Customer Reviews

really tough tool for raised bed gardening Review by Fiona Sanderson

Review

much heavier than the Japanese mighty pick and hand hoe, also on this website, my first thought was to cut down the handle, which is supplied with it, to the same sort of length as the mighty pick and use it as a chunkier version.
Glad I left it at the longer length, as it works well as a mattock tool, a good swing with the longer length makes it a powerful chopper and breaker of new and weedy ground. I wondered what to use the other side for, and at first considered it superfluous, it’s a double pronged ‘comb’ of a hoe. Some experimenting taught me that it’s actually also a very good ‘comber’ to get out perennial weed roots from down deep. I found a method of using the solid end to chop at the soil, drawing it towards me, then flipping it over to comb the soil for couch grass and bindweed roots worked really well. I could do this while kneeling, and the effort on my back of clearing a half bed that was shamefully weedy was a fraction of that if I had used a spade.
Also useful for breaking up very compacted soil. We took it ‘guerilla gardening’ ; used it on some municipal garden beds that are seldom given any treatment and have cemented in cobbles just below the surface. Also lots of broken glass. Used the double hoe to scrape off the glass etc, and 'cultivate' soil, without having to get too close to toxic/ dangerous materials.... additionally this tool could lever out the cobbles and hard core with no problem.
If you have RSi type problems with wrists, this tool is too heavy, look at the Japanese hand hoes instead. (Posted on 26/04/2011)