I purchased this product for three reasons: to loosen up my existing garden for spring planting, to loosen up the dirt around my potato plants (for easier picking) and to pull up my corn stalk roots. For these applications the Treadlite broadfork worked wonderfully! I also expanded my garden in the spring and found the broadfork was a big help in loosening up the soil (one note: all though the ash wood is the best wood to use (due to it's strong density) care should be taken when digging in "new" dirt. If you should get under a good sized tree root you could break the handle) Also, because of how a broadfork is used (step on it, pull handles back,move it ahead 14", step on it, pull handles back...) I found I could easily do this all day without getting exhausted (like you do when you try to do all of the above with a shovel) I would definitely recommend this product for small to medium size gardens!