How to Use Garden Hoes

No one knows exactly how long the versatile and helpful garden hoe tool has been around for sure, but it is considered an ancient tool. Not a lot has changed over the millennia outside of the materials used. Every home gardener finds this to be one of the most useful tools in their gardening tool arsenal.

Types of Hoes

Various types of hoes are mentioned here. Since hoes can be used for different tasks, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the different types so you have the most efficient tool for each task.

• Weed Control - One of the figurative thorns in the side of all gardeners are the problems with weeds. You could get down on bended knee and pull out every single one by hand. You could also use your garden hoe to quickly knock down and pull out weeds and their roots if you keep at it when they are no more than two inches high. A stirrup hoe, sometimes called a Dutch or scuffle hoe, is great for this.


• Furrows - Preparing for seed planting requires making lines of furrows. The hoe makes this task easy if you use a corner and drag the hoe along to create the intended row at the specified depth. Use a triangle head hoe for this purpose.


• Hilling - Anyone who plants potatoes or other tubers needs a tool that they can use to hill up soil around the plant. This is necessary for potatoes to block sunlight from reaching the tubers. A square head hoe has more surface area, so it pulls more soil quicker.


• Cultivating - Not only does cultivating, or disturbing the soil around the plants, knock down weeds, it also loosens up the surface of the soil. Repeated rainfalls and watering concentrate the finer particles of soil on the surface, which makes it denser. That prevents water from seeping through to the tender root system. A garden hoe is a good, quick cultivator.