry around and use. I can get great leverage while digging or prying rocks out of sticky clay mud. I find myself using the shovel like a cane while climbing around the steep parts of our property. It’s easy to make clean cuts in roots, and the back part that you step on to push the shovel into the ground seems larger than other shovels, and is easy to push or stand on to get the shovel deeply into the ground. Needless to say, I’m very happy with this shovel. I like it so much that I gave a red one to my sister for her birthday. :-)