Hoes are an essential tool for the home gardener. For the most part, they are used for weed suppression, but they have other uses. There are several types, and we will look at the ones I have found most useful.
The first hoe is a standard garden hoe or a gooseneck hoe. When I was growing up, this is the hoe that we used almost exclusively. If you are only going to have one hoe, this is the one to get. It’s solid, durable, and you can really do just about anything you need with it.
This second hoe is my personal favorite. It is called a scuffle hoe or a stirrup hoe. It is designed to cut the weeds in both directions, and that’s how I use it. You can skim it just under the soil line and take care of any weeds while protecting the root zone (rhizosphere) as much as possible. It also does the job faster than any other hoe, which is good for impatient folks like me. It looks flimsy, but the one shown is a few years old, and the blade looks brand new.
This third hoe is my wife’s favorite. It has a small light hoe on one side and a really good weeder on the other. It’s called a 2-in-1 weeder hoe.
This next hoe is called a Warren hoe. It has a triangular or somewhat heart-shaped blade to it. It works well in tight spaces or trying to pull a short row for sowing seeds.
This hoe is a small hand hoe. With a handle of only 15 inches or so, it is designed to be used with one hand. I don’t use it much, but it’s great when you need to be very careful around small plants. When you are hoeing okra for the first time of the season, the plants are tiny, and you need to be extra careful around them, so this is what I use.
This final tool is not really a hoe at all. It’s called a mattock. The handle is smaller than the full-length tools at 36 inches, and it has a heavier head. The one shown is a 2.5-pound mattock, but I have seen them on up to 7 pounds. This is for more heavy-duty work like digging up established grass.