Hoeing in the event of a drought and general
By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Sliding a hoe back and forth slightly below the surface of the soil & you'll stop those weed seedlings & let in the long awaited rain too.
My favorite hoe is the Cobrahead hoes from the United States, in both the long-handled and the hand-version, followed by the Japanese hand hoe from Thingamadig. I am still wanting to obtain one specific one for review and that is the Speed Hoe for Haxnicks, as it looks a very good tool.
However, the Cobrahead in both the long-handle and the hand hoe version are top of all hoes for me for sure.
Hoeing around your plants, vegetables especially, though bedding flowers too, and borders, is probably more important than any other task and when you use raised beds for vegetable growing all you really ever want to do is hoe, also to prepare the bed for planting. Digging turns over too much of the soil, often.
While I may fork over the raised beds and such of mine where all the vegetable growing is happening every couple of years though the primary work of disturbing the soil is but done by the use of a hoe, and predominately here using the short-handled Cobrahead or the Thingamedig Hand Hoe which is, basically, a Japanese hand hoe.
As with most tools, including and especially gardening tools, everything is a case of “horses for courses” and while one person prefers one kind of, in this case, hoe another person will do a different one and, while I have mentioned and also linked the two that are my favorite, I am not trying to change anyone's habits as to tools, necessarily.
If it is not the two hoes that I have mentioned then I always would go for a drag hoe rather than a dutch hoe. But then, as I said, everyone has his or her own preference as to what tool for what job.
© 2011
