Hoe and Cultivator – Garden Tools For Success

The hoe and cultivator have gone through the most changes. The old solid, heavy hoe is now replaced by others ranging from 2-1/2 to 7 inches in width. For a variety of uses you will find the nurseryman’s model the best. It has a 6-inch square blade which can be used to make drills for large seeds like corn and beans as well as hoeing. To make drills insert the corner of the hoe in the soil with the edge resting on a line to keep the drill straight and pull the hoe toward you with easy strokes. The depth may be regulated as you proceed.

The scuffle hoe with a solid or open blade is a great favorite among European gardeners. Pushed back and forth on the surface, it cleans off weeds by cutting at the roots. leaving the surface even and loose. Although excellent, it is primarily a hoeing tool.

In this category we might also place the various tined and toothed cultivators. The potato hook, which looks like a five-tined digging fork shaped like a grappling hook, is a clumsy tool, but there are a number of three and five-tined cultivators designed for stirring the soil by dragging while walking backward. This is opposite to the hoe, which is operated while walking forward, and is preferred by many as it eliminates all foot marks. However, its most efficient work is done early in the season. As the roots come to the surface the depth to which these cultivators penetrate may do damage. and in order to keep the surface clear of weeds a hoe or scuffle hoe must be used. Also, cultivators are largely designed for row crops.

In addition to the long-handled cultivators there are a number of short-handled or hand cultivators with shallow tines suitable for close work among flowers in the border or coldframe. Such a tool will be found very useful.

The iron rake is so indispensable that a good surface for seed is hardly possible without one. Its other uses are raking in fertilizer or lime, cleaning out weed patches and scarifying lawns preparatory to seeding or topdressing. It will also open shallow drills and cover seeds, and can be used on gravel walks and for general clean-up. The curved-tooth style, either 14 or 16-tooth, is perhaps the handiest. When it comes to putting the final touch to a grading job for a lawn or other purpose, the close-set wooden rake is the best. The blunt teeth ride the surface and do not sink in as do the sharper teeth of the iron rake. This rake has 28 teeth, twice as many as the hay rake.

The trowel is an intimate part of gardening. for it will get you close to the soil and plant roots. The trowel will be found useful through most of the gardening season. But don’t be led into buying an inferior tool! For a good all-round tool you can hardly improve on the steel drop-shank florist’s model with a well-curved blade. You may prefer the new pattern in aluminum, which is very light in weight and durable. Avoid the soft metal kind; its life is short and it usually breaks off at the handle.

by P McKenna

Related Articles Of Interest:

• Hand Garden Tools for Planting and Cultivating
• How to Select Hand Tools
• Pruning Shears – Essential Garden Tools
• When to Water?