I enjoyed your article Eric! You are so right about having a quality tool for a tough job. The King of Spades and Wolverine Spades are all we have ever used at the two Bamboo nurseries I have worked at for the last fifteen years! I finally broke down and bought one for home! Don't know how I managed without it for so long! I also liked your tip of hitting the foot treads with a sledge, save some wear and tear on the knees!! Thanks for sharing!

I'll take a well built long handled construction shovel over a short handled shovel any day for general garden work. When I'm in the garden with a shovel I'm moving dirt, not just dividing perennials and moving small shrubs. Those short handled flat shovels don't do that very well. You can't toss topsoil very far with them either. Short handled shovels are hard on the back unless you're under 4 1/2 ft.
Bamboo is in a class all by itself. I use a splitting maul and a ax for a lot of that kind of work.
Keeping a shovel sharp goes a long way in making the work easier too.