The Right Hoe For A Tough Row
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:30 pm
I have to rave about the Vineyard Hoe (item B)
I recently purchaced from Lee Valley. Vineyard Hoe It is a good quality tool. The blade is 6.5" wide by 8" deep and weighs about 2 pounds. The wooden handle is 51" long and slightly curved to decrease the angle of the blade. It is comfortable to use and the weight of the head does most of the work.
Let me tell you about my tough row. It is a bed with 8 rose bushes in it, in my side yard, along the highway. It is 110' long by 15' wide. It drops 5' of elevation in the 15' of width. It has heavy clay soil with a mostly rotted down layer of hardwood mulch. I have been trying to kill the grass and weeds in this bed for the past 3 years. This year started out well. I had spot sprayed with herbicide 3 times and the bed looked good. Then the rains came. It has rained at least 1/2 ", often more, every day, except 5 days, for the past 2 months. The grass and weeds came back with a vengence. The entire bed was 1' tall. There were crab grasses up to 2' across, centepede grass all over, nut sedge, and a wide variety of other flora.
I went out one day with my regular hoe and beat on the weeds untill I could hardly use my left hand. I didn't make much of a dent in the bed. When I went back in the house I ordered that vineyard hoe.
Today I used the vineyard hoe on that bed and cleared over 3/4 of it. I have 2 piles of weeds one is 8' around by 5' high, the other is 6' around by 3' high. Good for composting. My hands and arms feel fine, but my knees are sore from working on the slope.
If you have any tough rows to hoe I would recomend the vineyard hoe.
I recently purchaced from Lee Valley. Vineyard Hoe It is a good quality tool. The blade is 6.5" wide by 8" deep and weighs about 2 pounds. The wooden handle is 51" long and slightly curved to decrease the angle of the blade. It is comfortable to use and the weight of the head does most of the work.
Let me tell you about my tough row. It is a bed with 8 rose bushes in it, in my side yard, along the highway. It is 110' long by 15' wide. It drops 5' of elevation in the 15' of width. It has heavy clay soil with a mostly rotted down layer of hardwood mulch. I have been trying to kill the grass and weeds in this bed for the past 3 years. This year started out well. I had spot sprayed with herbicide 3 times and the bed looked good. Then the rains came. It has rained at least 1/2 ", often more, every day, except 5 days, for the past 2 months. The grass and weeds came back with a vengence. The entire bed was 1' tall. There were crab grasses up to 2' across, centepede grass all over, nut sedge, and a wide variety of other flora.
I went out one day with my regular hoe and beat on the weeds untill I could hardly use my left hand. I didn't make much of a dent in the bed. When I went back in the house I ordered that vineyard hoe.
Today I used the vineyard hoe on that bed and cleared over 3/4 of it. I have 2 piles of weeds one is 8' around by 5' high, the other is 6' around by 3' high. Good for composting. My hands and arms feel fine, but my knees are sore from working on the slope.
If you have any tough rows to hoe I would recomend the vineyard hoe.