A fork or a shovel - which is the best to use when turning the soil

Shovel and spading fork

Officially there is no "right" tool to use. But on a more personal level, everyone has a preference. I prefer using a spading fork because the tines are flat and broad. (Also it has a short handle which works great for short people.)

Taller friends of mine use a pitch fork because the handle is longer. The drawback is that the tines are thin and spiky though the tines are closer together than the tines of the spading fork.  My tall friends have used the spading fork but after awhile, it kills their back because the handle is too short for them.

You can  just use a shovel (long or short handled depending on your height) to turn the soil as well.

 Here you can see the progression of digging with the spading fork. The first forkful there is kind of a clump of dirt. The second forkful, it is falling through the tines. If you think your soil might be a little too wet, this is a great tool to use to prevent making clumps of dirt.

I also find that when I'm mixing in my amendments they tend to blend better when I use the spading fork. Kind of like a whisk works to blend flour and sugar in a bowl.  Shovels tend to make it harder for me to mix my amendments. But I do know people who only use a shovel and still have beautiful, to die for, soil.

 As you can see, when using a shovel, the first shovelful of dirt is a big clump. It will take more effort to keep from creating a bed full of clumping wet clods if the soil is too wet.

A compromise if you aren't certain about your soil moisture level is to turn/fluff your soil with the spading fork for as long as your back can handle it and then mix in your soil amendments with a shovel.

But really, it all boils down to what YOU like and what YOUR body can tolerate! As long as you end up with beautiful, healthy, fertile soil, it doesn't matter what you use to turn it.