Garden Hoe Uses and Handle Length

Author: Greg Baka

What is a Garden Hoe?

Garden hoes are tools used for weeding, cultivating, or digging. They have long handles so the user can walk and stand upright while working. Weeding hoes are the most common, and they have a sharp angled blade that slices along the upper layer of soil to cut or uproot weeds.

Other styles include Cultivating Hoes which have tines that penetrate downward into bare soil then till, stir, loosen, or aerate it. There are also Digging Hoes with strong perpendicular blades that can chop or break soil and sod for digging and tilling.

What is a Garden Hoe used for?

The task they are used for include: weeding garden paths, soil cultivation, preparing seedbeds, tilling the garden, weeding small spaces between crops, and creating furrows. These tasks can be simplified to Weed, Cultivate, and Dig.

• Weed - slice or scrape the soil's top layer to cut or uproot weeds. (use a Grape Hoe or Switchblade Hoe)
• Cultivate - till, stir, or loosen bare soil. (use a Fork Hoe)
• Dig - break sod, or dig and till the soil. (use a Grub Hoe or Pointed Hoe)

To learn more about all the world's different hoe designs, check out our article called "How many types of garden hoes are there?".   Hint: there are more than 3, and some are pretty surprising.

Why you should use a Long-Handled Hoe

Long handle = easier on back.

Short handle = more bending.

Long handles allow you to stand in the proper upright ergonomic position while you dig, cultivate, or weed. This means less effort and less back strain than if you used a short handled tool, or a shovel or spade. For weeding hoes, people quickly understand the advantage of a long handle. But with digging and cultivating hoes, people sometimes mix them up with different shorter handled tools, or with short versions used in other parts of the world. We will explain below...

How long should the handle be?
The height of your hoe handle should be between your armpit and shoulder. Our hoe handles are designed to allow it to be adjusted to match your size. The long handle is the same diameter over the entire length, so it can be cut shorter if necessary. If your handle is too long simply cut some length off of the rounded end. The cut end can re-rounded with a sander, or by good old-fashioned whittling with a pocket knife.

Why do some tools have much shorter handles?
A shorter handle will work, but it is less ergonomic, harder on your back, and requires more effort. We strongly recommend that you practice using your hoe with a properly sized long handle rather than immediately cutting it down to a shorter length that may FEEL more familiar. having the right length results in an easy hoe to use.

Why would a shorter handle FEEL more familiar?
Most people are more familiar with short-handled picks, mattocks, sledgehammers and axes They are used with a full-body arcing swing, meaning that the tool is swung from overhead down to the ground with a great deal of force to do high impact work like busting concrete and splitting wood. But a grub hoe is a soil digging tool - not a concrete breaker - and it should NOT be swung from overhead.

Should the hoe head be heavy or light?
For chopping and digging into the soil, the hoe's head should be heavy (a half pound per inch of width is best). But for weeding the hoe's head can be quite a bit lighter than that. It is true that today's big-box store models, like the Lowes hoes, are too light, dull, and poorly made. But here at EasyDigging you can still buy garden hoes online that are strong, sharp tools with efficient designs developed back in the days when hoeing and digging and tilling the soil by hand were everyday jobs on the farm or in the family garden.

Staff Author: Greg Baka is the founder of EasyDigging.com

He is also an experienced gardener and home remodeling DIY'er. He has tackled everything from underground drainage to metal roofing, and all things in between. Using his engineering degree, he designed a variety of construction and excavating equipment.