A Few Helpful Hints on Making It an Easier Row to Hoe

In dark corners of many garages, there undoubtedly are hoes rusting away, their function replaced by labor-saving electric and gasoline-powered rototillers, chemical weedkillers and mulches.

Hoeing is not very popular these days.

The reason for hoes, rototillers, weedkillers and mulches are twofold: First, to kill weeds, and second, to keep the soil surface loose so water penetrates more easily.

But there’s a catch.

* Chemical weedkillers kill weeds but do nothing as far as keeping the soil surface loose.

* Straw, leaves and other organic mulches keep the soil surface loose and smother weeds, but only if regularly maintained in a thick enough layer.

* Rototillers chop up weeds and loosen the soil, but they also can burn up too much valuable humus and damage roots.

This is where hoeing comes in.

Hoeing has the same benefits as rototilling, but you don’t disturb the soil as much.

Hoeing is an easy way to control weeds. It might even be easier than many of the labor-saving methods when you consider the total time and effort needed to apply weedkiller (mix it up, put on protective clothing, spray, clean the sprayer, clean up), to start a stubborn rototiller’s engine or to haul mulch. Hoeing takes nothing more than grabbing the hoe’s handle.

Most gardeners develop an aversion to hoeing because they use the wrong type of hoe or allow weeds to grow too big between hoeings. Never wait until you see weeds to start hoeing. Instead, hoe the soil every week or two, and as soon after every rain as the soil crust begins to dry. This way, weed seedlings are killed before they get a firm footing.

If weeds are growing rampantly, the only type of hoe that will kill them is a standard, large-bladed garden hoe, used with a not-very-pleasant chopping motion.

For soils that are loose and weed-free, the best hoes are those with blades that run parallel to the soil surface, such as the scuffle hoe, the “Hula” hoe and the winged weeder. Skimming along a half-inch or so beneath the surface of the ground, these hoes cause little or no root damage.

Use a hoe walking backward, moving your arms with the same smooth motion that it takes to sponge-mop a floor. Working backward avoids stepping where you have hoed. When you hoe, the cut earth flows over the blade, then drops back in place with each push and pull of the handle. The effort can be meditative, and a few pleasant minutes about once a week keeps the soil weed-free and loose.