Heavy-duty Garden Hoes
HOW TO SELECT THE PERFECT
Selecting the wrong tool for the job is the #1 biggest mistake people make when weeding, digging, or cultivating. It can lead to unnecessary exertion and back strain.
That’s why we want to make it easy for you to select the right hoe for every project, every time.
Scroll down past our list of gardening hoes for sale to see the chart of What garden hoes are used for. Also see Why a long hoe handle is important (or just click the links).
Explore Our Heavy-Duty Garden Hoe Selection
All with 5 foot long hardwood handles!
Click here to see our Replacement Hoe Handles
Click here to see the Hoe Assembly Instructions
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: soil cultivation, weeding garden paths, preparing seedbeds, tilling the garden, creating furrows, weeding small spaces between crops, and moving mulch. These tasks can be simplified to Dig, Cultivate, and Weed.
- Dig - break, or dig into, the soil or sod. (use a Grub Hoe or Pointed Hoe)
- Cultivate - till, stir, or loosen bare soil. (use a Fork Hoe)
- Weed - slice the soil's top to cut or uproot weeds. (use a Grape Hoe or Switchblade 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.
Project coming up?
Project coming up?
Use this Gardening Hoe
There are many tasks that gardening hoes should be used for.. Below we will identify the most common and show you which hoe is the PERFECT one for the job.
Tool / Task | Grub Hoe | Grape Hoe | Fork Hoe | Point Hoe | Switch-blade |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
break sod | YES | NO | NO | YES | NO |
till a garden | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO |
dig a trench | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO |
break hardened soil | Fair | NO | NO | Fair | NO |
lever stones & roots | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
chop thick roots | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
cut pasture weeds | YES | Fair | NO | YES | NO |
weed large areas | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO |
clean garden paths | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO |
weed small, tight spaces | NO | NO | NO | NO | YES |
deep cultivation | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO |
shallow cultivating | Fair | YES | YES | NO | NO |
prepare seed beds | NO | Fair | YES | NO | NO |
create furrows | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO |
move & turn mulch | NO | Fair | YES | NO | NO |
Why you should be using a Long-Handled Hoe
Long handle = easier on back.
Short handle = more bending.
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 large 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 Easy Digging you can still buy garden hoes online that are strong, sharp tools with efficient designs developed back in the days
when manually hoeing and digging and tilling the soil by hand were everyday jobs on the farm or in the family garden.
Click here to read Customer Reviews of all our Garden Hoes
Grub Hoe Reviews:
- Grub Hoe Reviews 2021 to 2023
- Grub Hoe Reviews 2019 to 2020
- Grub Hoe Reviews 2017 to 2018
- Grub Hoe Reviews 2014 to 2016
Pointed Hoe Reviews:
Grape Hoe Reviews:
Fork Hoe Reviews: