The Hooke ‘n Crooke™

Last week I got a comment from an helpful guy call Scott at Holdredge Enterprises, LLC. It was about a couple of hoes they have on sale there. Of course Tom and I can’t recommend them because before Tom can give them his T-Rusty seal of approval we have to work with the product for a while so that we are sure that what we tell you about it is right and proper as we wouldn’t want you to go wasting your money. However I have looked closely at these tools and read what it says about them on the website and I have to say that I would be interested in trying one as the design looks good to me from what I can see of it and it’s not dissimilar to my favourite hoe. Anyway as I did a series on hoes I thought I would pass this on to you so here is a link to their site so you can check it out for yourselves. This is a company from the USA and I don't know if they ship abroad or not.

http://holdredgeenterprises.com/

Below are a couple of pictures of the hoes they offer, one is a hand hoe and the other a long handle hoe.

Flat Hoe.

Could this possibly be the best hoe in the world? Well, probably not but to me it’s without a doubt my favourite hoe. I know this kind of hoe as a ‘flat hoe’ and the only bad thing about this hoe as far as you guys are concerned is that Wolf Garten Tools don’t seem to make it anymore – go figure that one out if you can. For that reason I only show you this because no doubt someone else makes one and it’s the actual design rather than the brand that makes this hoe my favourite. For me this particular hoe has a neutral feel in that it neither tries to leave the soil nor digs to deep, this makes it very controllable. It will deal equally well with both small weeds and big tall over grown stuff. With it just having the single leg joining the blade there is a minimum of dirt pick up and if you turn it over you can use it this way to work over the soil like a mini spade. I also use it a lot this way to work the soil back away from the grass edging. You can of course do the same with the Dutch hoe that I showed you last night but for some reason the flat hoe does it better. This is actually the second of these hoes I’ve bought. After using the first one for a while and liked it so much I bought this one and then set about halving the blade on the original hoe so making an half size version. I’ve had this hoe for the best part of 20 years now so durability is not an issue and this applies to all Wolf tools. The only thing that has ever broken are a couple of wooden shafts and this was probably due more to misuse than bad quality. So for this type of hoe I will give 10 out of 10, for usability of this particular hoe I will give 9 out of 10, it isn’t quite perfect in that I would like the union with the blade to be more streamlined. As far as I’m concerned the only other way to improve on this design would to make it out of copper.

There is some dirt pick up with this hoe due in part to the bulky union with the blade.

This hoe was the same but has had one side of the blade removed to make a smaller version.

Here you can see the hoe flipped over to tidy along the edge of the border - now you know how Bob gets those neat edges!

Dutch Hoe.

The hoe that I’m going to show you tonight is called a Dutch Hoe, again the one I have is made by Wolf Garten Tools but most garden centres will stock variations of this hoe as it’s a common design. I can only speak for the one I have in this post, and I have to say that this is a good hoe, the one I have bites in to the soil well so is good even in compact soil. This only works as a push hoe but that’s no great hardship. The blade is quite thick compared to the last hoe so does benefit from sharpening from time to time but if you can’t manage this then it’s not a real problem. As with any hoe I’ve used there is some dirt pick up but this doesn’t affect the way the hoe works so isn’t a problem. Although as you can see the blade is clean and shiny, if it were rusty then I think soil pick up might be more of a problem. As a hoe for general purpose work I would give it 7 out of 10 and for usability I will give it 8 out of 10. It’s a fine hoe to use and I only give it 8 because it doesn’t quite match up to the hoe I’m going to show you tomorrow.

A small amount of dirt pick-up but this amount doesn't affect the performance of the hoe.

Push Pull Hoe

As far as I can make out this hoe is called a ‘push pull weeder’. As the name suggests it can be used in either direction which makes it a fast hoe if there is plenty of room between the plants like for instance in a rose or shrub border. I also us this hoe when I hoe gravel areas. It’s also good for working close to plants because of the side wings that denote the edge of the blade. Its light and the blade is thin and stays sharp. This is a good hoe and would be a great one if it were designed better. As it is it suffers badly from dirt pick up due to all its indentations, lumps and curves so much so that if you don’t keep on cleaning the dirt off it’s like weeding with a plank of wood. As a general purpose hoe I would not have any trouble recommending it and will award it 7 out of 10 and for usability I will be generous and give it 7 out of 10, I would give it more if it weren’t for the soil pick up also I don’t find it so good on hard ground or long weeds. Just one more thing, there is a smaller version of this hoe from Wolf Garten Tools.

In my opinion the underside of the blade should be flat so as to avoid dirt pick up. Dirt collects under the blade.
...and in all the other humps and hollows.


I'm not sure if you're a keen gardener or not Sara but anyone with a garden could do with a hoe, I use my hoe for several jobs besides weeding. I will show you what I get up to with my hoes some other time though.

I saw while watching the TV tonight that the Royal Mint are selling £5 coins for £5, if like me you're thinking there is nothing special about that deal wait till I tell you that carriage is £1.95. So if y'all want to get your £5 coins for £6.95 go to http://www.royalmint.com/ Personally though I'm going to wait until they put on a 2 for 1 offer. By the way, I think there is supposed to be something special about the £5 coin in question.

Draw Hoe.

The hoe I’m going to show you tonight is what I know as a ‘draw hoe’. It’s not a hoe I often use for weeding except for some rough hacking down type of weed clearing. For general hoeing I don’t find it gives the sort of finish that I like as it’s hard to hoe off all the weeds without walking all over them which is to be avoided if possible or you run the risk of re-planting them again. However it is useful for pulling soil up around the potatoes etc. when ridging them up. I would give this type of hoe 3 out of 10 for general weeding purposes. For usability of this particular hoe I would rate it well though and give it 9 out of 10 because the blade is sharp and soil build up is minimal and it feels nice enough to use.

Emily and Matron I know what you’re saying, I do chop the odd plant off now and again but it’s usually when I’m not looking what I’m doing rather than the fault of the hoe. Another thing I find that leads to plant decapitation is if you’re having to use to much force either because the ground is hard or the hoe is not right for you in some way. Try and stand with it on a flat piece of ground like I showed you in the pictures yesterday and see if it sits level on the floor. If you are a shorter person the shaft of the hoe may be too long for you. The hand that is doing all the pushing and pulling should be right at the end of the handle and the other hand is used to steer the hoe. If you find you have to hold the hoe part way down the handle with you push and pull hand then I think the handle is to long for you. Also don’t be afraid to sharpen you hoe because the easier it goes through the soil the more control you will have over it and therefore less mistakes you will make.