Three Heritage Garden Tools Worth Knowing With Matt Ryan
Some garden tools are made for a season. Others have been shaped, tested and refined over generations.
Continuing our Three Things With series, we’re speaking with Matt Ryan of F.D. Ryan, an Australian-made garden tool business built on family heritage, traditional craftsmanship and a deep respect for tools made to work, and made to last.
Matt comes from a long line of toolmakers and now helps run the family business alongside his son, James. Their connection to the craft reaches back to Matt’s grandfather, Frederick Daniel Ryan, a pioneering blacksmith and toolmaker. F.D. Ryan was named in his honour, carrying his legacy forward through a new generation.
Today, the Ryan family continues to make garden tools by hand using time-honoured materials, skills and techniques. Strong, practical and beautifully considered, each tool is created for gardeners who value quality, longevity and the simple pleasure of using something genuinely well made.
We asked Matt to share three of his favourite heritage-inspired garden tools and why each one still deserves a place in the modern garden.
1. The Ho Mi
The Ho Mi is a traditional Korean gardening tool that has been used by market gardeners for thousands of years.
There is a reason the design has lasted.
“It digs, it weeds, it cultivates. It’s the perfect all-rounder,” Matt explains.
Its curved shape makes it wonderfully versatile. It can be used to loosen soil, remove weeds, create planting furrows and work around established plants without requiring a collection of different tools.
It is also light, balanced and ergonomic, making it comfortable to use for longer stretches of time.
For gardeners who prefer to move through the garden with only a few trusted essentials, the Ho Mi offers remarkable usefulness in one compact tool. As Matt also points out, it fits neatly into a Le Sac Tool Belt, keeping it within easy reach as you work.
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2. The Small Planting Spade
A large spade certainly has its place, particularly when moving heavy soil or tackling major landscaping work. But for everyday planting, Matt believes a smaller tool is often the more practical choice.
“Big spades are for builders and plumbers,” he says. “A gardener needs a small spade.”
A small planting spade gives the gardener greater control. It is ideal for breaking into the soil, creating neat planting spaces and working with seedlings or plants grown in six-inch pots.
Rather than disturbing a large area of soil, the smaller blade allows you to work precisely around existing plants and within established garden beds.
It is a simple example of choosing a tool according to the task, not simply reaching for the largest option in the shed.
For regular planting, dividing and repositioning smaller plants, a well-made planting spade can quickly become one of the hardest-working tools in the garden.
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3. The Broadfork
The broadfork is a modern interpretation of the traditional French grelinette.
Designed with long tines and two handles, it is used to loosen and aerate the soil without turning it over completely.
The gardener presses the tines into the ground, then gently rocks the handles backwards to open and fracture compacted soil.
According to Matt, the tool “goes deep and cracks the soil profile,” allowing air and moisture to penetrate while causing less disruption to the existing soil structure.
This matters because healthy soil is filled with complex fungal networks, microorganisms and organic matter. Repeatedly turning the soil can disturb that underground life.
The broadfork offers a gentler approach. It relieves compaction while helping preserve soil layers, microbial activity and soil carbon.
For Matt, caring for this living foundation is central to successful gardening.
“Looking after soil carbon and soil health is the key,” he says.
Tools Shaped by Time
What connects each of Matt’s choices is not novelty, but usefulness.
The Ho Mi has endured because it performs many everyday garden tasks beautifully. The small planting spade offers control and practicality. The broadfork works deeply while respecting the life and structure already present beneath the surface.
Each tool reflects a thoughtful way of gardening, one that values good design, healthy soil and equipment made to be used for years rather than replaced after a season.
Through F.D. Ryan, Matt and James are continuing a family tradition of making tools with strength, function and beauty. Their work reminds us that the best garden tools do more than complete a task.
They become familiar companions, shaped by the hands that make them and, eventually, by the hands that use them.
Follow Matt and the F.D. Ryan team to discover more about their Australian-made tools.
We’ll also be sharing more practical garden wisdom from Matt soon, so sign up to the Le Sac newsletter here to be the first to receive his next feature.
