Allotments 4 All

I need to buy a hoe and would appreciate any recommendations please

It depends what you want it for.  I have a "Swoe" for weeding  :)  Wilkinson Sword from Homebase

The Wilkinson Sword swoe is the Which? report best buy - they recently tested hoes with a variety of users. I enjoy using mine, even though I am weedy ;D

Look under 'hoes'!!

I'll stick by my Wolf push/pull. No damage to plants & works pulling - the easiest way. I can happily (?) do 200' of work before breakfast with no pain.

But a bit broad for fiddly border areas.

As a recommendation of what not to do.......buy it it untried.   I did so and found the head angle wrong for my height so it either digs deep or I get back ache holding the handle lower.   So make sure when buying you stick it on the floor as you would to use it and check the handle height.

Iain

Thanks for the advice.  Tim, sorry-am I missing something-is there a section on this site which covers hoes?

Mary - grist to the mill??

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,8773.0.html
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,11583.0.html

Thanks Tim-that's great

I too like the Wolf push me pull you hoe.  They do a whole range of heads for different jobs, including two or three hoes and you can buy short, medium and long handles to suit all heights and also the occasions when you just have to get down on hands and knees and use a hand tool.  The beauty of it is that OH has his preferred heads and I mine but you only have to store one or two long handles.  I keep the assorted heads hung on a board with their own hook for easy access.

I bought one of those. I needed something small to weed rather crowded beds and I wanted a short handle - figured I'd inherit a full-sized dutch hoe sooner or later. It's fantastic, and the only hoe I could find that you can get short-handled. I'll buy a longer handle as well as soon as I can work out how to get it in a rucksack :D

Bupster  Have you come across the Ibis cultivator.  These are Korean I think and are short handled with a curved blade so you can weed with them round your fiddly bits and make seed drills or small trenches with them

I got one for free as they forgot to invoice me  ;D

I think they sell em in the Organic Gardening Catalogue

Ooh, they look fun. Vicious looking blade, too. :D I went to have a look at a website selling Wolf stuff and discovered what that thing in my half a shed is - it's a cultiweeder! I still don't know what to do with it though. Or the one that looks like half a mantrap.

 ;D

Bupster, I have one that looks like half a mantrap too.......not caught any firemen with it yet though :'(  :'(  :'(
But it is good at slicing off the weeds and sloughing up the top soil! ;D

Quote from: wardy on September 27, 2005, 16:05:45
Bupster  Have you come across the Ibis cultivator.  These are Korean I think and are short handled with a curved blade so you can weed with them round your fiddly bits and make seed drills or small trenches with them

I got one for free as they forgot to invoice me  ;D

I think they sell em in the Organic Gardening Catalogue

oh crikey,  don't let lottie into this thread she'll get ideas for more evil implements.  Scary enough thatshe got an axe!!!!  :o

Quote from: Doris_Pinks on September 27, 2005, 21:57:08
Bupster, I have one that looks like half a mantrap too.......not caught any firemen with it yet though :'( :'( :'(
But it is good at slicing off the weeds and sloughing up the top soil! ;D

All us boys get taught at school to run for our lives when we see a woman with an impliment like that, and those fireman are fitter than most so you'll need to sneak up on them.

As far as hoes are concerned - whatever fits you. Try it out for size you might look like a loony in B&Q or wherever but who cares ;D

I was reading about hoes the other day, and realised I didn't really know how to use one. Most internet searches on "how to use a hoe" came up with people ranting about how their neighbors (sic - USA sites!) annoyed them by telling them how to use a hoe when they knew already.
Eventually I found a site that recommended holding the hoe so both hands have the thumbs at the top - it's better for your back they say.
I tried that technique with a broom and my girlfriend said it looked very Buddhist!
I haven't got a hoe yet - I stalk (is that a pun?) weeds with a large kitchen knife!
But mostly we're digging out raspberry roots - we'd need a bulldozer-sized hoe for them!
- P

 I really must not go on about my pushpull. It suits me for all my major work. which is either scuffing the weeds on, say, a 20'X20' patch or cleaning between several 50' rows of brassica. However, I think it bears repeating;

                   WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO - & WHERE??

Do you want to cultivate a tilth - clean a large area - take out a few weeds in a rockery - draw a drill - make a furrow - earth up spuds??

There are implemements other than a hoe especially designed for some of these tasks. Even a kitchen knife or fork! And anything you can do to make the task easier will surely make the expenditure seem well woth while.

Remember that a Draw hoe draws soil, & can drill or furrow, & can hack a  small piece of ground into some order - a Dutch hoe cuts weeds, mainly in the push mode - the Wolf does this well in both modes - Cultivating tines are used to create a tilth - a Furrower is for just that, & for earthing up. Etc.

Handle length is very important. In most major tasks, the longer the better: save walking! And if you want to hack, then weight is important.

And the final word - SHARPEN even your brand new tool - & keep it SHARP. Like your spade!!

Good advice there Tim, thanks.