How to Use a Drain Spade

Use the drain spade to plant herbaceous and evergreen shrubs. Position the tip of the blade perpendicular to the ground. Push down with your foot on top of the foot-pedal or lip next to the handle shaft. Lever the handle backwards to collect the soil in the spade, lifting the spade up and out to remove the soil.

Position the drain spade at a right angle to the first cut and repeat the digging method. Continue to dig at a right angle from the previous cut until you have a completed hole. Roughen the sides and bottom of the hole with the tip of the drain spade, plant your shrub and refill any gaps with soil using the drain spade.

Using the drain spade for its original purpose adopt the same method of digging to create a hole suitable for a drain. Form the drainage ditch first by scooping dirt up with the drain spade placed at a constant angle to the ground so that you form a concave sided slope towards your drain site. Dig down at the drain site to the depth you require to form the walls and base of your drain.

Backfill the holes for fence posts using a drain spade because the narrowness of the blade allows you to efficiently place soil around the posts without the type of overspill you get with a traditional garden spade. Scoop up a level spade-full of soil and gently release the soil around the post by increasing the angle of the spade from the ground.

Remove soggy leaves and detritus from clogged drainage channels using a drain spade. Position the underneath of the spade flat to the drainage slope. Push the spade along the ditch to collect the debris, lifting and removing the material to one side of the ditch. Using the slope base as the angle to position your drain spade helps to avoid accidentally digging into the channel base.