Garden Hoes - Selection, FAQ, and more
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 or click here to jump to our Hoe Selector Chart
Click here to jump down to the FAQ section
Explore Our Heavy-Duty Garden Hoe Selection
All with 5 foot long hardwood handles!
$70.90 Choose size ▶
A grub hoe, also called a grubbing hoe, is a heavy-duty digging hoe used for digging and tilling soil. It easily chops through sod, hard soil, grass, stems, and small roots.
● Use to dig & till the soil.
● Forged steel blades.
● Remove sod & big weeds.
● Good for digging trenches.
● More Info
$65.90 Choose size ▶
A grape hoe is a wide-bladed weeding hoe used for quickly clearing weeds from large areas and garden rows. It is also useful for shallow cultivation and moving loose soil or gravel.
● Quickly weed garden & paths.
● Sharp forged hoe blade.
● Do shallow cultivation.
● Move soil or gravel.
● More Info
$67.90 Choose size ▶
The strong forged steel tines of this English tool easily penetrate into firm soil. Then pull to stir and aerate the soil, or raise the long handle to remove weeds and their roots.
● Cultivate soil deeply.
● Forged eye hoe design.
● Prepare fine seedbeds.
● Remove matted roots.
● More Info
$65.90 Choose size ▶
The large forged steel blade easily cuts through sod and penetrates firm soil. Great for digging and tilling gardens. Also ridges (pulls & piles) soil around plants like potatoes.
● Easily dig hard soil or sod.
● Forged eye hoe connection.
● Create planting furrows.
● Ridge and hill the soil.
● More Info
$56.90 Choose size ▶
Includes 5 quick-change heads. Weed in medium and tight spaces. Control weeds while they are young and easy. Fully adjustable handle fits all heights.
● 2 Stirrup Hoe heads for medium weeds.
● 3 Wire Weeder heads for small weeds.
● Metal handle adjusts length and angle.
● Weed like a pro with the Switchblade Hoe.
● More Info
$21.95 Choose size ▶
Get up close to your plants and soil. This tool is also called a Hand Mattock. It features a 2 inch wide forged steel blade, and a 13 inch hardwood handle. Made in Spain.
● Till raised beds & flower gardens.
● Weed tight spaces & under shrubs.
● Chop out large weeds.
● Create planting holes.
● More Info
Click here to see our Replacement Hoe Handles
Click here for our Garden Tool Sharpening File
Click here to see the Hoe Assembly Instructions
Gardening Hoe Selector Chart
There are many tasks that gardening hoes should be used for... Below we will identify the most common and show you which hoe is best 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 |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Garden Hoes and Weeding
Click or tap a question below to see the answer.
Garden Hoe section: Click to jump down to the
What is a garden hoe used for?
What are the different types of garden hoe?
How long should a garden hoe handle be?
Which hoe is best for weeding?
Which hoe is best for cultivating?
Which hoe is best for tilling?
Can I use a hoe to remove grass?
General Weeding section:
Is weeding with a hoe effective?
How often should you weed a garden?
Garden Hoe FAQ Section
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?
- A garden hoe is used to weed the garden by scraping and churning the soil surface to uproot and kill small weeds.
Weeding reduces competition with crop plants and produces better yields. The tasks that garden hoes 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.
Cultivate – stir, loosen, or aerate bare soil.
Dig – break sod, or dig and till the soil. - Click to see our article: How to use a Grape Hoe for weeding wide spaces.
- Click to see our article: How to use a Stirrup Hoe for weeding tight spaces.
- Click to see our article: How to use a Grub Hoe for digging and tilling.
What are the different types of garden hoe?
- There are five different types of garden hoe.
– Digging hoes: for digging and tilling, with a chopping action (heavy-duty hoes)
– Draw hoes: for weeding, with pulling / scraping action (the most common hoe)
– Reciprocating hoes: for weeding, with a scrubbing action (has a blade that moves)
– Flat hoes: for weeding, with a push-pull action (has a blade that lays flat on the soil)
– Sweeping hoes: for weeding, with a sweeping action (handle held fairly straight up) - Click to see our article: How Many Types of Garden Hoes are there?
How long should a garden hoe handle be?
- The height of your hoe handle should be between your armpit and shoulder. For most people, that measurement is their height minus 12 inches. Long handles allow you to stand in the proper upright ergonomic position while you dig, cultivate, or weed. This means less effort and less bending.
- Click to see our article: Garden Hoe Uses and Handle Lengths
Which hoe is best for weeding?
- The best hoe for weeding depends on the size of the area and the weeds being removed.
– Grape hoes are wide-bladed weeding hoes that work well for clearing large areas, garden rows, and paths.
– Reciprocating hoes, such as stirrup or oscillating hoes, work well for smaller weeds and more controlled weeding.
Which hoe is best for cultivating?
- The best hoes for cultivating garden soil are Fork or Tined hoes. These tools have one to four sturdy tines or teeth that easily penetrate into the soil and are then pulled back towards the operator to loosen, aerate, and cultivate the soil.
Which hoe is best for tilling?
- The best hoes for tilling are digging hoes, such as grub hoes (also called grubbing hoes). They have a heavy blade and sturdy connection to the handle which lets them chop down into soil or sod, and then pull that soil back towards the user to loosen and mix it.
Can I use a hoe to remove grass?
- Yes, you can use a hoe to remove grass if you select the right type of hoe.
– For chopping up sod and grass into small bits, use a heavy duty grub hoe or digging hoe. Be sure to sharpen it.
– For peeling thin sod or occasional clumps of grass, you can use a Grape hoe to scrape the sod free as small mats or squares. - Click to see our article: How to Use a Grub Hoe
- Click to see our article: How to Sharpen a Garden Hoe
General Weeding FAQ Section
Should I hoe my garden?
- Yes, hoeing a garden reduces competition between crops and weeds for space, nutrients, water, and sunlight. If you weed the garden regularly, you will have bigger better crops.
Is weeding with a hoe effective?
- Weeding your garden with a hoe is an effective method of weed control. With the right hoe, adjusted to fit the user, weeding can be quick and fairly easy. There are only two ways to control weeds: mechanically (with a hoe or pulling weeds by hand), and chemically (with herbicide). Most people choose to weed with a hoe for reasons of efficiency, effort, and safety.
How often should you weed a garden?
- You should weed your garden at least once a week, preferably every few days.
– The more often you weed, the smaller the weeds will be, and the faster and easier they will be to remove. Tiny weeds just need a quick swipe or scrape with a hoe to drag them out of the topsoil where they will quickly die.
– Big weeds require a lot of frustrating chopping and pulling.
– Weeding the garden for four hours once a week can usually be replaced with weeding it one hour at a time three days a week. This cuts your weeding time by an hour and lets you use short free periods during the week rather than a long block of time on the weekend.
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Why do I need a heavy-duty hoe?
If you are going to be digging into the ground, or slicing through thick established weeds, then you should buy a heavy-duty
garden hoe so that it lasts a long time. It is a pain to have your tool break during a busy day. And it is false economy to buy
and break many cheap ones instead of one high-quality forged eye hoe that lasts a long long time.
But there are some tasks that a lighter, more delicate type of weeding hoe is more suited for. For example, to do detail weeding between closely placed plants you would want something like our Switchblade hoe - a gardening hoe that is small, light, and sharp - so you can control it precisely.
For more usage information, visit our Weeding and Cultivating Articles and our Assembly Instruction sheets..
