15-05-2025
Kent & Stowe Border Fork review: Every gardener needs a good garden fork and this is the best
What is the Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel Border Fork?
Gardening tool brand Kent & Stowe sells everything from forks to spades to weeding tools. Each of its stainless steel products comes with a guarantee of 15 years, so you can buy with the confidence that it should last.
Unsurprisingly then, the Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel Border Fork came top in my best gardening forks buying guide. A neat tool, it's a lightweight, smaller gardening fork designed for use in flower beds and borders. It's well suited to working in beds, weeding, lifting perennials, aerating and digging, which is the sort of tool most of us need.
There's a dazzling array of forks on the market and with an RRP of £38, this is a mid-priced option. I tested ones that range from less than £18 (like the Hawksmoor All Steel Digging Fork) to the premium Sneeboer Digging Fork which will set you back £133.99.
Read on for why it was the Kent & Stowe that ultimately took a place in my gardening tool collection.
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Having gardened for almost 20 years, I've been through my share of gardening forks. The best ones are versatile all-rounders; I always look for one that's good for digging but also lightweight and manoeuvrable in small spaces.
But you can't exactly test this in your local garden centre. So, I've done the hard work for you, taking to my allotment to try eight of them, weeding my beds, digging a hole for a new fruit tree, aerating some recently moved heavy clay soil and breaking up clods of earth.
Throughout use, I judged the materials with which it's made, how easy it was to use and the overall design. I wanted a tool that was well-balanced and robust.
Sharp and well-spaced tines were also a must for ease when lifting and breaking soil. And as you use gardening forks like levers to break open the soil, I paid careful attention to the handle. It needed to be comfortable and well sized – not so short that I had to bend down to use it properly and not so long that it was unwieldy to lift.
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Score: 10/10
