Poundland Charlie Dimmock In the Garden Hand Hoe – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

This hand hoe – which is a like a small mattock – is part of the new and exclusive Charlie Dimmock range assortment of wooden handled hand tools at Poundland and yes, it costs just one British Pound. The assortment, according to the website, includes, aside from this hoe, a trowel (already reviewed), a “rake”, which actually is a three-pronged weeder more than a rake, a fork, and a scoop.

OK, but we shall, in this review, be talking about the hand hoe; a review of the trowel you can find here.

Like in the case of the trowel the steel of the blades of the how appear to be stamped steel rather than hammer forged steel but I have found it to be, in initial tests, quite robust, and I even attempted to dig out some bramble roots out of rather hard, compacted, soil. Anyone who has ever attempted to dig out bramble roots knows what fun that is (not) and that they don't actually come out, at least not all if the root, and that was also the case in this test. The hoe stood up fine to it, however, without any bending or what have you. Then again, I really would not want to overdo it but then neither would one want to do that with any small hand tool, regardless of who the maker might be. I have had a Bulldog trowel fail on me before due to bad spot welding between the blade and the shaft that goes into the handle.

The quality of those tools is good for the price but you cannot expect Rollins Bulldog or Burgon & Ball quality for a Pound now, nor should you expect a ten or even twenty-five year warranty.

Considering the price of just one Pound, including VAT, I cannot fault the tool and if you have to count your pennies but still want a dual-purpose hand hoe that you can afford – and the cheapest you will find elsewhere if metal blade and wooden handle is desired will set you back around seven to ten times that much – then this is a good choice.

The trowel-shaped blade of the hoe can be useful for a number of things, aside from hoeing, and that includes the making of furrows for sowing and also in lieu of a trowel for planting.

This hand hoe from Poundland may just become yet another tool that will regularly travel with me – not that it is a long distance – into my (vegetable) garden with me, together with some other favorite ones.

As I said before for less than a tenner you can, at Poundland, get all the hand tools you will need for your gardening endeavors, as long as you do not expect battle tank strength.

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