As a frugal gardener, my gardening tools don’t go much beyond shovels, trowels and rakes. But one year my husband saw this tool in our local hardware store and bought it for me on a whim, thinking maybe I could use it. He had no idea how it worked, if I’d like it, or how much it would change my life. Maybe I am being a little over dramatic, but seriously this tool cuts down HOURS in the garden when I am weeding bare-dirt beds. My kids enjoy using it. Weeding is almost pleasant even for the most anti-weeder.
Meet the Stirrup Hoe.
The type of stirrup hoe I use is a Hula Hoe. It has other names, Action Hoe is another. It comes in a short version, as I have pictured above and here on the side, and a long handled tool with a bigger hoe end that you use standing up. I have both, and I prefer the smaller version because – for me – it’s easier to use. It will give you a great arm workout regardless of which one you use, but I feel like I have more control when I am gardening on my hands and knees so I prefer the shorter tool. The shorter tool cost about $16 or so, and the long handled one was $25 or so. Check your local hardware stores, but if you can’t find them locally I bet you could find them on Amazon.
How to use it:
The tool can be used in a forward, backward, or forward and backward direction depending on your needs. The head is fixed on an angle with some flexion, and the bottom part of the tool that comes in contact with the dirt acts as a blade, slicing weeds apart. Depending on how deep you go, it may pull some smaller weeds out, or slice them apart under the soil line.
The blade is intended to have some wiggle to it, because depending on the direction that you pull it, it will move so the blade is constantly digging into the ground no matter if you are pushing or pulling. If you use more upper body strength, you can dig the hula hoe in the ground and use it to loosen up your soil around your plants. It’s excellent to run over your beds every couple days to slice off all those baby weeds before they ever become a problem in your garden. It’s ease of use cuts off hours of tedious hand-pulling of weeds. It’s narrow enough to run through your rows and you can get right up close and personal with your vegetable plants, slicing off weeds without ever disrupting the root system. When you hand-pull weeds that have taken deep root, it can mess with the root system of the plants you want in your garden bed, leading to stress and shock, which can lead to death of your plants!
Where it won’t work:
Stirrup hoes won’t work well in mulched beds, on wet soil, or with tall weeds. Hand pull the tall weeds and then maintain your beds with the hula hoe – simply finding a few minutes every couple or so days to run it over the soil and remove all the tiny baby weeds will save you so much hassle later on.
Have you ever tried a stirrup hoe?? What do you think about them? You know, if you are local and want to come try it before buying it, let me know! I would be happy to let you test drive one before making the purchase.