Organic Hobby Farming. Andy Tomolonis
Any way you spell it, it’s a great time-saver when weeding. I bought my first oscillating hoe more than twenty years ago, after the late Bob Thomson, former PBS host and author of The New Victory Garden, recommended it. I still have that hoe, and it still works miracles. It has a blade made from a loop of steel that is bent into a D shape. The flat side of the D faces down and is sharpened at both its front and back; the entire loop wobbles back and forth about ¼ in. (6 mm) on its handle, allowing it to remain in contact with the soil whether you push or pull the handle. The result is two-way hoeing that clears open areas quickly and efficiently. Oscillating hoes work best on small weeds, smartly cutting them just below the soil surface.
The blade of an oscillating hoe wobbles slightly, enabling it to hold the proper angle to the ground whether you push or pull it across the soil.
Diamond Hoe
Yet another improvement on the old-fashioned garden hoe is the diamond hoe, which has a diamond-shaped blade that is sharpened on all four edges. It also has a 6-ft. (1.8-m) -long handle that allows users to stand upright, reducing fatigue.
The diamond hoe’s four-way cutting edge makes it easy to maneuver, allowing the user to pull, push, and slide sideways—cutting weeds just beneath the surface without moving a lot of soil. Because you face forward when working the hoe, it causes less neck strain. And, of course, it’s devastating on young weeds.
Wire Weeder
This precision weeding tool looks so simple you might try to make one yourself. Or you could buy one created by inventor Eliot Coleman, whose design is sold through Johnny’s Selected Seeds (see “Resources” for more information). The tool is essentially a bent piece of wire that’s flattened at the business end, creating a thin blade that slices along the soil around onion plants, carrots, and other closely planted crops. It’s not for hacking through tall thick-growing weeds, but it’s made to do the job in close quarters. There’s also a short-handled version for close-up, down-on-your-knees weeding.
Wheel Hoe
This is one of those purchases that you might think about for a while—wheel hoes can cost several hundred dollars, but they make quick work of bigger weeding jobs between row crops. A wheel hoe looks a little like half a bicycle, with handlebars leading to a shaft that has a wheel at the bottom. Behind the wheel is a wide weeding blade, designed like a stirrup hoe. You walk behind the wheel hoe, pushing it along at an angle that cuts weeds just below the soil surface.
Models vary among manufacturers, with blade sizes ranging from 5 in. (12.5 cm) wide all the way to 18 in. (45 cm) wide. Some models have pneumatic tires while others roll across the soil on a wide metal wheel. There are also attachments for cultivating, digging furrows, and shaping beds.
Wheel hoes are a good choice for larger gardens and small farms. Attachments will cut weeds, cultivate the soil, or dispense seeds.
Tool Care
Tools left in the sun, wind, and rain won’t last nearly as long as tools that have been well maintained. Here are some tips to make your manual tools perform for years and years:
• Put them away. That may sound simple, but it’s easy to leave them lying around. (I’ve done it myself.) Locating a small shed near the garden or fields is perfect. If not, carry the tools back to a garage, barn, or shed, and keep them out of the elements.
• Clean off dirt. Mud and dirt that is caked onto the blades of tools can cause rust. Brush it off before storing tools.
• Clean and oil tools before winter. Brush soil off the blades and file the ends to a working edge (not sharp enough to cut you, but sharp enough to feel an edge). Finally, spray or rub the steel with cooking oil, and hang up the tools—don’t lean them blade-down.
• Wooden handles should be prepped for winter, too. Sand any rough spots and rub with linseed oil.
Seeding Machines
If your small farm or garden is too big for hand weeding, it might be too big for stooping over to seed by hand as well. Consider a garden seeder, which looks a bit like a wheel hoe. You push it along in front of you, but instead of scraping up weeds, it cuts a furrow and drops seeds in at preset intervals. Models vary, but there’s usually a hopper with a disc that has holes or slots to dispense seeds one by one. Also look for a handy row marker, which extends from the unit to scratch a groove in the soil at a preset distance. You follow the groove as you put down your next row.
Seeders are fairly inexpensive, starting at about $100, and can save considerable time—especially for farmers with long, straight rows. At least one model is sold as an attachment to a wheel hoe.
Another type of seeding machine is a stab seeder, which looks like a 3-ft. (1-m) section of pipe that’s pointed on one end with a trigger attachment on the side. You plunge the pointed end into the soil, pull the trigger to drop a seed, and move on. Stab seeders are useful for sowing larger seeds like corn, squash, and beans. They can also be used for transplanting seedlings, especially through black plastic mulch.
A lawn spreader can be used to spread minerals, limestone, and granular fertilizers or to sow cover crops.
Other Essentials
Rakes, wheelbarrows, and other cleanup tools have myriad uses beyond season-ending cleanup tasks. Rakes spread compost or mulch, scratch rocks out of delicate planting areas, and remove weeds and sod from newly turned soil. Wheelbarrows and garden carts tote debris to the compost bin and carry compost back to the planting areas. And small hand tools are a necessity for working on raised beds.
Metal Rake
The metal rake is one of the organic grower’s key tools—simple in design but useful in multiple ways. When used with the tines down, it pulls rocks, sticks, leaves, and clumps of sod out of the soil. It also drags wide patches of loose soil into mounds for raised beds. And it can flatten the tops of mounded earth to create level planting areas where seeds receive an even distribution of water and sunlight. When flipped over (tines up), a metal rake will smooth a seedbed to finish it for black plastic mulch or the delicate job of sowing carrots, greens, or mesclun seeds.
Road/stone metal rakes, which connect to the handle at the center of the rake’s business end, are best for smoothing soil but aren’t as strong as bow rakes, which connect via a steel bow that ties each end of the rake to its handle. The bow is a sturdier connection, but it can get in the way of smoothing out a seedbed when you’re using the rake in its upside-down position (tines up).
With either version, I prefer lightweight fiberglass handles for my metal rakes—the longer the better. I can’t think of a time when I’ve ever stressed a rake handle to the breaking point, and the lighter weight of a fiberglass handle makes using the tool easier. The extra length lets me stand upright and work the rake at any angle almost parallel with or nearly perpendicular to the soil, teasing out small rocks before sowing carrots or salad greens. A long handle also lets me stoop low and reach farther when smoothing out a wide planting bed.
Another handy thing about metal rakes is that you can improvise your own attachments to make straight, even rows for sowing beans, beets, and other direct-seed vegetables. Here’s how: Buy a section of stiff PVC tubing that’s just wide enough to fit tightly over the tines of your rake. Cut sections of the tubing into lengths that are an inch or two longer than the tines. Push the tubing onto the tines at 4-, 6-, or 8-in. (10-, 15-, or 20-cm) intervals, depending on the distance you want between your crops. When finished, the tubing should stick out an inch or two beyond the other tines on the rake. Drag the rake down the center of your prepped planting area, and sow seeds in the grooves left behind. You may need to run a triangular hoe through the grooves to plant larger seeds like beans, but the marked rows will be evenly spaced.